If you call yourself a serious sports fan, you've most likely come across the work of John Feinstein. A columnist for the Washington Post, John has written some of the most popular and well-received books about famous sporting events, such as Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four and Open: Inside the Ropes At Bethpage Park.

Lately, John's turned some of his attention to writing sports fiction for teens. In August, the third of John's teen books was released. Cover Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl reunites Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson, protagonists from his first novel, Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery, and its sequel, Vanishing Act: Mystery at the U.S. Open. They cover the NFL's championship game between the fictional California Dreams and the Baltimore Ravens. Though not looking for a mystery this time around, they happen upon a doping scandal that would rock the sports world if discovered. But with so many people trying to keep the story under wraps, how will the duo provide evidence that it actually exists?

We recently had the pleasure of checking in with John Feinstein to get some dirt on Stevie and Susan Carol and to find out what kind of advice he might have for young aspiring writers.

How did you get your first break as a writer?

My first gig was at the student newspaper at Duke University. I went to college as a swimmer, but broke my ankle pretty early on. A friend of mine said the student paper was a good place to meet girls. And it was. But I also fell in love with the idea of reporting and writing from the start. The first person who was very influential for me was a girl at the paper named Susan Carol Robinson, a minister's daughter from Goldsboro, N.C.

Ah, so that's where the character of Susan comes from.

You got it. And Stevie is a cross between me and my 13-year-old son, Danny. His love of sports comes from me, but Stevie's wise-guy approach to life is definitely all Danny.

What about the character of Kelleher, Stevie and Susan Carol's mentor in the book?

Kelleher is also composite; a good deal of him comes from me. He was originally created in a couple of mysteries I wrote for adults. When I started doing books for younger readers, Stevie and Susan Carol needed a mentor. Originally, Kelleher was a political reporter. But I thought he was a good fit for them.

What was your inspiration for this series?

It really started with Carl Hiaasen's book Hoops, which I read with my son, who was 9 at the time. I called my agent—also Hiaasen's agent—to get his email address to say how much we enjoyed his book. My agent's assistant answered the phone and asked if I had ever thought of writing sports books for teens. I thought about it and realized that the best fiction is fiction that sounds real. You need to write about a subject you know something about. I thought, “I've covered the Final Four since I was in college; what if I could create a story around it?” In this day and age, girls are just as involved as boys in sports, so Susan Carol fit perfectly. And there is all that natural tension in a teenage relationship.

You have a political reporting background yourself. Why did you move from politics to sports?

Covering politics and sports are not that different. Being a reporter is all about people. I am every bit as passionate about politics as I am about sports. But back in the early 80s, I was given a choice to cover the Olympics or the political conventions, and at that point I had done neither. It was an amazingly tough choice for me.

Then, one night when I was driving home, I found myself listening to a very weak signal of a hockey game. I got home, but I didn't go inside—I listened to the end of that game in the car. And it wasn't even a playoff game or anything. So then it dawned on me—if you are that into a regular season hockey game, you should be covering sports.

Many people say one of the most important aspects of being a good news writer is staying objective. How do you maintain your objectivity?

One thing I accepted a long time ago is that there is no such thing as true objectivity. Some people are appealing; some are not. I spend a lot of time meeting and talking with the people [who I write about]. You can't help but develop feelings for them. But, you have to be aware of those biases when reporting and try to always be fair. When someone you like makes a mistake, you need to write about it. And when someone you don't like does something great, you have to give that just as much coverage.

You also cover sports on television and the radio. What's your favorite gig?

I can tell you that my least favorite venue is television. [Being on TV] is a necessary evil when you write books, because you can get yourself in front of a lot of people on TV. But I find it to be very shallow. My disdain for TV comes out a little in Cover Up. Radio is more fun. My greatest frustration as a newspaper writer was that there was never enough time and space to do things.

When I was a new reporter at the Washington Post, I was famous for writing stories that were too long all the time. My editor and I would argue all the time about space. But books have given me the chance to really dig into subjects. Whenever I start a book, my goal—which I know I won't reach—is to know more about that subject than anybody on earth by the time I finish. What I want is for readers who have been to the Final Four to say, “That's exactly what it's like.” It's really quite a challenge and has helped me get through some of my toughest hours.

Do you think that your relationship to Judaism has influenced the course of your life and career?

My connection to Judaism is more about the heritage of being a Jew and what that means. It is something I have always taken great pride in. My grandparents on both sides are Jewish, and I am very conscious of what Jews have gone through to make it in this country and the world. My grandmother was one of the first 10 females to get her law degree in this country in 1908. And I think my work ethic comes from that heritage handed down from my grandparents.

Do you have any advice for some of our readers who might be interested in becoming sportswriters or journalists?

Don't just try to be a sportswriter out of the box. Try to cover everything you can. I got that advice from Susan Carol Robinson.

Through college, I wrote hard news, movie reviews, sports stories and laid out the paper. That benefited me greatly in terms of learning how to be a reporter, but at the end of my summer internship at the Washington Post for sports journalism, there was an opening for a night police reporter at the Post. Had I not covered hard news, I would not have gotten that job.

So, start out doing as many different things as you can, and when you find yourself listening to that random hockey game in the car on a really weak signal, you'll know you've found that niche.

Josh Eagle was once an aspiring young sportswriter (perhaps like you!) and thus jumped at the chance to interview one of his all-time favorite reporters. He highly recommends A Season on the Brink to get a good idea of what makes controversial college hoops coach Bobby Knight tick.