Things to Love and Hate About Collaboration

Karian Fabian

Returning guest blogger Karina Fabian writes fantasy and science fiction, with the occasional foray into the world of horror. Her first novel, Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, the 2010 INDIE Award for best fantasy. Her latest book, the comedic horror, Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator, was a top ten in the Preditor and Editor reader’s polls and winner of the Global E-Book Award for best horror.

Colleen Drippe

Colleen Drippe (her co-author on “Frightliner”) has been writing since age six and has had a lot of science fiction, a moderate amount of horror and fantasy, and assorted nonfiction scattered throughout the small press and online. She also writes for children and has had three children's books published so far (The Little Blue House, Christmas at the Little Blue House, and Mystery at Miners’ Creek) and another one (Growing with the Little Blue House) due out any day. She has had one sf book published (Godcountry) and another (Gelen!) coming out this year. She is the former editor of Hereditas (of happy memory but dried up funding) and is currently working on another sf book along with various other projects.

Things to Love and Hate About Collaboration

by Karina Fabian

Frightliner: and Other
Tales of the Undead

Colleen Drippe and I collaborated on “Frightliner,” the novella in Frightliner: and Other Tales of the Undead. We enjoyed it so much, we are now collaborating on a fantasy. I thought I’d share what I love about collaborating and what I don’t like as much.

Five Things to Love:

1. Twice the idea power. Colleen added characters to the story that I would never have thought of, and it made the entire story richer.

2. You’ll find the story going in directions you would not have imagined. When Colleen sent me the first scene, in which Reba gets attacked, I realized she had a tone totally different from mine. I got to stretch as a writer to match that in my scenes.

3. You have someone to hold you accountable, so you produce. Let’s face it: when you don’t have a contract, it’s easy to put off writing, but knowing someone is waiting eagerly to see what you’ve written can make all the difference.

4. You can catch each other’s mistakes. Two sets of eyes. ’Nuff said.

5. It’s fun to share ideas with someone else.

Five Things that Challenge:

1. You have to negotiate on everything. After all, it’s not just your story. We actually didn’t have much of that in “Frightliner,” but this new story has already led to each of us rewriting scenes the other did.

2. You need to be patient waiting for your partner to come back with his or her part of the story. Life can now get in the way of writing twice as much.

3. You may have to backtrack, rewrite scenes, re-imagine characters in order to make the story flow. This really is a natural part of any editing process, but it’s even more important if you want to have a smoothly reading story.

4. You MUST put ego aside.

5. Splitting royalties is a pain if the publisher won’t do it for you. It’s a nit, but it’s a consideration, especially if neither of you is particularly financially-minded. (I don’t know if Colleen is, frankly, but since I was the one taking the lead in finding a publisher, I made it a condition in the contract.)

Prioritizing Tips: or Making the Mountain into a Molehill

Karina Fabian

Guest blogger Karina Fabian shares her advice on juggling multiple priorities, along with a video book trailer for her new release, Mind Over Mind.

Even though it's been a hot summer, I've had this impression for months that I'm staring up at an impending avalanche. No snow is involved, however; just a pile of tasks that could daunt the most skilled organizer. On days I feel more like running for my life than tackling my to-do list, I have to remember that only two things will save me from my self-imposed danger. Prioritizing and getting to work.

Prioritizing is what gets the important things done first; think of it as helping you get the worst of that snowdrift out of the danger zone so you can pick at the icicles later. How do you do this? Decide before you look at your list what is most important to you and why. Since I'm a professional writer--meaning I sometimes get paid for my work--I prioritize my tasks this way:

1. What do I have a contractual obligation for? If I have a contract for a book or story, it gets done before anything else.

2. What can I get paid for? If my publisher might like the next book on my mind, I put it higher on the list than one I've got no market for yet.

3. What will support my other books? Sometimes, I will stop and write a short story in one of the universes I have novels in to submit to magazines. This is both writing and marketing!

4. Is there an opportunity I need to jump at?

5. What's going to further my dream? Sometimes, this might have to force itself higher on the chain. For example, I have a trilogy I think has a good chance with one of the Big Six. I've not had time to write it yet, however, so I've earmarked several months in 2012 for it.

Here is my avalanche:

My publisher is interested in a second Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator book. Another publisher has the first in my Mind Over Mind trilogy, which came out in August. I had the chance to pitch a book I've been working on to my ideal publisher for it. I had three anthologies I want to write for. I have a book coming out in April (Live and Let Fly), and I have an idea for a book that I think could get me an agent.

It sounds like a huge, impossible mass of work--and avalanche ready to happen, right? However, because I have it prioritized, I could handle these in sequence:

--Mind Over Psyche, the second in the trilogy, went out in March

--April-June, I worked on Neeta Lyffe II, putting it aside in June to finish Discovery to pitch to Ignatius

--in July, while finishing Discovery, I also wrote a story with the main character from Mind Over Mind to send to the anthology. The other stories will wait until October

--in August, I am alternating between Discovery's polish and Live and Let Fly's edits

--I will finish Neeta II in September

--I start the serial stories in November (and they will be pretty automatic once I finish the set-up)

--I will write Damsels and Knights Jan-April

I conquer each task by priority, and while other things may pop up, they will get put in their proper spot (or disregarded if they don't make the priority list).

Sometimes as writers, we're tempted to give in to the stereotype that as creative people, we cannot bind ourselves to a particular task. That attitude gets you buried under the avalanche. You can identify your priorities, so before you take on the tasks, figure out what's important to you, set priorities, assign tasks and go!

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