June Meeting Recap

“The Fine Points of Collaboration”

– By Allene Symons

  Author duo Judy and Janice Roswell told CWC members about the discoveries of their collaboration on the mystery novel, An Evil Grows in Pasadena.

  The sisters, who publish as the author J. Roswell, said a shared experience is one of several reasons to collaborate. In the 1980s, their family became the victim of a Ponzi scheme fraud, an experience that later inspired the plot, place, and time period of their novel.

  The Roswells offer this advice to those considering collaboration:

• Choose a collaborator with a similar temperament.

• Talk through the plot, write a detailed outline in a notebook, then flesh out the outline. Also use a notebook to compile character details.

• Keep the voice the same throughout.

• Hold frequent meetings for face-to-face interaction and communication through body language, rather than discussing a plot remotely by telephone or email.

• Agree on who will do which tasks. In their case, Judy did the typing and Janice did the editing, while both contributed to each chapter.