So, there’s two of us writing this novel. And the biggest question on your lips is just how we manage it. To be honest, it’s not easy and I don’t think either of us will pretend that it is – we’ll frequently joke that we need to win the lottery so that we have time to write together. Not only are we we in different time zones (even if there is only 1 hours difference, but that 1 hour can be gold dust at times) but we also work different shifts. Charlotte works days and more often than not Clara works nights. Add into that that we both have our lives … and you can see the problem.
How we manage it? I suppose what it comes down to is our dedication and our passion for what we’re doing. We love what we do and we completely believe in the work that we’re doing. We know that one day, that despite the fact that right now it can be tricky, we’ll be in a position where we can put that final full stop on the page and say we are finished. I don’t think either of us can begin to think what it’ll mean to us, but right about now it’s something that we do dream about. Drafts come and drafts go, but to have that finished article? That’s what keeps us going.
But, our secret if you can call it that is that we’ve been writing together for well over 10 years now. We’ve done a number of different genres, but in the end it’s always been fantasy that we’ve come back to. And that’s what we hold onto. Yes, there have been times when we’ve disagreed over things, yes there have been times when we’ve both thought ‘what are we doing’ but having come this far now, neither of us are going to let it slip from our fingers.
So it’s a challenge, our days are balanced out by making sure we both know what we have to do each week. We have a to do list, we have spread sheets and we both have a whole host of characters who drive us on. Sometimes it’s the characters giving us the figurative kick that we need! But either way, the week will end and we will have achieved something. So no, it’s not easy but between us we make it work.
Just recently we’ve put in a lot of work on developing our world. We have it working and functioning and I think we can both say that we know our world inside out. I’ve said it now, the forbidden words which mean that something will undoubtedly change now. But, the point is that we’re a team. We work together and more often than not we know where one another is before the other even realises. But that’s the product of 10 years of hard work, it’s taught us a lot. We know one another’s strengths and weaknesses and where we have to work to plug the holes. So no, maybe it hasn’t been easy but the one thing I think we’re both sure of is that it’s been worth it.
~ Clara
Charlotte and Clara 