A Peek at Our Technique

For all of you readers out there, I have a question for you: Have you ever wondered what it really took to write a story that captures the imagination and entertains?

For all of you writers out there, I have a question for you: Have you ever loved your readers enough to throw out 50,000 words of a story and begin again?

I've been in this business long enough to hear writers refer to their manuscripts as "their babies", and I know we writers put a lot of ourselves into the stories we right, so I just wondered if you could throw out a story if you knew it just wasn't good enough.

I ask because that's exactly what Anna Leigh and I did. For more than two months we worked on a novel and got to within two final scenes before we had a heart-to-heart chat and discovered that neither of us were satisfied with the outcome. We'd come to our conclusions separately, but together the elements we found lacking just destroyed any chance of the story (in its current form) ever seeing the light of day.

We scrapped the manuscript and started over from scratch. We recycled the characters' names, nixed some, added some others, and more importantly were willing to evaluate the faults and improve on the strengths.

I'm excited to say Anna Leigh and I are in the final stages of wrapping up our new and improved novel, which happens to be book #2 in the Puma Nights series! We'll be sending it to our publisher for consideration soon.

All of this got me to thinking about the way Anna Leigh and I work. It helps that we're the best of friends and we think a lot alike. And that we have similar "author voices", as well as writing styles that are compatible/complementary to each other. But, it also takes thick skin and honesty to work together; otherwise, what happened with our last manuscript in which we were bluntly critical of numerous elements in the tale could've ruined our ability to work together. It's important that we didn't take it personally. We listened to one another and together found a common bond in that there was just something wrong with the story; we'd veered off the path, and we needed to find a way to get back on track.

See how working with a partner is not always a bed of roses? I mean what would you think if your writing partner came to you and said, "Let's start over," after months of hard work on a project that was nearing completion? It's a give and take relationship that demands compromise and focus on a common goal…and that is putting out the best stories we can for our readers.

Since we get questioned a lot about what it takes to work with a writing partner, I thought I'd share a little insight into how we work.

Anna Leigh is the pantser, the type of writer who can sit before a blank screen with just a name in mind and maybe a place and begin writing just to see what unfolds. Me, I'm a planner. I have to plot, keep notes, and sometimes even drawings just to make sure I stay within the storyline. So how can two drastically different writing styles mesh? Ironically enough, we've found a way. Anna Leigh and I "brainstorm" together, which for me is like plotting. We identify key elements or events within the story's arch, key characters and their motivations. We take notes like an outline that can be referred to later. And for settings, sometimes I've drawn them to help us have the same mental picture of where things are within scenes staged there. For instance, in the first book in the Puma Nights series, I diagramed the cabin in which much of the story takes place.

For the second book, after we threw out our first version, I drew a diagram of a mobile lab that's featured in the story.

But when it comes to writing the story, well that's where Anna Leigh's panster tendancies are given full reign. The individual scenes are not mapped out, so she (and I) are free to just write and see where the characters take us with their dialogue and actions. Sometimes, they surprise us. LOL

Writing is such a fun thing to do! I love that I'm able to work with a fellow enthusiast, and that we get to build and explore new and exciting worlds together, and most of all share our imaginative ideas with you. It's awesome when everything comes together; I love happy endings.