There is one question
we are almost always asked when we introduce ourselves as Reggie and Kasi
Alexander. That question is, “Do you team write?” The next question is
invariably either “How do you do that?” or “How does that work for you?”
So we decided to use
our experiences in team writing as the basis for a book, and it became “Writes
of Submission,” due out from Siren on July 2. The story deals with a woman who
wins a writing contest and the chance to team write a book with her idol,
romance author Candee Appelbaum. Of course nothing is as she expects. Candee is
actually a gorgeous hunk of a man who drinks more than Nikki approves of and
listens to odd music while he writes. To make things even more challenging,
there is a second hot man who is to be their marketing guru and she learns that
sometimes teams have more than two members.
It seems like team
writing is something that everybody has either always wanted to try or simply
can’t imagine is actually possible. So, for those of you who are contemplating
it, or are curious about how it can be done, this is our recipe for making team
writing work for more than a week.
The first ingredient
you must have is the ability to take
criticism. We have both come to the realization that, no matter how good we
think the scene we’ve just written is, the other person can make it better.
It’s not an insult or a condemnation of my writing or his: it’s simply the fact
that you’re handing your partner a first draft and they’re adding their own
personality to it. For some reason, having two personalities in a book seems to
make it more than the sum of its parts.
The next ingredient is
a willingness to allow the story to develop in ways you didn’t foresee. We have
a Great Dane, and we love playing Frisbee golf, so we routinely go out in the
afternoon and evening for a walk or a game and brainstorm out the next scene or
two of the book. (I would have loved to be a plotter rather than a pantser, but
life doesn’t always work out the way we’d like it to!) In some ways, that is my
favorite part of the writing process. One of us will suggest a plot element,
then a light bulb goes off over the other’s head and they will suggest an
improvement on that. That, of course, will spark yet another idea (there’s
nothing I love more than to see Sir’s face light up and to hear him say, “Oh, I know!”), and before you know it you
have a whole new chunk planned out.
We each come out of
those walks knowing which scene we need to write next, but when it comes time
to trade and read each other’s writing, there are often little surprises. A
completely new character will show up at the door, or someone will reveal
something completely unexpected about their past. That’s when you want to look
at your partner and say, “Were we even in the same neighborhood yesterday when
we discussed this scene?”
The last ingredient is
something Sir calls due diligence, and I call obsessive behavior. I read
through the manuscript and give it a polish, then Sir reads through it and does
his magic, then we all sit down and Sir reads it out loud for everyone (the two
of us and our two partners) to watch for repeated words and continuity problems
and things. That used to be quite stressful for me, having everyone picking
apart a word choice or catching something I missed. But I’ve learned not to
take those things personally (or at least I’m almost there). I’ve always been
afraid of criticism, but when you start publishing you absolutely have to
develop a thick skin and realize that not everyone is going to appreciate your
brilliant talent. Sometimes it’s even your writing partner who doesn’t, and
then you have to accept the fact that your ideas aren’t always the best ones.
Sometimes you just have
to go with the flow, even if it’s a little different than you had in mind. But
that’s how life always goes, isn’t it? You just have to have faith in the
process, be flexible, trust your partner and it generally
turns out just fine.
Nikki Sutherland can’t believe her luck. She’s won an all-expenses paid trip to the BDSM resort Clifftop Fantasies to co-author a book with her idol, erotic romance author Candee Appelbaum. Unfortunately, Candee is really a man—a very good-looking man—named Kane Harris. Another gorgeous hunk, Dante Hunter, is also at Clifftop to market the resort owner’s new cookbook, Stealth Veggies. The guys are both younger than her and way out of her league—or so she thinks. Even worse, Kane is a wisecracking eccentric with a skewed fashion sense and an odd taste in music who writes late at night with a bottle of wine. Dante likes to do his thinking during yoga or biking, things Nikki hasn’t done in years. Nikki’s journey teaches her the difference between reading hot, sexy ménage scenes and living them with the two best-looking guys she’s ever met. Can she handle the Writes of Submission?
Want to know more about this writing team? Visit their blog at www.naughtyeverafter.
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