How Alyssa & I Write Together, Part 1 of Several

This post, and the few that follow, will detail the wonderful collaboration process Alyssa Brooks and I have developed on our co-authored stories, which is significantly different from how I write my solo books. (I’ll provide information on my own chaotic creative “structure” once I completely finish writing my part of Jonah’s story!)

First, a quick tidbit on how we met. It was June of 2005 and each of us were over at the eHarlequin website, trolling for a critique partner on the forum boards. I answered her post; she e-mailed that she wrote erotic romance and hoped that didn’t scare me off. I broke out in a sweat on my side of the monitor, then assured her that I was fine with it. My nose didn’t grow (whew!). Next, we each exchanged a chapter or so of writing and the rest, as they say, is history… Now on to the good stuff:

CHARACTERS & STORY CONCEPT

1. We agree on main characters — ages, occupations and names (when it comes to names, I usually provide several choices because I adore naming characters and Alyssa picks the one she likes best; other times, one of us has a specific name in mind and we go with that). [Side Note -- my two favorite books for use in naming characters are The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Names by Nathaniel Altman and-- interestingly! -- Gary Gygax's (YES! from Dungeons & Dragons!) Extraordinary Book of Names by Malcolm Bowers. This last one may be my #1 favorite reference book of all.]

2. We choose a pictorial representation of each main character. This might be an actor or actress, or a painting or drawing, or simply a picture from a magazine or some random photo one of us sees online. I’ve found I do best working from a picture of a person completely unknown to me, which helps eliminate any type of media-created baggage. It’s why none of my sexy men look like Brad Pitt. Can we say BAGGAGE?

3. A general idea of the story is touched upon. Location, setting, main conflict. If there’s a theme, we discuss it here. Then we set a meeting time to do the actual story plotting. And I’ll discuss that in my next post!

Any questions so far? Stick ‘em in comments!

Currently Reading: Let Sleeping Rogues Lie by Sabrina Jeffries, Homeopathy An A to Z Home Handbook by Alan V. Schmukler, and The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming

Tags: Alyssa, book recommendations, story planning, writing