Bob and I have a simple plan for collaborating. We each choose a character and write that PoV. Then we show the characters to each other. Surprise! That’s how we ended up with a food critic and a hitman. My cousin, Russ Parsons, was the food editor for the LA Times for years (now he’s in Ireland writing for the Irish) so I wrote him and said, “Bob and I are writing another book, why would somebody in the foodie world want to kill a food critic?” and he wrote back, “Jenny, we don’t do that.” So we regrouped. And along the years, we’ve worked out a semi-plan for how to survive in a book together. Still a work in progress, but then so is life.
I had a very bad 2025–hospitalized with an asthma attack, hospitalized with heart failure, hospitalized with a cracked pelvis–no worries, I’m fine now, but my writing went to hell. And Bob has had the patience of a saint, even while he bombarded me with ice pirates, mafia romances, and zombies. So we’re regrouping now, finishing the Nate and Anna series (because I have FINALLY got my act together), and talking about where we go next.
That’s the key to collaboration: Keep talking. Discuss everything. If you’re doing the two-authors-each-with-their-own-character thing, the only rule you have is that each author has total control over their own character: If Bob says, “Nate would not do that,” I rewrite so Nate doesn’t do that. Everything else we negotiate on. I think I wrote about this before, but there was a time toward the end of Very Nice Funerals where we butted heads. Usually when one of us disagrees, the one who cares less gives in, a kind of “This is not the hill I want to die on” decision. Rose was in danger and Max was on the other side of the Little Melvin, and Bob wrote that Max waded across the stream to save her. I pointed out that the Little Melvin had almost killed Max earlier in the book, so he was not wading across it now. So I wrote him jumping in Rose’s Pathfinder to save her. Bob pointed out that he’d never get there in time. And we argued. A lot, both of us sure we were right. Because we both were. So Bob said, “Let me handle it,” and when he got back to me the next day, he’d written the perfect solution, based on stuff we’d written earlier. I told him he was a genius. That’s collaboration for you.
And then there’s the plot division. When we met, twenty years ago, Bob was a science fiction/thriller writer and I was pretty much all romcom. Big divide there. Then we read each other’s latest novel–we hadn’t read each other before then-and the next day he said, “Lotta dialogue,” and I said, “Lotta violence,” but he wanted to learn to write romance and I wanted to write mysteries where people died in ways other than falling off of something high, so we agreed to collaborate. It took us awhile. I remember on the first book sending each other e-mails that crossed in the mail. Mine said, “Are these people ever going to TALK?” and his said, “Do these characters ever DO anything?” Fortunately we learned to pull each other to the middle and I cannot speak for Bob, but I’m a better writer with him now. And I’m grateful.
So where are we now? Here’s a conversation from yesterday, trying to figure out a way to not make the same mistakes we made in figuring Nate and Anna out. (No it’s not funny, we’re serious about this writing thing):
And that’s how we collaborate.
26 Responses
Max definitely has to get Mags back, but if necessary that could be handled in another novella or an even shorter work.
I personally wouldn’t like to see you folks let Burney fall off the table without due consideration because you’ve gotten in wrapped up in Rocky Start in a temporary burst of enthusiasm. I think there’s as much or more potential for further development there.
But that’s just me. You guys are the ones actually writing.
“There” meaning in Burney. I didn’t phrase that well.
I LOVE ! that you might go back to Burney or Rocky Start! Every time I reread those series and put the last one down, I sigh, wishing there was more. They are like family.
The two of you get better all the time. It’s inspiring. Keep up the good work.
Actually, ML is still hanging there as a possibility for conflict in Burney. Lots of crazies there.
You do realize that this process is very similar to a good marriage right?
LOL. If Bob and I had ever married, one or the other of us would have killed the other in their sleep. There’s a reason we write from different states, many miles away from each other. As Bob once said, “We should never be in the same zip code.”
Poppy’ll be really upset if Mags doesn’t come back. And Rocky start could use more military security and a nurse with personal trauma. Not to mention there are people there uniquely qualified to help an abuse victim recover.
And didn’t you say that Molly was going to put on a play? Despite the craxies in Burney, the show must go on.
I’ll go where ever you and Bob lead.
I am fascinated by the process. And love the idea of revisiting both places. Could Cash get out because of a technicality? That seems to happen pretty often.
I do think we need a zombie romance out of the two of you at some point. There, I’ve said it and I’m firm about it.
I second! Bonus points if they are pirate zombies.
Flaming pirate zombies.
I’m pretty sure I have never have never read a decent story with zombies. Vampires, yes. Werewolves, yes. Dragons, yes. Obscure ethnic monsters other than zombies, rarely but yes. Zombies, never. They generate tastelessly broad humor even when used in comedy. Heaven only knows what monsters Bob has written solo. Jenny has done ghosts and quasidemonic spirits. That still leaves a lot of territory before we get to zombies.
Terry Pratchett’s guard has a zombie.
I have told him I’d do a zombie romance if that’s what he wants. He doesn’t. He just does that to make me insane.
You should send his wife flowers.
Y’know I seem to recall that Warm Bodies (hope I got that title right) was a decent zombie romance.
I doubt if I would enjoy it, (I mean, having your attraction to a girl increased because you ate her boyfriend’s brains?) but in any case per Wikipedia the “zombies” come back to life and therefore weren’t zombies at all. A little like those theologically incorrect movies whereby a devil is redeemed and saved by the love of a pure woman.
I think of it as a challenge. I feel certain Bob is up to it.
I liked it.
Rocky Start seems to me more fruitful ground for continuation and/or spinoff stories (I liked Bob’s sequel and prequel novellas very much). Burney: more limited plot scope. Also I felt like the protagonists for the Burney trilogy got a solidly resolved relationship and there wasn’t anybody on the outskirts whose romantic potential really interested me as spinoff material. But as you know, I am not, in general, a big fan of ‘small town’ settings so the notion of a small town as a locus for chaos is more entertaining than the notion of a small town as … itself. 🙂
oh wait damn OMG!! my brain broke!! Yikes, sorry.
Okay, the recent prequel novella *was* Burney related but … I don’t think it opens up spinoff avenues unless the protagonist is Rain.
I think both of them would be less about the romance and more about whatever the action plot is. At this point in both series, a Big Misunderstanding would make readers (and me) throw the book against the wall. The romance plot would be what-comes-after-the-happily-ever-after kind of thing. Negotiating. Adapting. It could be fun, but it wouldn’t be that first rush of emotion that makes a romance novel so good. So at that point, we’d mostly be doing mysteries, and I’d be tearing my hair out on the romance plot. But both places are fun, so that helps.
I’m excited about more Burney stories – I think there are characters with evil in their hearts that would not just slink away quietly, so there is scope there.
Like the idea of Rocky Start being a place for recovery and sanctuary too – this gives quite a lot of scope for new characters.
I love small town novels so would welcome a return to either of these.
I love it! Where and when did you and Bob meet for the first time?
Sorry! I just saw that you and Bob meet for the first time at the Maui Writers Conference in 2004.
My brain is malfunctioning. Could someone do a list of all Burney books & novellas and Rocky Start same.
I can’t think of anything right now except Sarah Addison Allen’s upcoming new release, Paper Ghosts, out September 1st. But once I’ve read that 2 or 3 times I would love to start a reread of those series while I wait for Anna.