An
entire year ago, I swore an oath of secrecy when I agreed to co-write a book
with paranormal-romance author Lori Titus under the penname of Connor Titus.
The reason, in the beginning, for the vow of silence was simply for the sake of
peace.
Now
this is in no way meant to be a complaint, but my fans take their jobs
seriously. It takes about a year for me to write a book, but just a month or
two after announcing a new WIP that’s all my fans talk to me about, and writing
is all they want me to do.
I know
some of you remember me posting in ‘Walgreens incident.’ Two weeks after the
release of Book II: Artificial Light I was standing in line in Walgreen and
asked the woman in front of me where she got her drop dead gorgeous shoes. When
she turned to tell me, I was recognized, and she demanded to know why I wasn’t
at home writing. Sadly she didn’t tell me where she got her shoes.
If my
fans had found out that I had teamed up with Lori their excitement would have
been too much especially because at the time we where both working on our own
books which of course held more priority than a joint project, so we didn’t
even know when this book would be finished.
About a
3rd of the way into the project, the fact that mum was the word
literally became a life saver, because we started to realize that we were going
to be writing two books. And at that moment it stopped being about peace and
immediately became a trade secret.
“One catastrophe. One Town. One
story told two different ways.”
We co-wrote,
two, stand alone books about the same
thing.
We’d
never heard of anyone doing that before and because it’s such an insanely
original idea or had been done which such infrequency that the concept isn’t
widely known we didn’t want anyone finding out what we were doing and beat us
to the punch.
Once
the decision was made that this story was going to be told from two different
points of views, we also made the decision to not only stop working together,
but to also not to talk to each other about what was written from that moment
forth. I mean we went into complete radio silence, we didn’t even see each
other’s cover until they were revealed earlier this month as part of our blog
tour. We did this because we didn’t want to influence each and judging by the
reviews that turned out to be a really good move.
After
our books were shipped off to the editor Lori and I decided to interview each
other for our own blogs. Those interviews turned out to be a blast and that’s
what I am going to share with you today.
The Wordsmith: Ok, 1st off I need to get something off my chest. I
heard through the grapevine that you prefer Pepsi over Coca~Cola. Is that true?
Lori: Yes, I’m a Pepsi drinker,
The Wordsmith: Oh hell no, this is a crime against the Crown. This interview is
over, we’re not friends anymore. Lol I’m just kidding.
Lori: LOL! But I drink Coke if I’m at
a place and that’s what they’re selling. I still get the specific craving for
Coca Cola now and again.
The Wordsmith: Oh, okay …good save cuz I was about to send you straight to the
gallows. I write straight up horror with a service of science fiction and dark
fantasy on the side. As a rising star in paranormal romance what was it that
made you want to be a part of the Mt. Empyreal project?
Lori: I think of dark fiction as
being one genre, whether it includes romance or science fiction. I love
anything that challenges the characters with something greater than themselves,
and that was definitely the obstacle our characters faced in the Keep. Since
I’m a huge romantic, something of that always comes through. I couldn’t write
you a cookbook without some reference to romance in there.
The Wordsmith: OMG that’s so true! I knew from the beginning that the story would
have elements of romance but you do it really well so I wasn’t worried. That’s
one of the things that interested me in co-authoring with you is seeing how we
would build off each other’s strength. You also co-authored the novel Harmony’s
Prophecy, with Angel Brown Kemph, which is now out of print, was it the same
kind of writing process or was it totally different and if so why/how?
Lori: The book with Angel was very
different. She was the primary author. I worked on editing with her, and we had
some sessions where we tossed around story building ideas, but it is her book. I was really pleased and surprised
that she felt my efforts earned a co-author credit.
The Wordsmith: Dude, how in the hell did we end up co-writing two books? Who does
that?
Lori: I think only we do, ha! It was
a great idea that you came up with. We both got to have complete creative free
reign. Whenever I read about authors who co-wrote together, I always hear about
the constrictions placed upon the authors, and how one person ends up being the
leader with the other being the follower.
We were able to build our foundation for the stories together, and then
throw the proverbial paint against the wall to see what would stick.
The Wordsmith: I like that concept, that we both had creative free reign. The
constrictions was something I knew I wanted to overcome before either of us
wrote word one. It didn’t take long to see that we had two very different ideas
of how this story should be told but I didn’t want to sacrifice one idea for
the other and that’s what made me start thinking about doing something
completely different.
The funny thing is, I didn’t
start researching ‘how to co-write a book’ until we we’re nearly done. Otherwise
I don’t think I would have done it. LOL, speaking of horror stories about
co-writing, what was the hardest part about working with me? (Tell the truth).
Lori: The hardest part was figuring
out where we needed to split! I was enjoying watching the story unfold, and I
was so curious as to where you were going to take it. Once we did split, it
took a week for me to get back into the story properly, because I missed being
able to see what you had written and talk about our ideas together.
The Wordsmith: OMG I was the exact same way. I was starting to think that
splitting up wasn’t going to be a good idea. Thank God we didn’t chicken out of
that decision lol. Was there anything that worried you about Mt. Empyreal?
Lori: Yes! I was really concerned
about which characters were going to make it, and who wasn’t. With a story like
this one, there is a balance between making things so hard that it’s impossible
for your characters to triumph, and making it too easy. You don’t want to make it so easy that the
readers roll their eyes at how neatly things work out. That’s often a concern I
have when I’m writing. Real life is messy, and I tend to like stories that
reflect complexities in character and outcome.
The Wordsmith: I know one of the things I was worried about and brought up often
was I felt like I had unfairly taken charge and all the ideas were mine. I
didn’t mean for it to be that way, I was just having so much fun that my
excitement got the best of me. This was my 1st co authored book, so
I guess my question would be, is this just the way things work when co-writing
a book or was it really not an issue for you?
Lori: It’s part of the beast –
someone has to start, (The Wordsmith nods
head) and you wrote a beginning that was so unique and chilling that I
wanted to let you run with it. Once our start was firmly in place, I was able
to see what I wanted to elaborate on and where I wanted things to go. That
said, I don’t think that our writing partnership is like anyone else’s. While
you were in the driver’s seat I was already planning.
The Wordsmith: LOL, that’s the Virgo in you, I was thinking ahead when you were
the one with the pen too. Which of the characters that we created together do
you think will totally blow my mind?
Lori: I always say Emerson; I love
that character in ways that I could never have expected. We have talked about
Khrystle before, and that she surprised you with some of the things she did in
our shared copy of the book(s). Jerrod is also going to be a big surprise to
you. Just you wait until you read it!
The Wordsmith: I can’t wait to read it either, you have no idea how hard it’s been
not to open the ARC copy you sent me to
send to my reviewers.
Wait…I don’t think I mentioned
this, ok so the reason Lori said she can’t wait until I read her book is
because once we stopped working together we promised each other that we would
not read each other’s books until our editor signed off on both books. And we
didn’t even see each other’s covers until the 18th of April. Dudes,
its been brutal.
So far our reviews have been
really good but every time a review for yours comes in it just amplifies my
excitement. That’s it, I’m changing the subject! You have another book coming
out soon, can you tell us a little more about that?
Lori: lol. Bell House is a ghost
story about a modern southern family with many skeletons in their past. At the
forefront of the story are two half-sisters, Jenna and Diana, who share a contentious relationship. They were raised by
different mothers, and most of what they believe about
each other comes from things that they have been told by others, some of which
may not be entirely true. After a tragedy in the family, Diana moves into a
house willed to her by her father, and all sorts of trouble ensues.
The Wordsmith: Just for fun. If you got the funding to take a year off to write
where in the world would you live for that year and why?
Lori: It could be Hawaii or Bora Bora,
but I want to live somewhere on the ocean. I think it would be great to wake up
every day with the ocean right outside, and take my laptop out onto the patio
and write while I enjoyed my coffee. And of course I’d want a great big house
where I could invite my friends to come out and stay for as long as they want.
That would be great.
The Wordsmith: Dude for as long as they want, by the beach, in Bora Bora? And you
expect to actually get any work done? Yeah ok.
(With laughter in the background
fade to black)
We were
lucky enough to have our forward written for us by Jaime A. Geraldi from, wait for it…..RT
Book Review Magazine! (screams, swoons, and faints) But 1st
let’s set the mood with the book trailer!
“One catastrophe. One
Town. One story told two different ways by two different authors…What started
in the foothills of Mt. Empyreal could be the end of all of us.”
The dynamic duo known as Connor
Titus have merged together to create a story that will chill you to the
bone. Each adds a dark and distinctive quality to this compelling read and it's
almost impossible to favor one over the other as the ink bleeds upon the page
for everyone to witness.
Connor's
interpretation is fierce and grabs readers by the throat as they gasp for
breath once Old Man Winter strolls in and they're left powerless. She allows
you to visualize the characters movements and endure their emotions without
flaw. The highly descriptive settings throughout will make one feel as if
they're part of the story which makes her rendition realistic and absolutely
terrifying.
Titus'
version captivates one by taking hold of their mind first before they even know
what hit them. Then the emotional setback follows. Her gifted storytelling
ability will have you thinking you're reading just a novel, but your brain may
tell you something different as you actually may experience bouts of terror or
feel perspiration at your brow.
Each author singularly
has the ability to lure you into the book quickly, but as a pair it may feel as
if they'll never let you leave.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to Mt. Empyreal.
-Jaime A. Geraldi, RT
Book Review Magazine
Thank
you so much for letting me take over your blog for today , if you would like to
see the interview of Lori interviewing me here is the link
Darkest of Lore
Darkest of Lore
And to
follow us on our blog tour as we promote both books please click here. If you
follow us be sure to enter for a chance to win a signed copy of both books, a
promo T from each of us plus a signed copy of The Darkness along with a signed
copy of Ryder
