State of the Collaboration

One of things I always do when writing alone and that’s even more crucial when collaborating is google for pictures. It’s not enough to know that the Blue house is a big blue house, I need a picture of it with floorplans. It’s not enough to know that Vince gets Anemone to help him find a ring Liz will like (Liz is not a jewelry person), I need to find a picture with a price ($2500). It’s not enough that there’s an abandoned factory that’s the setting for a lot of action, I need pictures.

Bob sighs and says, “This stuff can look like anything we want.” No. I need pictures. Such as:

The Blue House:
(Yes, I know it’s white in this picture, but trust me, it’s blue in the book)

Liz’s ring:
(that’s a spoiler, she gets it at the end of the third book)

The factory
(They have since torn this down in real life which makes me sad, it was a great building.)

See that cupola on top? I love that cupola, so I wrote a scene there. And then this happened:

A good collaborator is one who figures out a way to save a cupola in a building we burned in the last book.