{"id":32590,"date":"2018-07-31T08:54:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T12:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=32590"},"modified":"2022-01-11T07:40:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T12:40:50","slug":"five-things-kevin-and-delilah-learned-writing-kill-the-farm-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2018\/07\/31\/five-things-kevin-and-delilah-learned-writing-kill-the-farm-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Things Kevin And Delilah Learned Writing Kill The Farm Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\nThis is not that fairy tale.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\nThere\u00a0is\u00a0a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\nAnd there\u00a0is\u00a0a faraway kingdom, but you have never been to a magical world quite like the land of Pell.<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\nThere, a plucky farm boy will find more than he\u2019s bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there\u2019s the Dark Lord, who wishes for the boy\u2019s\u00a0untimely death . . . and also very fine cheese. Then there\u2019s a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar \u201chappily ever after\u201d that ever once-upon-a-timed.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRanks among the best of Christopher Moore and Terry Pratchett.\u201d\u2014Chuck Wendig<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you put two authors of this high caliber together, expect fireworks. Or at least laughs. What a hoot!\u201d\u2014New York Times\u00a0bestselling author\u00a0Terry Brooks<\/em><\/p>\n

If writing alone is a soliloquy, writing with a co-author is more like improv.<\/h2>\n

Kevin<\/strong>: Collaborating is turbo fun. We trade off drafting chapters and it feels a bit like an improvisational game, because while I might have a vague idea of what Delilah is going to do in a chapter plot-wise, thanks to our rough outline, I never know exactly what\u2019s going to happen or what kind of cliffhanger she\u2019s going to throw me at the end of it. And the jokes slay me too. I quickly wondered why I waited so long to try it.<\/p>\n

Delilah<\/strong>: So true. Getting a chapter from Kevin feels a little like seeing my Easter basket for the first time as a kid. When I write a book by myself, I always leave plenty of room for organic plotting, but in order to write a book with a co-writer, it\u2019s important to have a solid road map so someone doesn\u2019t veer off into a sticky swamp. But there\u2019s still plenty of room for creativity within that outline, and I love looking at each chapter\u2019s objective and trying to figure out how to delight and amuse the reader\u2014and Kevin\u2014by doing something unexpected or flipping a trope.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got to pick the right writing partner\u2014and make it legal.<\/h2>\n

Kevin<\/strong>: Trusting your partner is key, especially in the writing and editing bits, but also: Have your agents work out a collaboration agreement. Because I hate worrying about business stuff, and once the agreement is worked out, you have no worries. It\u2019s something your agents will be able to whip up amongst themselves pretty easily and it mostly involves contingency plans for unlikely scenarios.<\/p>\n

Delilah<\/strong>: There\u2019s an interesting push and pull in the co-writing relationship as each person discovers what\u2019s a deal breaker for them and what they can feel free to let the other person handle. That trust is key to knowing when to let go\u2014and to trusting that when something is important to you, whether a legal issue or a character arc or just a joke, that the other person will respect that. I feel so fortunate to work with Kevin because he\u2019s a master of his craft, a canny businessman, and a great friend. If either partner has too much ego or if the power or skill differential is too broad, I feel like it would be really hard to keep that balance of professional respect and individual artistic license. You want to pick someone you genuinely like, whose writing you like, and whose business practices are in line with yours, and it helps if they\u2019re on the same level as you are so it\u2019s an equal partnership.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll get the best synergy in person\u2014preferably with fine cocktails and Spam™.<\/h2>\n

Kevin<\/strong>: If you can, get the initial breakdown done in person. And by that I mean just jotting down the characters, what they want, and what\u2019s in their way\u2014that\u2019s a plot breakdown. The brainstorming back and forth is going to be more vibrant if you\u2019re in person instead of skyping. And where you do it can make a huge difference. We were breaking down No Country for Old Gnomes<\/em> in New Orleans while we were there for a convention. The convention hotel had a griffin on their room key cards and we looked at it and said, \u201cWe should have a griffin in this book.\u201d I honestly don\u2019t think it would have occurred to us otherwise and now we have a gryphon on the cover<\/a>. And then we went for a walk in the city, soaking up this amazing atmosphere and maybe a liter of rum drinks, and we wound up on Frenchman Street, enjoying live music in bar after bar and taking notes on ideas the whole time.<\/p>\n

Delilah<\/strong>: Gotta admit it: Storybreaking a pun book with Kevin is one of life\u2019s greatest joys, and not just because of the rum drinks. The key to hammering out a plot for us appears to be good food, great cocktails, a novel environment, and being as open and supportive as possible. Most of our plotting is just us taking turns, saying, \u201cThat\u2019s a great idea! And what if also this? And that? And some more drinks? And spam musubi?\u201d And then the other person says, \u201cHey, that\u2019s great!\u201d And then we giggle a lot. I can\u2019t imagine our books would have the same vibrancy and creativity if we were soberly skyping at 2 in the afternoon like it was a business meeting. As it is, we\u2019re maximizing our creativity through sensory enrichment and the application of flaming tiki drinks. We want to write fun books, and we want to have fun doing it.<\/p>\n

Yes, Virginia, it\u2019s still going to be hard sometimes.<\/h2>\n

Delilah<\/strong>: Sounds pretty dreamy, doesn\u2019t it? Write a book with one of your best friends and get that sweet book cash for just half the work? But it\u2019s still a book, and it still requires time on task, just with an extra helping of diplomacy and courtesy. Kevin and I each have our own individual publishing and event commitments, and we don\u2019t want to let one another down on our co-written book, which means there are all-nighters and frantic weeks of 6,000 word days to catch up after a con. Sometimes\u2014although rarely\u2014we disagree on something in the book, and it becomes a super polite dance of trying to decide how to move forward in a way that feels right for both of us. Is it worth it? 100% yes! But you shouldn\u2019t go into a co-writing experience expecting nothing but roses.<\/p>\n

Kevin<\/strong>: Yeah! Roses can be cloying anyway, and the whole point of co-authoring is to combine powers. Syncing up to maximize our strengths not only takes hard work but the expectation that the mesh will require such work. If everything was perfect with a chapter I sent over, honestly, that\u2019s<\/em> when I\u2019d start to doubt. If I didn\u2019t see Delilah tweaking and refining my stuff and inserting delightful jokes I\u2019d wonder if she read it. And because our writing processes in addition to our schedules are different, allowances obviously have to be made for workflow. The fact that Delilah is even capable of 6K-word days still boggles my mind when I write at a more plodding pace of 1-2K per day and constantly believe I\u2019m running behind.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got to learn to say, \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/h2>\n

Delilah<\/strong>: So much of writing is about being open to possibility and not letting your brain say, \u201cNo, that would never work.\u201d Kevin first pitched Kill the Farm Boy<\/em> to me at an airport barbecue joint in the Dallas airport after a great signing. Three years later, here we are. At any point, we could\u2019ve let conventional wisdom kill the project. Is the title too silly? Do people want a funny book? Will co-writing be too weird or difficult? Can we really do this in Fantasy? Can we really make that many jokes about elf boners? Instead of asking if we were allowed to do it or if it would sell, we just let ourselves have as much fun as possible. Any time I think a chapter might be too out there or wacky, I write it anyway and send it to Kevin, and most of the time, he digs it. That\u2019s how books get made\u2014you pick an idea that\u2019s too crazy to work and just write the hell out of it in exactly the way that makes you feel the most alive.<\/p>\n

Kevin<\/strong>: Yes. And because of the collaboration, we both feel safe writing some wacky stuff because we trust the other one to tell us if it works. And when it does\u2014which is most of the time\u2014it pushes us to take more creative risks. Delilah recently wrote a chapter for book three that was an extended punny riff on a particular body function that folks usually don\u2019t discuss and I had never seen anything like it before. I sat there flabbergasted and giggling after reading it and wondered if I could do something like that. Why hadn\u2019t I tried? I made my next chapter an extended riff on something else and Delilah loved it and couldn\u2019t believe I went there. Well, normally\u2014if I\u2019d been writing solo\u2014I wouldn\u2019t have! So the collaboration has challenged me and forced me to grow as a writer while remaining incredibly fun. 14\/10, would recommend doing that thing you\u2019ve always wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Find out more about Kill the Farm Boy<\/em> or order the book at the Tales<\/a> of Pell website.<\/p>\n

And if you want to find out who you would be in the world of Pell, take the easy and non-data-grabby name generator quiz<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Kevin Hearne<\/strong>: Website<\/a> | Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Delilah S. Dawson<\/strong>:\u00a0Website<\/a> | Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Kill The Farm Boy<\/strong>: Signed Copies from Worldbuilder<\/a> | Indiebound<\/a> | Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is not that fairy tale. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There\u00a0is\u00a0a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And there\u00a0is\u00a0a faraway kingdom, but you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-theramble","9":"has-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/91QRZGGYTuL.jpg?fit=1347%2C2048&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-8tE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32590"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32596,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32590\/revisions\/32596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}