Working at dc, how much insight do you have on other authors works-in-progress and plans? Are you told things if they pertain to you, or is it mostly water cooler talk and rumors?

This is a weird one, it depends a LOT on the editorial team.

It used to be we all talked together and the writer of a book was always informed when that person’s characters were used elsewhere. It’s just good sense, it allows us to support each other and make sure the edges line up.

Sometimes, editors get a bit insecure or control-hungry or whatever, and they insist all information goes through them, no matter how small. This is a real bottleneck, it just slows everything down and helps no one.

Worst yet, there are a very few editors who deliberately keep this information from the writer for reasons I will never understand.

The upside is, these last two types are rare and usually don’t last all that long.

Mostly, we reach out to one another, or the editor lets us know. It’s a shared universe, this information is important. Most editors are hugely helpful about this stuff, it would be hard to keep up without them.

And writers still help each other with info.

A perfect example is Scott Snyder, who is unbelievably generous about sharing information. It makes working with him a pleasure.