Occasionally, each (or several) of us Writers In Residence answers a question about some aspect of writing or publishing. Here is this week’s Q&A for you. (Some of the answers may surprise you!)
Q: If you could co-write a book with any author, living or dead, who would it be, and what genre would you choose?
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JACKIE HOUCHIN. “I would love to co-write a book with MARY STEWART (no longer living). She wrote suspense mysteries with a young, adventurous female heroine. Her books took her to countries around the world; Greece, France, Italy, Austria, Crete, Lebanon, and England. Perhaps I got my wanderlust to travel the world from reading her books. (I was 13 when I read the first.) There was always a handsome man who could be a bad guy and always a scary situation.
Oh, to write like that! I would let her do most of the writing, I fear, but every time her protagonist or the man in the scene would light up a cigarette, I would edit that out immediately. (haha). That would probably be my ONLY part of the collaboration. Or … I’d set some more of her romantic suspense in more countries!
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MIKO JOHNSTON. “I don’t think I would want to co-write a book with another author, as I can’t see how two writers could successfully balance their styles. I’ve read mystery compilations where two best-selling authors combined their characters into a single story with mixed results. However, I have contributed short pieces to anthologies over the years and would be happy to do so again.
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BONNIE SCHROEDER. “I would love to co-write a book with the late, great KURT VONNEGUT Jr.–something in the dark humor/satire genre.
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G. B. POOL. “There are so many authors I have read and admired through the years, from Ray Bradbury to Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Nelson DeMille, Thomas Thompson, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Ellroy, Robert B. Parker, and Steven J. Connell, all of whom are sitting on my bookshelves right now…their books, not them personally. Several of these writers I actually met, but as for co-writing with any of them, I don’t write like they do, and I don’t want to change my writing style just to have my name linked with theirs, even though the publicity would be magnificent.
But there is one person that I would have loved to co-write with. He was doing some early research on a mass murder that happened back in Texas at a KFC drive-in decades earlier and hinted that he wanted to write about it. He never had the opportunity to finish that endeavor.
The man was my husband, Richard Pool.
A few years after he passed away, I started reading the many journals he had written after he had been diagnosed with cancer back when he was twenty years old. On the fifth page of the very first journal, he mentioned that he wanted to be a writer. He was an avid reader and liked all the authors I liked. We had several of the same books in our respective collections. He wrote that being a writer was just what he wanted to be, but life got in the way of doing that. He moved from Texas to California and met me at the bank where we both worked. Richard knew I wanted to write. He told me before we got married that he would make my dream come true. We married. He got a better job and then another, making enough money to allow me to retire early and write. I did just that.
We had a great life together, and then he passed away. I started reading his journals and read that part about him wanting to be a writer. He gave me his dream.
If I could write with anyone, I would like to write with Richard. It would be what both of us wanted.
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ROSEMARY LORD. “I would like to co-author books with ENID BLYTON, the famous children’s author from my own childhood. Apart from the delightful “Noddy” books for the little ones about a wooden doll, “Noddy in Toyland,” Enid Blyton wrote wonderful mysteries for older children: “Adventures of The Famous Five” and others about “The Secret Seven.” They had all sorts of fun on ‘Adventure Island’ during their summer holidays. Total escapism and good, clean fun!! Seems like fun to write!
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LINDA O. JOHNSTON: “Not sure how I’d do co-writing with someone else, but if I had to choose someone to write a book with, it’d have to be one of the well-known authors who also use dogs in their books, such as Kathleen Donnelly, Margaret Mizushima, Diane Kelly, David Rosenfelt, Spencer Quinn, C.B. Wilson, or Teri Wilson—some of whom I know already.
But I’ve never considered co-writing with any of them before! And the story would have to be mystery, romance, or romantic suspense, depending on who my co-writer was.
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Dear “The Writers In Residence” readers: who would YOU aspire to write a book with if you had the chance? Comment or let me know at photojaq@aol.com.
The Writers in Residence 