Caren Johnson Literary Agency

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Caren’s been busy this month assigning her authors blog topics. She gave me collaboration. Now, collaboration—which is the art of joining forces with another author to write a book for fun and profit—is a natural fit for me since I recently finished a how-to book with the amazingly talented (yeah, she pays me to say stuff like that) Christie Craig. Our book, THE EVERYTHING GUIDE TO WRITING A ROMANCE NOVEL, will be released in September 2008 through Adams Media. Because we had so much fun the first time, Christie and I have been working on other non-fiction projects.

Who knew that we could work together so well?

Without killing each other, I mean.

Anyway, when Caren asked me to write this blog, I began to think about the way Christie and I collaborate. For us, we’ve found that the best approach is to brainstorm the content, then divide the chapters, write the chapters and critique each other’s work afterward. The person who writes the chapter gets the final word on whether to accept or decline the suggested critique. Overall, we operate under the following five rules:

1. Respect each other. You have to respect your writing partner, which means you’ll need to park your ego at the office door. It also means you may need to remind yourself that you’re involved in a partnership here, rather than a solo enterprise. (Meaning, you are not in charge and neither is your partner; you both must learn the art of compromising.)

2. Agree up front on who does what. In the beginning, you may need to experiment to find the best way to divide the workload. For the EVERYTHING GUIDE TO WRITING A ROMANCE NOVEL, we agreed that we would each write the same number of chapters. Some writing partners collaborate on chapters by taking turns writing scenes. (Think about the partnership between Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer, where they divvy up the writing by the He Said/She Said approach.) There is no right way for everyone, so you need to find the method that works best for you.

3. Divide the work evenly. This one goes along with Number Two. When you decide who will do what, make sure the split is even. If you keep the mix 50/50, each person will be doing his/her fair share of the workload.

4. Decide how to resolve conflicts before you have them. Trust me, this isn’t something you want to hammer out during the heat of a conflict. (Or else you both might be using real hammers.) What works for Christie and me depends on the type of conflict we’re having. If the scene/chapter has been written, the author has the final word, as I stated above. But if we’re discussing the idea/concept and we disagree on how to proceed, then the person who has the strongest opinion (whether pro or con) has to write it.

5. Respect each other. This one is so important that I need to list it twice. To have a successful collaboration, and still remain on speaking terms afterward, you must respect the opinion, talent and skill of your writing partner.

Now, I won’t kid you. Collaborating can be a lot harder than writing a book solo—but, if you follow those five golden rules above, it can also make a daunting project easier to finish because you’re combining the very best of two talented, creative people.

So, what do you think? Could work together with someone on a writing project? Have you tried it? If so, how did it work out? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Faye

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www.FayeHughes.net

Last week I launched a blog for the authors of MTV Books, in the style of the blog I launched last year for the authors of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Caren asked me to guest-blog today about how and why I started these blogs. (Check out the blogs here: MTV Blog and Simon Pulse Blog)

My first novel, MAJOR CRUSH, a Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy, came out in August 2006. In the months leading up to the release, I drove myself crazy Googling myself and checking my sales rank on Amazon. (If you’re not published yet, don’t laugh—it will happen to you.) On Amazon, when MAJOR CRUSH was included in someone’s Listmania list, it was almost always a list of all the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Other places online, I saw people asking each other when the next Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy was coming out.

This may seem like a no-brainer to you. All the covers in the line are designed by the same artist to give them a cohesive look. They’re all light romantic comedies suitable for younger teens. If a reader likes one, she’ll probably like others. Yet unless they’re grouped together in a dump (fancy bookstore terminology: that cardboard stand in the middle of the aisle), these books aren’t shelved together. They’re shelved under the authors’ names. And though the past books in the line are listed inside the front cover of each book, that doesn’t give readers information about the books to come.

Kelley St. John was participating in a group blog for the Warner Forever authors, and that’s where I got the idea to bring all the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy authors together on one blog. The blog would help readers because they’d get information about new books before their release, and they could check out the covers and descriptions of the old books plus blog posts from the authors, all in one place. For authors, of course the blog would promote the new books coming out. But even if the author was writing something different now, the blog would link to the author’s web site, where he or she would have her new work on display. And on that web site, the author would post a link back to the blog, increasing traffic in the other direction. The blog would be beneficial to everyone.

I could have simply e-mailed the authors I knew and started the blog that way. But nowadays almost all authors have at least one blog already, and I predicted low participation. I thought I’d get a better result if I went through the Simon Pulse editors. Also, I wanted to write “Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies” at the top of the blog, and I figured the editors might take issue with that. This is their brand name of sorts, and I didn’t want to use it without their permission.

I proposed the blog to my editor. She thought it was a great idea but she would have to get approval.

There were committee meetings.

There were more committee meetings.

There was a conference call with me, my editor, her assistant, and a marketing expert.

And five months after proposing it, I had a blog.

It’s been a great success. We now have twelve authors participating. I have a target date for each of them to blog once a month. If they don’t hit it exactly, that’s fine. The point of the date is to ensure we have new content every few days. Their posts are hilarious, interesting, touching—each in a remarkably different voice. Go visit and see what you think, and don’t forget to comment!

My second book, THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, was a Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy published in June 2007. But my next book, BOY IN BLUE, will be released by MTV Books in March 2009. With the same purpose in mind, I proposed to my MTV editor that I start a blog for the authors of MTV Books. These novels aren’t as similar to each other as the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Some are realistic, some are paranormal, and some are downright frightening. But they’re all for older teens, and like the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies, if you like one MTV Book you’ll probably like others.

This time approval was quick, perhaps because of the precedent of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies Blog (Simon Pulse and MTV Books are both imprints of Simon & Schuster). We already have ten authors signed up, and I expect more to join. Hop over and post a comment about my fabulous finish in my latest 10-K race, Barbara Caridad Ferrer’s frustrated Christmas past, or Stephanie Kuehnert’s road to publication plus the coolest author photo ever.

Wow, when I look at this beautiful blog, I feel very impressed with myself. Then I remind myself that I didn’t do much. They’re MTV Books’ gorgeous covers, the authors’ thought-provoking blog posts, and interesting comments from the reading and writing community. All I did was sweep these elements into one black and hot pink pile.

Jenn Echols

www.jennifer-echols.com

My newest release, To Catch a Cheat, is on the shelf — yea! Unlike my previous books, this one has each chapter beginning with a character quote. When I first wrote the manuscript, I had song lyrics at the beginning of each chapter. But as the book progressed, I wanted to make the quotes even more relevant to this particular book, and the characters in the book. What ended up happening was the characters really wanted to “show off” with their quotes. And I had a whole lot of fun with them, let me tell you.

Examples from To Catch a Cheat:

“Cheaters never win, but they sure can piss you off.” ~ Marissa Kincaid

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and a scorned woman can be great for publicity.” ~ Trent Jackson

“In the same manner that a red tie defines power for males, the red dress defines power for females. Power…and sex. ” ~ Amy Brooks

“A man wearing a towel—and only a towel—should never be trusted.” ~ Marissa Kincaid

One of my favorite book openings was a combination of two quotes, one from Friedrich Nietsche and the other from the book’s author. Linda Howard begins Mackenzie’s Mission with this combination:

“Man must be trained for war, and woman for the relaxation of the warriors; all else is folly.” ~ Friedrich Nietsche

“Hogwash.” ~ Linda Howard

I absolutely loved that opening! So, now my questions for you…

Do you enjoy a unique quote or original type opening to a chapter or book? Have any insight on something that an author did that pulled you in even before the chapter started? I know that I have truly enjoyed the fairytale pieces that Elizabeth Hoyt uses to begin the chapters in her “Prince” series. Very original, and a whole lot of fun! Have you seen anything unique like that? Or quotes that pulled you in from the get-go? Or tell me about something different that authors have done that helped you truly connect with the story. Hey, inquiring minds wanna know :) 
 

And the big news — one commenter will win an autographed copy of TO CATCH A CHEAT — so you can read all of those character quotes and see just how outrageous those characters can be when I let them have their way :)

Kelley St. John

www.kelleystjohn.com

www.TheGuyCheats.com