We closed the blog tour with a special author interview by Shannon. It was a great way to end the week-long tour.
Day five - Cocktails and Books
Tell us about yourselves.
Cecilia – I thrive on lists and spreadsheets! Although, I might go on strike here shortly. Lately, my "To Do" list continues to grow. Each time I cross off one task another two take its place. I think some of Chris's items are migrating on to it. Oh, by the way, I am definitely the non-geek of the two. I can find my way around a website, design one from a user perspective but pretty much when my laptop is not working, Chris only has to look at it and it functions as it should. I seriously think that the internet and all computer interfaces think Chris is truly a god.
Chris – I'm a geek in real life who has found a nice outlet for my geekiness aside from coding and designing all day long. I am a minimalist when it comes to my household and I believe it's because I couldn't possibly take anything other than my brain being crowded and messy most of the time.
How did you get your start as a writer?
Cecilia — Much of my career prior to becoming a writer has revolved around some kind of writing—business, customer service related communications, program material brochures, marketing research results. I honestly the desire to do something more was something that always hovered on the edge of my mind and imagination. Whenever I found a series of books or a good stand-alone book I liked, I used to continue the story in my head. I used to carry a little note book with me to jot down phrases, lyrics, that inspired a thought or story in my head. I also captured scenes that hit me in that moment. When I met Chris, the desire to write completely took over any hesitations I had becoming a reality. The same process hits me today but now I have someone to discuss them with and run with it.
Chris – My father was a poet and musician. I have always loved literature since very little and wrote small sci-fi and fantasy stories when I was very young. The plan was to graduate in literature and write novels but life twisted the road toward technology and I spent many years deep into programming and web development. It was just two years ago that I met Cecilia and the drive to write came back full force.
What is your typical writing schedule like?
Cecilia - We don't think there is anything typical about our days. We live 4,000 kilometers apart but the distance doesn't deter us. Chris is on EST and I am on PST. Weirdly our hours seem to match. We typically spend 14 hours a day in communication via Voice Over IP, Skype, and email.
One of the first things we tackle daily is promotion, checking websites for updates, comments, posting news about the series, books, etc. Next, we discuss what we'll be working on that day or the direction of the story line.
This usually results in one of us seeing a scene and handling getting the foundation/bones of it documented. Once one of us has taken it as far as we can, we toss to the other and start at the beginning again rewriting and adding to the scene or chapter.
We continue this Ping-Pong until we feel we have the chapter finished. We also leap frog; while one is working on one chapter, the other will move to the next. During the evening hours, we discuss our stories with beta readers and spend a great deal of time online with friends.
Chris – Schedule? What's a schedule? Oh yeah...that's what Cecilia adores. I have none. But our day usually starts with me calling her at 9am and from then on we spend the whole day doing promotion, writing, tackling RP posts, etc. Whatever falls on our plate and whatever Cecilia commands.
Tell us about To Russia With Love.
Chris – To Russia With Love was our real first piece of work as a team. It was originally written as an Role Play story but in a lighter format. Once we finished writing TRWL, we tackled Countermeasure which is the prequel to TRWL and which brings a lot of background story to the table but that's to solidify the characters for the stories to come. After publishing Countermeasure, we returned to TRWL and added another 50K words to the original story, including the subplot.
Where did the idea for the Countermeasure Series come from?
Chris – After writing with the group for a while we decided to leave and look for options to continue to write together. We wanted to try something new. Something unique to us and to RP. While in search for that unique story I had a dream which became Countermeasure's prologue and the driving force behind the series—Trevor's parents' disappearance. The detail in the dream was fantastic and I was able to tell Cecilia about it the next day. Trevor and Cassandra came from that dream. Once we discussed the idea, we began to develop the characters and plot the story we were going to use for our RP story and that's how everything came to fruition.
Cecilia - The original story grew from a dream Chris had melding technology, intrigue and romance. It was the spark to the story we began to role-play. From that little spark, we created the characters, their backstory and past long before their story took shape. They were (and are) a living extension of us. We took the story to a role-playing environment as a test to find out if they could compete against the paranormal groups that ruled the role-playing world. Surprisingly, we found a loyal following once we began to play their story. We had readers hounding us for the next chapters. It was during the posting of the story that eventually became the foundation of To Russia with Love, that we realized we had to write the story of how they met and the events that led to them beginning a life of adventure together and Countermeasure was born.
How do you write the story? Do you each take a character? A section of the story?
Basically, we write each chapter together. There is not one paragraph or page in which only one person touches it. We divide our work by POV. It's the simplest way for us. If a chapter starts with Cassandra's POV, I start it and if it's Trevor's POV, Chris starts it. Whoever starts writes it until we hit a wall. We pass the chapter to the other for additions, edits and then some. Then we continue to pass it back and forth, line editing with each pass, until we feel we can go into deep editing.
The whole thing has become so fluid that even if we start chapters out of order, when it gets to deep editing, it has been shaped to fit the mold. We are so in tune with the others thoughts and ideas that there is not a big divergence of opinion regarding the direction of the story and as far as the character's POV, we respect the other's depth of understanding of the character we play. So if I write something in Cassandra's POV, Cecilia always goes through it to "Cassiefy" it and if she writes a Trevor piece, I "Trevorize" (or geekify) it.
How have Cassie and Trevor changed between the two books (other than the obvious marriage)?
They are growing to trust each other and they continue to understand and appeciate eachothers strengths and weaknesses. Trev is used to internalizing and processing in his head. Cassandra for a long time only trusted her instincts/gut. They are coming to grips with the fact that they are a team and have to confide in what they are thinking. In other words, two heads and guts are better than one. Through it all their love grows stronger. Together they are a force to be reckoned with.
What was your favorite scene from the book?
Cecilia - There are so many but one of them that stands out for me is Chapter 11, Childish. I absolutely love the interaction between best friends, Cassandra and Jessica along with the interaction between them and Trevor when he joins them for dinner. Two of my favorite lines that gave both Chris and I a good laugh came from Jessie when she knocked on Trevor and Cassandra's bedroom door after she over heard them in an intimate moment: "Hey you two! Not to be blunt, but your house was not made with visitors in mind!"... "I can't even tell you to get a room! You are already there."
Chris – My favorite scene and it might be influenced by my being a geek, is the one when Trevor is in the computer room right when all hell breaks loose and he's counting the seconds to complete the installation and initiate the destruction of the data in the mainframe. That scene, followed by the nailbiting sequence that followed was my favorite from TRWL.
What are some of your must read authors?
Chris & Cecilia - Our favorite authors are many—Karen Marie Moning, J.R. Ward, Lara Adrian, Laurel Hamilton, J.D. Robb, Katie MacAlister, Janet Evanovich, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Bernard Shaw, Yeats, Wilde. At the moment we are having fun reading stories from some new authors that we have found including: Misty Evans, Kallypso Masters, and Leigh Court.
What are three things about you that might surprise your readers?
Chris - I must wear socks at all times and will not be caught barefoot unless absolutely necessary. I'm a neat freak about workspace—cables and hard drives must be organized, desk must be in perfect order. I name every gadget of mine. Jack (Trevor's laptop, is actually my trusty Dell Inspiron's name), Roy (my android phone), Matt, George, Bob and others are my buddies. I have also named the SUV Henry, but due to my accent (not as pronounced most times but one that makes Cecilia laugh when I pronounce its name) I have resorted to calling the car, Hank.
Cecilia – Like Cassandra my mother hales from Spain. I hate, absolutely hate eggs (Shush Chris). Chris has made it into a mission to bring me to the yoke side. Ah, not happening. Oh! The whole zombie craze? Not my cup of tea, however, I know the Zombie Apocalypse is inevitable. What the hell. there are already zombie flies. Google it. ((Whispers, I know you only said three but just know that my gadgets got lonely and have earned names also. I bet you can guess what they are...*grins*))
What's next for you?
Cecilia - I always say this but it is true. We are certifiable. We have several projects in queue screaming and waiting for their turn including three more shorts novellas to take the readers between To Russia with Love and our third book in the Countermeasure Series, Alternate Connection (working title). We also have two stories unrelated to Countermeasure already half way written that will see the light of day at some point.
Chris – With us, just like our stories, the future is unpredictable. The only thing we know for sure is that we are not stopping writing any time soon. We will continue with our partnership and giving readers more hair raising adventures.