Friends by Choice. Writers by Committal.

I look at the clock now and wonder how it all went by so fast. It was spring of 1996 when I answered an on American Online—then the premier internet service–and met up with two writers who would define the concept of “writing partners.”

It started fairly typical: “I’ll look at your chapter if you look at mine.” The trouble with us, though, is after awhile the who did what of “keeping it even” disappeared.

We called ourselves SIN … Suspense and Intrigue Network.

Cee was the leader, the...