Moira Rogers Quacks about Writing
Friday, March 6, 2009 11:13
I met the Bree half of Moira Rogers several months ago in a multi-fandom community, and from there it was like some kind of synergy had taken place. Our taste in books, particularly romance, is frighteningly similar, and so when the first Moira Rogers books came out, I became an instant fan. Now, with Crux, the dynamic duo of Bree and Donna have taken a leap into urban fantasy that Sandy and I both love. In celebration of the release of Crux, Bree and Donna, the two halves of Moira Rogers, stopped by the pond to talk to us about their writing process. Stay tuned at the end of this post for a contest!
And now, please welcome Moira Rogers!
When Shannon gave me a long leash to come up with my own topic for a guest blog post, my first thought was, “Oh, she’s going to regret this.” Before we get started, I feel like I should issue a disclaimer up front so no one can say they weren’t warned:
I, the Bree half of Moira Rogers, am an enormous geek.
There, I said it. No take backs. I’m a dorky McDork pants geek princess, and on most days my partner in crime is no better. Donna and I love gizmos and gadgets, comic books and computers, and we really, really like RPGs. We met our husbands in a table top role playing game at the local comic book store in a true romantic comedy tale too geeky for publication. We played dozens of games over the years, and we always had one thing in common: we drove everyone crazy with our elaborate back stories and highly flawed characters who were more likely to get the party blown up than actually kill the bad guy.
What can I say? We love a good redemption storyline.
Donna and I are a comparatively rare oddity in the writing world. We’re two people who share a single penname, and that penname is our career. We’re not two authors who have joined forces to write works together; we’re two writers who have joined forces to become one author. There’s a Captain Planet joke in there I’m dying to make, but I don’t want Shannon to beat me too severely when this is over, so I’ll refrain.
We get a lot of questions about how we write and what our process is. People are always fascinated that we have taken this seemingly terrifying leap of faith together, that we do something so intensely personal as telling a story together and somehow at the end of the day are still friends.
The first thing I tell everyone who asks is this: it is not for everyone. We have our epic battles and fights, our spats and our disagreements. We have hurt feelings when someone says, “Oh, okay, so what you’re saying is you want them to name that baby Deus ex machina.” (Ouch, I’m still smarting from that, Donna. More so because you had to be right.)
There are a hundred ways to write a story, and I don’t think any of the methods are the one true way. What I do know is that I can’t imagine working with someone who didn’t prioritize the story elements in the same way I do. Donna and I have our gamer roots to thank for this agreement, I think, because our number one concern is always the characters. Every character in every book we write has a complex history, family, a personality, trouble and triumphs. Every character. That guy who showed up for 3 minutes on the telephone? Him too. We love creating characters. We stash facts and tidbits about them in a top secret wiki—facts that might look a little like a character sheet.
At the end of the day, we almost never have a story idea before we have characters. Our characters shape our stories because each one is the story we think we want to tell for this character. It also means killing them feels like the loss of a person with so many potential stories left to tell, but when you’re writing dangerous books, sometimes you lose people. (Sob.)
Now the nitty gritty: how do we do it?
We each have our stable of characters, and we are the boss of them. All their words, actions, reactions and feelings are ours to decide. We do not have fights over what a character “should” do, we discuss what a character “would” do and how the heck we’re going to fix the repercussions of any given action. We literally write around each other. We don’t each write a chapter, or a POV scene, or anything like that. We write…paragraphs. Or sentences. Or sometimes words. Sometimes those words go in each other’s sentences.
Our husbands are used to listening to us hash out plots. “What would Joe do if…” “But how would Keith react if…” We don’t get to wing it, or we might be writing two different scenes. Even with careful planning sometimes the story can feel a bit like wrestling something into place, because while Donna and I think almost the same…well, almost is still not completely. Sometimes she’ll write a character saying something that would have never in a million years occurred to me, something I never would have written on my own.
And that’s when it feels a little bit like magic.
I could talk all day about the little details, but sometimes it’s hard to tell just what parts of this people really want to know about. So if you have a burning question about life as one half of Moira Rogers, ask! Nothing is sacred…well, a few things are sacred. Like the true location of the Bat Cave. But other than that, ask away!
CONTEST! Three winners will be chosen to win copies of anything from Moira Rogers’ backlist But you have to work for it! Leave a comment on this post with your questions about Bree and Donna’s writing process and you’ll be entered into the contest!
Thanks to Bree and Donna for stopping by and quacking with us!
Janice Golden says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:28 am
I wanna win
Bridget H says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:29 am
What made you guys decide to be writers? And what made you decide to write together?
Ute Heikaemper says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I always wondered how it works when two authors are writing one book.
Your way sound pretty intense and timeconsuming
Viv Arend says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hi Bree, you geek you! That’s a hoot.
So my question is about the geek side of co-writing. You said you could write paragraphs or lines bouncing back and forth between the two of you. Are you ‘physically’ together? I don’t think so, not always.
So how do you get the ms back and forth? Is it an attachment with ever increasing #’s in the file/save/name section?
Because I co-wrote a short story (2K!) with a friend at Christmas and the hardest part seemed to be the logistics of keeping the most current version…current! I can’t imagine trying a longer story without a better method in mind.
Ashley Madden says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:38 am
How do you come up with characters? Do you have to sit down and think about it, or do they just pop up in your head at random?
CrystalGB says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Great post. I find it facinating how writers collaborate on books.
molli says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Ooh, I LOVE how you managed to sneak Joe in there just for me!
hugs
molli
Karin says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Bree, I’m always interested in learning more about your writing process with Donna. Like others, I’m truly fascinated with the fact that the two of you write together as one author, especially when you come out with the fantastic stories you have. So, in trying to come up with questions about your process, I thought of a few and here they are:
How do you split up your characters?
Do either one of you write most of the males and the other most of the females or is it all just a mix where you write whichever characters speak to you, be they male or female?
Also, how do you write the prose when there aren’t really characters involved? Stuff like the descriptions, or is it whoever is writing the character seeing the things that does those descriptions?
txfilly says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:47 am
What a fantastic giveaway – hope I can win it!
Question: How do the two of you resolve disagreements about direction of the character or plot?
Regina says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I don’t think like most women, so I’m told! LOL I’m more a man’s woman so I tend to think or agree with men than women, though I am feminine I do think women are just too dramatic and outright silly for the most part. My husband and I agree (unless he’s wrong! LOL) so do you and your husband usually agree or have battles over the way a man would react to a given situation? I’m a Sag and my hubby is a Virgo so we do see things on a different plain sometimes ; ))
Bree says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Are you ‘physically’ together? I don’t think so, not always.
Actually we’re usually not together when we’re writing. We do it sometimes, but we are easily distracted when we’re in the same room. LOL Usually we have a day or so a week where we hang out and chat and plot and sometimes even make complicated lists on my office white board. Then during the week we write from our separate homes. Which leads me to…
So how do you get the ms back and forth? Is it an attachment with ever increasing #’s in the file/save/name section?
We tried a lot of things. One thing we do use is Microsoft Live Sync so we can keep all of our files synced up. We have a joint folder and everything we change in there gets updated automatically to the other computer.
However, with the writing, we’re usually a lot lazier. I have a gmail account set up just for writing, and we tend to just write the manuscript in the body of a plain text email. Then Donna uses her manuscript mojo to kung-fu it into some sort of actual pretty manuscript, and line-edits it at the same time.
Over the last year we’ve learned it’s best if you keep me away from the manuscripts all together… they are not my strongest suit. I’ll stick to doing the web stuff. LOL Seriously, I’m the worst proof-reader ever. I will not notice if my own name is spelled incorrectly. Donna, on the other hand, could look at an entire page of text and find the 1 mistake in under 20 seconds. This is why it’s nice to have a partner.
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:53 am
@BridgetH: I think we’ve both been writing for as long as either of us can remember. And our styles used to be very similar even before we started writing. We would plot and brainstorm, and it seemed like writing something together was the next logical step for us.
@Ashley: Good question! I can’t really speak for Bree, though I think her process works mostly like mine, which is…it depends. Sometimes I’ll start off with a concept like “badass alpha wolf bounty hunter,” and sometimes it’s nothing more than one or two defining characteristics. I’ve even had entire characters that spun off from a line of someone else’s dialogue. What I really love doing is forming a hero or heroine when his/her counterpart has already been developed; talk about a match made in Heaven!
Bree says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
@Regina
My husband and I agree (unless he’s wrong! LOL) so do you and your husband usually agree or have battles over the way a man would react to a given situation?
Well, usually my husband, much as I love him, doesn’t get a say. LOL There are times when Donna and I conduct informal polls of our various menfolk, both husbands and gamer geek friends, but for the most part I’m very comfortable with the assumption that “men” as a gender don’t all react to a given situation the same way any more than women do.
We like to think of characters as a sum of their experience and their culture, and in a lot of cases these cultures are ones we’ve created–that is the joy and danger of writing paranormal books! My husband might be able to give me insight into how a special education teacher who grew up in Alabama might respond to a given situation, but I think we’re equally qualified to guess how a blueblood shapeshifter from Texas might react to danger. (Shoot it! Shoot it! Shoot it and then eat it!)
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
@Karin: Actually, sometimes we split the characters up according to whether one of us can handle writing another hero at the moment. When we have multiple projects going on, there’s usually a good split, but sometimes we’ll realize one of us is writing three heroes at once, and that is just too damn many. (Bree would like to point out that this is especially true if they are highly alpha and therefore asses. LOL) Though we do each have our favorite kinds of heroes to write–I tend to lean more toward good-natured and snarky, but Bree is better with the, um, broody asses. (See above.)
Also, the descriptive narrative usually falls to whomever has the POV character at the moment. It does, after all, depend on what that character would notice about his/her surroundings.
@txfilly: When we disagree about plot, we just have to hit the white board and hammer at it until we come up with a satisfactory solution. Sometimes this involves yelling and vodka. It usually involves chocolate.
As for disagreements about characters, we don’t have them. Each of us is responsible for characters, main and secondary, and that development isn’t really called into question. If something a character does is going to cause problems, like a punch to the face or someone leaving, we discuss how to resolve it. But Bree would never dream of saying, “But your character wouldn’t do that!” And vice versa.
Kimberley Coover says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I wanna win too!!! I love to read and it amazes me how anyone can write a book. After reading your interview, I am doubly impressed. It sounds almost like a marriage ( with better communication and compromise).
If one of you ever experience writers block/brain freeze, does this make the other feel more “under the gun” to make a break through? Or are you able to talk thru these times and circumvent any block?
Regina says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Oh, that’s funny! I forgot for a moment we weren’t talking about “real life”! I often find myself trying to explain vampire or shifter reality and myth to my husband when we see some movie LMAO
Cathy M says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
As to your stories, do you have any special characters that you are dying to write about?
Sharon Baker says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Do the two of you think of things together, or just match up what
you make up in order to make things work.
Good Luck and keep up the good work.
Sharon Baker
Beth Miller says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I’m curious how you blend your writing styles from 2 different minds into 1 book.
Natasha says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
When you DO get a chance to play D&D, what types of characters do you prefer?
Phyllis says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I have always wanted to be a writer, but it’s only in the last couple of years that I have started writing. It took me several tries to get to the end of a book instead of giving up and starting something new. Or, in my current case, I got to the end, and then realized that it needed a lot more to really resolve everything. Which brings me to my questions:
How do you know when you’ve arrived at the end? How do you get the big issues to wrap up without each of you wanting to wrap a different way? And then, how do you edit? I mean, if someone else came in and started slashing out stuff that I loved, I would be furious, even if I knew it needed to be done (which is my biggest problem right now – 50+ pages where nothing actually happens)
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
@Natasha: Chaotic neutral rogue. LOL Which drives my Lawful good paladin husband crazy.
Shell the Hockeyvampiress says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Hi Bree and Donna,
Like everyone else here I love to read the paranormal and alpha male stories. I wanted to know if before Moira appeared did you both have careers in writing separately or do you now write separate from each other. ? Oh Yeah and I wanna win!!!!!!!!
Kasey P says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
It seems that the two of you have a great working relationship that works. How did the two of you meet?
Bree says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
@Natasha
When you DO get a chance to play D&D, what types of characters do you prefer?
My favorite D&D character is my berserker barbarian, Vai, who is not very bright and occasionally attempts to communicate with enemies or the occasional elemental through the medium of interpretive dance.
…I like quirky characters.
And since Donna admitted her husband’s favorite, my husband is the one who betrays the party every single time. It’s not a real game until he’s turned on us and possibly had Donna kill his character in vengeance.
Natasha says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
@ Donna : BOTH of those characters I can’t play. I am still pretty new at it, so I do simple characters that kick the snot out the bad guys. Although I have a were-spider that I am playing that does a bit of magic
I am jonesing now for some D&D
Natasha says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
@ Bree: That rocks! I love DIFFERENT characters, I am always going through obscure d&d books to find different ones. ie: my were spider
Also, we have a player that drinks/tastes EVERYTHING. Potion not identified? He drinks it. Bottle of something: he drinks it.
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
@Cathy: Right now, we’re working on Dylan’s story in the third Red Rock Pass book, and Nick’s story in the sequel to Crux. And I’m very excited at the possibility of getting to revisit a minor character from Last Hope–Adrian’s friend Isabel, a tough FBI agent who needs a fabulous love interest.
@Sharon: I think, on order for us to be able to write together, it has to be a little of both. We can’t be married to our ideas, or we’d never get anything done. For example, we just entirely re-plotted the third book in the Southern Arcana series because our old plot wasn’t going to work anymore. It was one that I’d come up with and liked, but I had to let it go. So it’s all about compromise.
@Beth: I don’t know if the blending is something we could do entirely consciously. Our styles meshed well before we began writing, and we’ve certainly had to work at making things as seamless as possible, so that a reader can’t tell that two people wrote it. What helps is that we’ve picked up things from each other…though our editor might just gnash her teeth about that. LOL
ann marie says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Hi, Bree and Donna
Have either of you ever thought of writing a story by yourself? Or will it always be a joint affair?
Natasha says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
@ Ann Marie: OH good question!
Nancy Bristow says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Have any of your books made it to print yet? I know that it was supposed to happen and want to make sure I haven’t missed the announcement….Nancy:)
Bree says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
@anne marie:
Have either of you ever thought of writing a story by yourself? Or will it always be a joint affair?
I think every once in a while we mention it, but I know that I probably never will. Donna keeps me accountable with the writing and prods me along when I’m not in the mood, and for me it’s just more enjoyable that way. I could start a story on my own… I doubt I’d finish it though.
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
@Phyllis: The first thing Bree and I try to do is figure out what story we need to tell. Without a rough idea to begin the outline, there’s no telling how long we’d ramble before we got to the point. And we DO have to have an outline, even if we stop and revise it all the time. Sometimes the projected resolution of a book changes multiple times while we’re writing it.
Editing, haha. I do most of it, though it’s typically for grammar and flow rather than structure. We tend to write on the light side, because it’s easier for us to add scenes rather than excise them. The question we try to ask ourselves and each other with every scene as we plot and write is, “What is this accomplishing? Could we do without this?” Most of the time, we’re able to stay on track that way.
Bree and I have to have arguments and disagreements, because we’re human. But it still hurts less than having an editor tell you she dislikes something you’ve done, and you need to change it right away. That’s what smarts.
Bree says:
March 6th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@Shell
I wanted to know if before Moira appeared did you both have careers in writing separately or do you now write separate from each other
We didn’t! We just sat down one day and said, “Hey, let’s try writing a book together.” (Actually that book became Crux.) We have not had and do not have independent careers. Maybe some day that will change, but probably not soon.
@Kasey P
How did the two of you meet?
We met online in 2000 and became good friends right off the bat. In 2001 Donna and I met up in LA for my birthday in March, and I admitted to her that the California economy was going to do me in. She told me I should move to Alabama and become her roommate. It was a crazy suggestion, but I was 21 and fond of adventure, so in May I got on a Greyhound bus and moved to Alabama. And I’ve been here ever since.
@Nancy Bristow
Have any of your books made it to print yet?
Crux will be our first book in print later this year.
The first two Red Rock Pass books will also be going to print as one volume sometime next year, after the second book, Sanctuary Lost, comes out in June.
Bree says:
March 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
@Kimberley Coover
It sounds almost like a marriage ( with better communication and compromise).
LOL! Actually, my husband does refer to Donna as “Your Other Half.” Our husbands are both very tolerant of our BFFness, but I say they knew what they were getting into, since we were like this when we met them.
Raonaid says:
March 6th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Oooh, D&D, I always wanted to learn how to play (have a friend that said she’d teach me if ever I was in her neck of the woods) and obsessed with their elves and lore (sylvans and drows are my favs)
The only question I could think up, do you two guys brainstorm on the “correct” or “fitting” names for your characters? Or how do you decide on the “right” name. I tend to be very finicky with choosing names for role playing characters.
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@Raonaid: The right name is sometimes very important, but I’m not as nuts about it as I used to be unless there’s a good reason. True story: I fought against changing Nick’s name in Crux to something more feminine. It’s part of her characterization–She’s “Nick Peyton”, not “Nicole Parker Peyton.”
Jo Anne Benware says:
March 6th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
A terrific blog? I dont really know what to call it. I’ve been interested in writing with someone. Actually my cousin and I are going to put our heads together and write a book. The only thing is she lives in North Carolina and I live in upper New York State. I know that we can use the phone and email back and forth. She doesn’t know how to im. But she knows how to shop. LOL .
My question is does long distance play a big factor in writing together? Why not go chapter to chapter, meaning you write one and Donna the other? Do you ever get carried away with a great spark and just write the hell out of it, either of you?
Thanks
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
@Jo Anne: The best answer is because this is what works for us. There are certainly characters Bree has developed that I could write, but there are also others I couldn’t even begin to wrap my brain around. If I tried to guess what one of them would do in a given situation, I’d be 75% likely to get it wrong.
And we don’t trade every scene back and forth. There are scenes which involve only my characters or only Bree’s, and those we do write alone. If we get a spark, it’s usually because things are flowing well and scenes are progressing nicely, and that’s something we can share.
dorothy l says:
March 6th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
your writing style reminds me of movie or tv script writing do the two of you think it is like that ? And would you like to write for a tv show ? con5459(at)gmail(dot)com
Gayle O says:
March 6th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Do you live near each other or is all your communication done over the computer or telephone? I think it would be easier to hash things out if you were by each other. Do you write one chapter and then the other half writes the next chapter and so forth or how do you go back and forth if not by every scene?
Lindsey Ekland says:
March 6th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Love what I have read of Crux and plan on finishing it later today. DO you already have the rest of the stories outlined? I can already feel the need to get to know Nick and everyone else a whole lot better.
Leslie Jane says:
March 6th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I’ve always been fascinated by how writers write. Do you two write for a specific amoutn of time each day, or specific hours, and do they sinc with each other. What if one of you gets an inspiration in the middle of the night? Do you call the other one.
Keep up the good work.
Leslie Jane
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@dorothy: I think there’s a certain similarity between what we do and writing for TV, if only because the process is collaborative, just like a show’s writing team.
@Gayle: We live about half an hour’s drive from each other. A lot of our plotting and stuff we do in person, because you’re right about that being easier. But most of our actual writing is done by sending chapters back and forth, each of us adding a scene or paragraph (or even just a line) until they’re complete.
@Lindsey: Thanks! Glad to know you’re enjoying it. We’re a little over halfway done with Nick’s book already, have a third one vaguely outlined, and have a few more kind of percolating in our minds.
@Leslie Jane: We do most of our writing in the evening or late at night, and there’s always something to work on, either writing or developing, if we get a sudden flash of solo inspiration.
Debby Creager says:
March 6th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Who comes up with the idea for a book more? Or is it a joint decision?
Debby Creager
cleo@hbeark.com
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
@Debby: Usually, one of us will mention a concept or a past secondary character whose story we’d like to tell, and then we work out a plot. I’d say the ideas are about 50/50.
jer says:
March 6th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
It’s a fascinating process how two minds come together. Do you write the intimate scenes when they pop up in the plot – or do you come back to them? Also, do you each write with a particular reader in mind? What processes do you use to develop your characters?
Great writing and thanks for some memorable characters.
Donna says:
March 6th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
@jer: We write everything linearly. If we’re having a problem getting through a scene, we tend to see it as a sign that something needs to be different. So we reconsider the scene.
With the development, what we try to do is just figure out as much as we can. When you know everything about a character down to what he or she would order to drink in a bar, it’s not hard to know how that character would react to a given situation.
Channon Valentine says:
March 6th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Do you two ever argue over who get to do want in a scene? And how long have you two know each other??
You guys do sure great work together I was just wondering.
Kim S. says:
March 6th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
What a great interview! Every time I read a two author book, I always wonder how it’s written. This sure clears up so much in my mind!!
My question is…have you ever written something in a book that at a later date you wished you could/had change(d)?
Congrats on your release of Crux!!
LINDA BASS says:
March 6th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
OH, SIGN ME UP TO WIN! THIS IS SO EASY AND I DON’T HAVE TO REMEMBER MY BLOG NAME AND PASSWORD!!
LINDA BASS says:
March 6th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
GOOD LUCK ALL OY YOU!
tasha says:
March 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
have you eve threaten to kill the other?
molli says:
March 6th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
If there is only one piece of chocolate left, and no husbands to go fetch more, who gets the bigger part if you divide it?
Lexee says:
March 6th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Do you guys meet often or you do just talk on the phone, im, email…?
I’d love to win.
Sandra says:
March 6th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I can’t tell who writes what. It’s pretty seamless. I’m about half way through Crux and would like to kick that Council and what they do to Michelle, hope her story will happen.
Just love the alphas you create in all your books. Will there be more Last Call books after Tequila Sunset?
Amy S. says:
March 6th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Great post! Is there a genre you haven’t written in but would like to?
Tamsyn says:
March 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I am a gamer myself and I love role playing games. Have played all the Final Fantasy series and the Dragon Quest series. You mentioned that your gamer background plays an important part in how you write your books. However, if you don’t already have a story plot, how do you write write and develop your characters?
Sarah Ulfers says:
March 7th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Do you role up your character ‘s? Or is it anything goes?
Andrea says:
March 7th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Wow, I had all these questions in mind, but since I didn’t want to ask something someone already asked, I scrolled through and read all the posts. Now I’ve run out of questions, because they’ve all been answered!
Here’s one I don’t think has been answered yet.
How do you find the time to do all the writing, especially with busy lives outside of writing? It amazes me how quickly and seamlessly you are able to write together. I would think it would take forever since “real life” would intrude.
Sandy M says:
March 7th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Oh, sorry I missed all the fun today! But great to see you guys here. Keep those stories comin’!!
Essay Writing Boy says:
March 7th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Very interesting two different style of writing collide. That’s the meaning of versatility.
Shirley says:
March 7th, 2009 at 7:35 am
It’s too hard to coordinate vacation plans with someone else long distance…can’t imagine trying to write that way. You two must really be in sync and have a great system of communicating. Just keep it up! Can’t wait to read your latest urb rom.
Roxanne says:
March 7th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I love what I’ve read of your books so far, but have been lacking money to buy any lately. I know that anything you two write has to be good.
How hard was it to submit the first draft to a publisher? I’ve always thought of writing a book, but am afraid that no one would want to read what I write.
Bree says:
March 7th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
@Channon
Do you two ever argue over who get to do want in a scene? And how long have you two know each other??
We argue sometimes, but it’s more about what the POINT of the scene is. We try really hard to make sure that every scene has a reason for existing, and if we can’t both agree on what it is, we sometimes have to start it over–or get rid of it.
And we’ve known each other since 2000, so nine years now.
@Kim S.
have you ever written something in a book that at a later date you wished you could/had change(d)
Not necessarily with plot or events, but the craft of writing is something I’m always learning. It means sometimes I go back and look at old stuff and think I would have phrased something a different way, or written about it differently… or maybe told more/less of a story. But the plot… nah. I never wish the plot had changed.
@tasha
have you eve threaten to kill the other?
At least twice a week. LOL
@molli
If there is only one piece of chocolate left, and no husbands to go fetch more, who gets the bigger part if you divide it?
Donna. Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I’m scared of her.
@Lexee
Do you guys meet often or you do just talk on the phone, im, email…?
We usually get together once or twice a week at least, and talk on the phone and IM all the time in between.
@Sandra
Will there be more Last Call books after Tequila Sunset?
Actually, if all goes well there will be quite a few more, we just won’t be the only ones writing them! We’re working with our fellow Changeling authors to have a multi-author series set in a new Last Call bar in Europe. Plenty of fun from lots of different authors!
@Amy S.
Great post! Is there a genre you haven’t written in but would like to?
I think we both love the idea of historical. It just isn’t something that has worked out quite right yet. I’d love to write a full length post-apocalyptic book, too… I love books set after the end of the world!
@Tamsyn
However, if you don’t already have a story plot, how do you write write and develop your characters?
The same way you would if you were gaming! Make a character who is interesting to you, and hope the GM doesn’t kill them off too fast.
No, that really is how we do it. We come up with a couple of characters, figure out how they’d interact, and then decide what kind of story would be the most interesting one to tell about them.
@Sarah
Do you role up your character ‘s? Or is it anything goes?
We don’t roll characters, but we are very careful that we retain a little bit of that balance. If a character is going to have lots of power, they need some disadvantages to balance it out. And if they’re 21, they’re probably not going to be an expert on too many things yet. I don’t like characters with nothing to learn–they’re boring to read about because, well, they have nothing to learn!
@Andrea
How do you find the time to do all the writing, especially with busy lives outside of writing?
This is where the fact that we are a well balanced partnership saves us. We are brilliant multi-taskers. We could be trading a story back and forth while Donna cooks dinner and plays with her kids and I clean my office and answer work e-mail. We never write for big chunks of time, but we do a few lines every 10 or 15 minutes all day long. Eventually it adds up!
@Shirley
You two must really be in sync and have a great system of communicating
T-Mobile’s Fave Five.
Some days we just wander around and do our chores and daily work with our bluetooth headsets on and chatting at each other. The number of minutes we blow through in a month just talking to each other numbers in multiples of 1000.
@Roxanne
How hard was it to submit the first draft to a publisher?
It is always hard! I think it always will be hard. We have two editors we work with for the majority of our work now, and even though we love them both, we’re still terrified every time we send them something.
But sometimes you just have to do it!
I think the best thing to do is to find an honest friend to read it first. Donna and I have a few people who act as beta readers for our finished stuff, but it would be hard to find a critique partner to be as brutally honest with us as we are with each other. And sometimes it stings–but I’d rather hear it from Donna when I can still fix it than from an editor who is wondering what I was smoking when I came up with my “brilliant” idea. LOL
Patricia says:
March 7th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
do you ever want kill off each other’s characters?
D you sometimes what do do a different book first and how do you solve
Rhonda says:
March 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I don’t know if this has already been asked – Do you think it is easier or harder to write with someone else instead of by yourself?
I would love to win – I’m getting ready to read Crux.
Marcy Strahan says:
March 7th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I am so hungry for a new book!
***Winners of the Moira Rogers Contest*** : The Good, The Bad and The Unread says:
April 25th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
[...] A few weeks ago we asked Bree and Donna of Moira Rogers fame to come talk to us about their writing process. [...]