How we do it
Sunday, November 28th, 2010 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniSome folks have had questions about The Book Presently Known as George, also known as TBPKAG and, more familiarly, as George. Also, I am reminded that I promised to talk about our “process,” which I feel may not be as interesting as expected, but a promise is a promise.
Firstly, yes, George is the book I wanted to write, as opposed to the next book due. It helps to bear in mind here that I am an extremely flighty person with a brain that craves candy. Happily for you, I also possess a degree of low animal cunning and am therefore able, pretty often, to convince my candy-loving brain that the next writing project, whatever it is, will be sweet as no project has been before. Many writers deceive their brains this way; if they didn’t, nobody would ever write anything.
Unfortunately, my brain, addicted to sweets as it may be, isn’t a total schlub — and memory is on its side. My brain therefore remembers that Ghost Ship did not write easily. Remembering this, and as it has done many times in the past, it demanded something different, to sort of clean its palate. I wave my hands around, showing that, Something Different, I have it not.
At this juncture, the back brain, which plays both sides against the middle, can usually be counted upon to toss out something Completely Off the Wall which I then persuade the brain to view as new and exciting.
In this manner, Some Writing gets done, which is good, rather than No Writing getting done, which is bad.
Now, sometimes, we don’t have the luxury of writing what we want, when we want, no matter what our brains crave. There are contracts, for instance; and the House gets to say which of multiple books pitched it wants next. So it is with the contract just closed with Baen. We pitched three books: George, Dragon Ship, and Trade Secret. I hoped that we might be able to convince Toni to take George first; she wanted Dragon Ship, which makes a Great Deal of Sense in terms of preserving the momentum of the Ghost Ship sequence, and so the delivery dates were set.
…Some of you may recall a fluffy confection called Mouse and Dragon. That book was also a Sweet of a Different Flavor. We had just finished writing, in very short order and several simultaneously, four novels: Duainfey, Longeye, Fledgling, Saltation, and we were just about out of energy on all levels. Writing M&D was fun; it was everything we low authors tell our brains that writing a book should and will be. It served to renew our energy, and our faith in our craft; and gave us the courage to pitch Ghost Ship.
You’ll note that the new contract came with rather tight deadlines; there are reasons for that, having to do with keeping new stuff with “Lee and Miller” on it on the shelves — career building stuff, which is not always the same as writing stuff.
Steve and I talked about how we were going to handle a slightly increased pace of writing, noting that five books in 18 months was not supportable. This new contract will have us writing three books in 19 months. Should be doable, barring excessive amounts of Life.
In our scheme, Steve will be doing the first draft of Dragon Ship while I work on George. On July 1, when my day-job goes to the Summer Schedule, I’ll get the draft and do my various things, while Steve moves on to Trade Secret. My hope and plan is that George will be finished in first draft by the time Dragon Ship hits my desk, and that I may have time to squeeze in another Archers Beach novel. I’m not quite confident that I can pull that off. We’ll see.
…which kind of segues in to a discussion of our “process.”
There are two of us, which is a blessing. If there were one of us, and it was me, with three books due in 19 months, and the one my brain really wanted to do right now slated for second, I’d either try to placate my brain with some Utterly Trivial short stories before I kicked in to pay copy, or try to write the first and second books simultaneously — which I feel might not be entirely satisfactory for anyone. So, it is a blessing and a mitzvah that there are two of us.
In case there was any doubt.
Alert readers will have noted that the kinds of stories told within the Liaden Universe® vary wildly. We have action! We have adventure! We have romance! We have YA! We have milSF! We have comedy of manners! We have, well…space opera, really.
This diversity of story within a single fictional universe is a direct result of there being two of us.
Our “process” consists of one of us bumping into a story idea. We may live with it for a couple days, to see how it wears, or we may blurt it out the instant it occurs. Once the idea is out there on the creative table where we can both see it, we talk about it, role-play a few possible scenes, try out some dialog, and in general kick it around to see if (1) it’s viable as a story, and (2) we really want to do it, because life is too short to write books you don’t really want to do.
Once we’ve determined that the story is one we want to tell, we rough out — verbally; our “process” includes a great deal of role-playing at all stages — a storyline. At some point, one of us will begin typing. The day’s pages are typically given to the non-typing partner at the kitchen table before the last meal of the day. They are read; the meal and its aftermath usually taken up with discussion of future scenes and dialog.
Because there are two of us, and because we do, occasionally, disagree, the person who first brought the story idea to the table is what we call the “cop” for that book — essentially, the “cop” is the third vote; the tie-breaker, in case we can’t resolve a difference of vision in some other way.
Usually, we do manage to resolve differences in vision without resorting to the cop’s vote. We do this by deferring to the characters; their necessities and the events they have set in motion. This works 99% of the time. In the whole course of our writing partnership — 18 collaborative novels and counting — the third vote has been invoked. . .twice.
Once the first draft is done by whomever is doing that, it goes to the other partner, for reading, comment, adjustment. The manuscript then goes through one more, clean-up stage before it’s put on the bus to the publisher.
…and that’s it. Exciting, no?
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Exciting?
Date: 2010-11-28 05:07 pm (UTC)(Of course, as a Skilled Writer you know that the main effect of telling us that the cop's vote was invoked twice will be to make us yearn to know what those two were... )
Cop's vote dynamics
Date: 2010-11-28 05:36 pm (UTC)I was just reading a summary of a study where some two sets accountants/consultants were given a study of a fictitious company, with the instruction to find all the serious issues. Though they were given the same base information, one group was told that there existed a possibility they might do future work for the company. The consultants who had the possibility of future work found significantly less wrong than the others, apparently 'going easy' on the future client/employer.
Maybe the cop idea works similarly. Its a great solution, the description just triggered my thoughts on the underlying dynamics of how it might work that are not obvious from the structure.
Bob
no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 05:56 pm (UTC)I wondered how the two writer thing worked...
Date: 2010-11-28 08:23 pm (UTC)Rose of Syracuse, NY
no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 09:32 pm (UTC)the third vote has been invoked
Date: 2010-11-28 11:07 pm (UTC)There has also been some discussion about role playing in grocery aisles.
Exciting, no?
Date: 2010-11-28 11:48 pm (UTC)Barb in Bandon
yes, but what about George?
Date: 2010-11-28 11:57 pm (UTC)Who's story is it about? What is it about, Where is it in the universe/universe's? and How is it going for you?
Dog with a BONE here. Loved the teaser start of your post.
Re: yes, but what about George?
Date: 2010-11-29 12:57 am (UTC)"Tentative title #2: To be Determined. . . due to the publisher a little after New Year’s 2012 — a Surebleak-centric story, with new characters and familiar characters expanded."
I'm pretty sure that's George. Here, we can all sing along.
George, George, George of Surebleak... Watch out for the TREE!
Re: yes, but what about George?
Date: 2010-11-29 12:58 am (UTC)Re: yes, but what about George?
Date: 2010-11-29 03:20 am (UTC)Re: yes, but what about George?
Date: 2010-11-29 03:39 am (UTC)*joins giggle collapse*
Barb in Bandon
Re: yes, but what about George?
Date: 2010-11-29 04:42 am (UTC)Barb
no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 01:43 am (UTC)Exciting, yes!
Date: 2010-11-29 03:28 am (UTC)I agree with the others - would love to know the back stories of the two invocations of the "third vote". Grin. Also, I agree with the others - the way you two write may be the "secret" behind the Liaden Universe's freshness.
I'm glad to find out that Mouse and Dragon was fun and refreshing to write. It has become my favorite. I've read it so many times I've lost track. I've loaded it on my Droid phone via the Kindle app. So now I can read it while standing in line, sitting on hold, etc. Its gotten to the point the husband no longer asks me what I'm reading on my phone. Thank you for that "fluffy confection", its just what my brain - and soul - needed. Yum!
Wow
Date: 2010-11-29 07:23 am (UTC)Thanks again for the inside look on the writing.
C. and Gang
A fascinating look into the process
Date: 2010-11-29 08:09 am (UTC)Your post brings home the reality of the situation. That this is a business, almost before it is art. Even when you are able to sit and write the book you really *want* to write, this post brings out that no birth is without pain, and that the process by which you bring these carefully crafted stories to life is fraught with careful choices, risk, angst and good old hard work.
Real life is fraught with random events, and the activities of real life are rarely as enjoyable to read for entertainment as are the carefully chosen and crafted, non-random happenings of a good piece of fiction.
Thank you for giving us a chance to better appreciate just how much grease is applied to the works, so that the end product falls smoothly into our laps.
variety in your books
Date: 2010-11-29 02:42 pm (UTC)I like the variety that comes from your writing system. Too many authors who do series crank out one book after another about which one can only say - same story different day (change the characters and action location and it could be the last book I read). I find it interesting that you called Mouse and Dragon fluff. It actually filled a niche and helped round out the ongoing Liaden Universe story (as your chapbooks do). I, for one, like the story. Obviously you have a great many readers who like the results of your work - so I would say your system is a success.
Bill Cowell
no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 04:43 pm (UTC)(I knew I'd seen them somewhere, thank you google)
Call for reader advertency ?
Date: 2010-11-30 02:05 am (UTC)I am ambivalent about mentioning this to readers for fear of inundating the authors with unwanted questions. However, that is not sufficient for me to hold back. They will do whatever they do and are not shy about having opinions.
I am less concerned about such things as how much is a Cantra really worth and how does spaceship board layout stay reasonably, standard over centuries, light years and cultural changes, which I chalk up to story needs.
I have long wondered how Clutch turtles came to be in the current universe. We have some explanation for Terrans, Liaders and Xytrang, which may also extend to the humanoid races which appear elsewhere.
However, if any such requests result in another piece as good as "Breath's Duty" I will be well pleased. That is one of my favorites, in part because it does tie the story elements together.
Bob
Be Careful What You Wish For
Date: 2010-11-30 03:07 am (UTC)It may "seem" to imply that to the hopeful reader, but -- no. Readers-in-general are not privy to the authors' personal contracts with regard to a certain work, or to our wagers, or, necessarily, to our jokes.
It is also. . .useful to bear in mind that we are contrary. Too much clamoring for this or that may guarantee that the story/explanation in question is never addressed.
Edited to add: It really is much easier for me to not talk about process or to tell anecdotes about our writing lives. I'd hate to have to feel that those sorts of posts were something I should avoid in future.
Hiatus in Story
Date: 2010-11-30 07:49 pm (UTC)Re: Hiatus in Story
Date: 2010-11-30 07:55 pm (UTC)*is completely baffled*
The scene that was pulled from Plan B was put back -- at Anne's direction. I don't recall that she had any complaints about I Dare.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-30 08:36 pm (UTC)on process wonderful.
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks
no subject
Date: 2010-12-01 10:21 pm (UTC)