Vroom Vroom, Bitches

Kent is more tortoise, Jen is more hare. But don’t get cocky about wagering on this race.

When it comes to our writing sessions, the same dynamic plays out over and over. After our preliminary throat clearing and internet perusing, Kent gets right to work. He types steadily for the remainder of the evening, with occasional beverage breaks and brief research sidetracks. Jen on the other hand cogitates. She does some research. She does some more research. She gets sidetracked onto a mostly unrelated topic. She looks at inspiration photos of characters and locations. She studies maps and floor plans. And then she looks at the clock and feels guilty that Kent has been working diligently all this time while she fucked around, and she finally gets started. The dam bursts and the prose pours out and she ends up putting in as many (or more) words in the end.

It’s not a competition (as we often remind ourselves), it’s collaboration. We each have our own process, and we’re both quite thrilled with the results. Although we would probably finish a novel in about half the time if Jen could figure out how to blow up the dam as soon as she sits down at the keyboard. Maybe Kent should wear roller skates and install a jet engine on his shell.

A good writing partner is someone who lets you go at your own pace, and makes sure you cross the finish line together.