Welcome to
THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF!
DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by the authors. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.
Guest Post from the Authors
Partnering in Writing
or
I keep trying to kill my spouse but they just won’t die!
By
Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger
We are a married couple who write The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series.
We have our own series and write in different styles (Janet writes contemporary murder mysteries and Will has written romantic comedy and young adult murder mysteries).
When we decided to write together people warned us that we would kill each other before it ever came to a divorce. They didn’t think our 46-year-old marriage would survive.
The best way for this strange partnership to work involves taking a business approach. We look at each novel as a project that requires careful monitoring. We meet weekly, sometimes daily and take turns with rewrites and “tweaking” the story as we get closer to sending the manuscript to our editor.
Because we look at each story as a product that entertains the reader, we make sure that our egos are checked at the door before entering into any discussion about the plot, subplots or character studies.
We found a Spanish Proverb that we adhere to:
“A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.”
The goal has always been to write a good and entertaining story for our readers.
The most rewarding part of writing together is sharing our research. Since this series takes place in the mid-1950s, Los Angeles, it requires travel and interviews with people who lived here during that time.
The results are Slivers of Glass (released 2015), Strange Markings (released 2016), Desert Ice (released 2017) and Slick Deal (to be released April 2018).
And yes, we are still married!
Will Zeilinger
Thank you for the opportunity to post on your blog, Shannon. Janet and I hope your readers will enjoy reading about our process and share it.