August 20, 2014

Two Heads Are Better Than One
By Sharon

One of the first questions people ask when they learn that Charlotte and I write as a team is: "How can you do it? Don't your egos get in the way?" Well, yes, of course I've tripped once or twice over Charlotte's massive ego, and it's possible she may have stumbled a tiny bit over my significantly smaller one. But because we each have such different areas of expertise and talent—and we each acknowledge the other's distinctive strengths—we rarely vie for dominance in the other's territory.

In fact, at one time, we billed ourselves as "The Tech-Head and the Sensualist: Charlotte comprises the left side of the brain, while Sharon comprises the right." Yeah, a bit cheesy, but it conveys the message pretty succinctly.

As a kid in Southern California, I dreamed of being a writer or an actress. As a kid in Virginia, Charlotte dreamed of being an astronaut. Charlotte is all math, science, physics, video games, and brilliant Spock-like logic. I’m all mushy stuff, philosophy, cosmic mysteries, and exploring the nature of the divine—an easily bruisable ball of emotions with a mind barely tethered to Earth. As Charlotte often says, "Sharon writes the romantic scenes and anything about food and feelings; I write about fighting battles, escaping jail, and rogue white-dwarf stars."

Oh yeah, and Charlotte also comes up with remarkably satisfying ways to kill the bad guys!

On those rare occasions when we do disagree over plotting or wording, we argue till we reach a compromise we both can live with. And, invariably, that compromise is much better than whatever each of us had in mind to begin with.

I've discovered over the years that writing as co-authors brings out the best in each of us. The energy generated when two minds are engaged in creating entire worlds populated by amazing people is inspiring to say the least—phenomenal to say it even better.

BTW: I might have exaggerated a bit about the size of Charlotte's ego. It's really no larger than a micro black hole.