Interview
Q. You're new authors. What was it like to get your first book deal?
A. Have you ever been alone at sea on a small life raft without food and water waiting for a ship to come along? Truthfully, the process of researching and querying agents is an ordeal, especially since the ways of the publishing industry were totally new to us. But we were lucky to find a wonderful agent, and once she sent out our manuscript, it was chosen by a really great editor within a couple weeks.
Q. Writing seems like such a solitary profession. How do you manage to collaborate?
A. We have a scene-by-scene system that we call "the marines and the village maker." While Alice would rather teach Kegel exercises to a team of Sumo wrestlers than face a blank page, Roy's favorite part is charging in for a bold, spontaneous, although somewhat crude, rendering of draft number one, filled with his wild off-the-wall inventions. Alice then produces a second draft by making a "village" out of it -- rearranging, cleaning, suggesting changes and adding her creative input. We sometimes divide up scenes or sections, working on separate computers. Roy prefers humorous dialogue and action scenes. Alice likes inner dialog and love scenes. Then again, there are days when we reverse our writing preferences, and by the time we finalize a chapter it is tightly interwoven into a complete integration reflecting the two of us. We don't consider any chapter finished until we both agree on it. Which is why we call this the bickering stage.
Q. Why are you using a pseudonym?
A. Since the book was written with the female reader in mind, our editor asked us to use a female pseudonym. She didn't want any woman seeing it in a bookstore and turning away from a good read just because a man's name is on the cover. Understandable, considering the vast number of stupid white males roaming the earth today. But we also see our pseudonym as a symbol of the fact that we're best pals.
Q. Roy, is it difficult for a man to write from a female point of view for largely female readers?
A. I don't see why it's such a big deal. Authors write from the P.O.V. of the opposite sex all the time. A female cast dominates The Women's Murder Club series by James Patte rson. Some of the writers for the Sex And The City HBO series were men. And on the opposite side, Jane Austin created Mr. Darcy and Diana Gabaldon created Jamie. All good authors have to be able to put themselves in the shoes of every character in a novel, from the hero or heroine right down to the deranged, psycho, disemboweling slasher villain.
Another reason I like writing for the female market is that women read way, way more than men. And I like a big audience. Besides, there is something very sexy to me about connecting with females through humor.
Q. Speaking of humor, your Romantic Suspense is filled with it. Why?
A. That's what we like. Roy's favorite TV shows are Seinfeld reruns and Law And Order. He decided that combining them in a book would make for a fun read. Alice loves old Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers movies and novels with witty female narrators. Plus, Roy was experienced in writing stand-up comedy monologues, so that was the natural choice.
Q. Are your characters based on real people?
A. Most of our characters represent the combined traits of a wide range of people we have either known or met. And our two main characters, Saylor and Benita, have a healthy dose of both Alice and Roy in each of them.
Q. Are the places where your characters hang out real?
A. Some of the places, like Gleason's Gym and DUMBO General Store are real, while others are based on real places, but have made up names and sometimes made up locations.
Q. Do you envision an ongoing series of books featuring Saylor Oz?
A. Definitely. In fact, Saylor gets herself into another big mess when she returns with Benita and the rest of the crew in BABYDOLL.
