Negotiations

As we talked about in our previous writing collaboration post, we’re trying to decide what our next novel-length project will be. Kent has an idea that he is very fond of. Unfortunately it doesn’t hold much appeal for Jen. This leads us to the land of negotiations.

It’s an unusual place for us to find ourselves. Not to be too smug, but we generally share a brain really well. There is very little dissension in either our marriage or our writing partnership. When we do disagree, we usually work through it pretty quickly. We’re damn near perfect!

Except now we have reached an impasse. We are stalled. Kent loves his Big Idea and, so, is having trouble brainstorming anything else. Jen thinks the idea sounds like something interesting to read, maybe, but doesn’t feel drawn to devote a year or more of her life to it. Without feeling a connection, it’s really impossible to be invested. Kent understands that. He really does.

Jen does not currently have a Big Idea to counter with, which is both good and bad. If she had a proposal it might entice Kent enough to put his baby aside, or it might cause friction, with both of us digging in our heels and fighting to the death for our own cause. It might even lead to working solo (gasp! horror!).

As it stands, Jen wants to be persuaded. Or at least she wants the reassurance of knowing what’s coming up. As we’ve said, Jen’s all about the backstory, so the more time she has to cogitate about that kind of thing the happier she is. And so Kent keeps approaching the story from different angles, desperately trying to trick Jen into writing it with him.

Have no fear, dear reader. We aren’t just spinning our wheels. After a well-earned and highly enjoyable trip to Bermuda to celebrate our anniversary, we have our noses back to the grindstone. We’re hip-deep in a read-through of our trilogy, which will lead to one more round of edits before we turn it over to our critique group again. And after that we have a stand-alone novel that’s been patiently waiting for its own round of edits. Plus there’s always marketing. And short stories.

Meanwhile, Jen has a character name she really likes, and part of another. She’s starting to form a picture of what this character (and a half) are like, which might lead to a Big Idea.

That’s when the negotiations will start in earnest.