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Greetings everyone! Today I have author M.A. Church with a most interesting topic: To co-author or not?
She's recently had some experience, writing with Julie Lynn Hayes a mm novel titled Be My Alien. (I have to say I love their cover. Yum! If that's the alien, I'll be happy to be his.)
Welcome M.A.!
To co-author or
not to co-author
Well now, that *is* the question, isn’t it, lol? When I
first started writing, I really didn’t get the whole co-authored thing, and I
also had dozens of questions on how it would work. *shrug* I dismissed the
whole concept, actually, as something that wasn’t for me.
Then I met Julie Lynn Hayes, lol. Julie and I became
friends when she edited my Nighttime series. As time passed, we became very
good friends. Then the fateful day came and one of us made a joke about
co-authoring something… and there you go, lol. Our first co-authored book, Be My Alien, was born.
My first question was how the devil did this deal work?
Would I do a chapter, then she do one? Who was supposed to take notes? Could we
both write each other’s characters? *laugh* Julie was very patient with me, and
decided how we wanted to do this. I also found this isn’t for everyone. Stories
written by two people can be a thing of beauty… or a flipping nightmare. I did
worry about the nightmare part, to be honest. I found out very quickly in order
to work together the co-authors had better be able to separate friendship from
business. It’s give and take, and most relationships are, right?
I can’t speak for all co-authors, and this post is
strictly from my perspective. But in Julie’s and my working relationship
there’s a level of trust, which is needed for those times when bluntness is
called for. I can tell you, this is no place for egos. Julie and I are good
enough friends we can shoot down an idea, or twist an idea, or expand on it…
and there’s no hard feelings. And we’ve done just that. It comes down to what’s
best for the book.
We also share the workload. Meaning we both deal with edits, emails, setting up
promotions, picking titles, choosing the cover, and anything else connected
with our book. We both wrote it, so why should only one of us have to deal with
all the little things? It’s sort of like a symbiotic relationship.
We’re also comfortable enough to write each other’s characters.
Our voices are similar enough to do that and pull it off. She came up with Taz,
and I created Reed. Why didn’t I take the alien when I’ve written aliens
before? For that very reason. Julie has more experience writing than me, but
scifi is one of my loves, lol. I’ve written aliens, so we agreed she’d do Taz
for the experience. And God, Taz is a cutie.
Julie likes to say I got her into scifi, lol.
There are pros and cons to this too. One of the pros is
working with someone. One of the cons is… working with someone, lol. When my
hubby is off, I’m not usually on the computer. That’s our time together. So
that means for a day or two I’m not available. Of course, that doesn’t include
emergencies. Then there’s the fact I still have one child at home. Throw in
she’s about to graduate this year and things can get busy.
I guess my overall point is co-authoring a book can be
good, bad, or downright ugly. Friendships can be strengthened or destroyed. The
whole damn thing can turn into a PIA of major proportions. I like to think this
has helped my friendship with Julie grow. We haven’t scratched each other’s
eyes out yet, lol.
As I said, these are just my
thoughts. J
Blurb:
A man too busy for love…
Reed owns an upscale men’s boutique with
a naughty back room. While making a late delivery to a client, he runs into
Taz.
A man on a disastrous date…
When Taz agreed to come to Earth on a
date, he didn’t expect to be dumped and left with no way home. Then he falls
into Reed’s arms—literally.
A coffee date soon becomes a trip back
to Reed’s apartment. But when Taz’s stripes begin to show, Reed discovers Taz
comes from a planet far, far away.
Reed never believed aliens existed, but
he’s facing one now. What in the world is he going to do?
Excerpt:
“Are you okay? Hello?”
Reed dragged his mind away from those
sexy green eyes. “Ah, huh? What?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall on top
of you like that. You see, it was like this. I was pushed, and you just
happened to be there and….” The stranger grinned at Reed. “And down we went.”
Reed shifted under the body lying so
contentedly on top of him. Hell’s bells, the guy fit against him perfectly.
From the feel of things, they were both close to the same height. Which also
meant certain things were… aligned. “Oh yeah, I’m okay. Banged my head a
little, but I’m fine.”
The stranger bit his bottom lip, his teeth
worrying the tender skin. Reed debated slamming his head against the floor a
few more times in the hopes of rattling his brain back to normal as the
stranger rolled off him.
“I really am sorry.”
“No harm done.” Reed sat up and looked
at the guy once again. Well, not much harm, anyway. His libido just had to pick
now to perk up, didn’t it? But damn, this guy was sexy. Reed struggled to his
feet and held his hand out to the man still on the floor, looking up at him.
The guy took his hand and let Reed pull him up.
“Name’s Reed. Are you okay?”
“Hi, Reed!” The guy hopped to his feet
in a single, lithe movement, as if it was the most….world. “My name is Taz.
Nice to meet you, and yes, I am.”
For a moment there was a flash in the
guy’s eyes that belied his statement. “Good, that’s good. Glad to hear it.
Well, I guess I’d better be going—”
A forlorn expression crossed Taz’s face
and his pretty eyes clouded. “Oh.”
Reed hesitated. There was something
about the guy that pulled at him. When was the last time he’d felt that pull?
Way too long ago. Taz was cute, sure. But there was this look of hurt. Dammit,
Taz just looked so lost. Insane as it was, he wanted to make it all better.
M.A. Church
M.A. Church lives in the southern United
States and spent many years in the elementary education sector. She is married
to her high school sweetheart and they have two children. Her hobbies are
gardening, walking, attending flea markets, watching professional football,
racing, and spending time with her family on the lake.
But her most beloved hobby is reading.
From an early age, she can remember hunting for books at the library. Later
nonhuman and science fiction genres captured her attention and drew her into
the worlds the authors had created. But always at the back of her mind was the
thought that one day, when the kids were older and she had more time, she would
write a book.
By sheer chance she stumbled across a
gay male romance story on the web and was hooked. A new world opened up and she
fell in love. Thus the journey started. When not writing or researching, she
enjoys reading the latest erotic and mainstream romance novels.
My
links:
Twitter @nomoretears00
Publishers:
Julie Lynn Hayes
Julie Lynn Hayes was reading at the age
of two and writing by the age of nine and always wanted to be a writer when she
grew up. Two marriages, five children, and more than forty years later, that is
still her dream. She blames her younger daughters for introducing her to yaoi
and the world of M/M love, a world which has captured her imagination and her
heart and fueled her writing in ways she'd never dreamed of before. She
especially loves stories of two men finding true love and happiness in one
another's arms and is a great believer in the happily ever after. She lives in
St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and two cats, loves books and movies, and
hopes to be a world traveler some day. She enjoys crafts, such as crocheting
and cross stitch, knitting and needlepoint and loves to cook. While working a
temporary day job, she continues to write her books and stories and reviews,
which she posts in various places on the internet. Her family thinks she is a
bit off, but she doesn't mind. Marching to the beat of one's own drummer is a
good thing, after all. Her other published
works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, MuseitUp Publishing and No Boundaries
Press, and coming soon with both Extasy Books and Torquere Press. She has also
begun to self-publish and is an editor at MuseitUp.
My
links:
Twitter @Shelley_runyon
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/julie.l.hayes.7?ref=tn_tnmn
Publishers:
