Q: How did you guys meet?TOP

A: We met in an online writers group, writing derivative and original fiction. Don’t laugh don’t laugh. Sure, there’s A LOT of bad fic out there, but there’s also a lot of AMAZING stuff written by INSANELY smart and talented writers. Fanfiction is a great way to explore the many different ways to tell a story, to receive honest criticism and learn how to process it, or even just stretch your writing muscles. Fandoms can be supportive and highly creative communities and we cherish the experiences we had and the friends we made along the way.

We’re proud to pop our nerd collar.

Q: How does your collaboration work?TOP

A: Lo lives in California and Christina lives in Utah, but because we can’t stand the distance, we manage to see each other every couple of months. For our first book, we outlined, either in person or on the phone/gchat, and then split up the book outline into sections, and further divided those into scenes. We then each took the scenes we wanted to write, wrote them, and then the other went through, edited, sometimes rewrote sections. By the end, we no longer remembered who wrote what scene originally.

For our second project, we were pantsers, a bit. We knew the beginning and end, we knew generally where the train stops along the way, but were more fluid in the process. Because Sublime was only our second full-length novel together, we wanted to see how the process affected the outcome with these two different approaches.

Q: Why YA?TOP

A: We’re really lucky to be able to write whatever story comes into our heads. YA? Romance? Something a bit steamier? YES. It just happened that the first one we got really excited about fit in the YA classification, and we’ve really found a home in the YA community. But is it the only thing we’re writing? Nope.

Q: How did you guys get your agent?TOP

A: Awesome Question! And the answer? We queried. We’ll do a longer post on this later, but the short of it is that we wrote a book we loved, we revised revised revised and revised some more, we did a ton of research on agents and the publishing industry, we read a mountain of books in our genre, we wrote the best synopsis and query letter we could, and FINALLY, we sent them to the agents we considered the best fit for us and our work. And then? Well, we waited, and started our next book! Despite the awesome stories you hear, the road to becoming agented is long and often riddled with rejections. It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t easy but it did happen.

Q: With all of the talk of self-publishing/e-publishing these days, why did you guys choose the traditional route?TOP

A: Having met and written in an online writing community where you essentially interact with readers and post your work online, you’d think that e-pub would have been the natural choice for us. But the truth is, we both love books. We love holding them and smelling them and that feeling you get when you turn the last page of a story you got completely lost in. And even though it may seem old fashioned, we both have dreams of seeing our books on the shelf of our favorite bookstore. But that’s not even the biggest part. There’s something magical that happens when a great agent or editor contributes to your story, bringing a level of experience and expertise you could never hope to achieve on your own.

Now don’t get us wrong, we both own e-readers and support every writer, no matter how they choose to get the words to their readers, this was just the right choice for us.

Q: Who would win in a fight?TOP

A: Hmmm, that’s a tough one. Lo is a neuroscientist and probably knows lots of stealthy ways to take you out. Plus she’s a Glamazon in stilettos and knows how to use those babies. Christina on the other hand spends her days with teens and knows all their tricks. Not to mention she carries a huge purse filled with tons of potentially dangerous grooming aids. Can glitter lip gloss blind you? Can hairspray be used as a substitute for chloroform in a pinch? WE DON’T KNOW.