Interview Lisa Taylor-Paetz and Kim Leschak

by

Ginger Simpson

I have the good fortune to interview Lisa Taylor-Paetz and Kim Leschak, co-authors of The Captain’s Coat. Each one of the authors has answered the questions so I will list their responses under their names. Let’s jump right in and find out a little about these two talented ladies.

1. You’re the first co-authoring team that I have interviewed. I’m sure everyone would love to know how you met and how long you have known each other.

LISA:

Kimmie and I met in sixth grade, when I moved north to her hometown. It's odd, thinking about that, because my son is now the same age I was then, eleven. We met in school. I was the new kid and she was the social butterfly, flitting from this group to that. I suppose it might have been fate, or just an inevitable consequence. Now, twenty-nine years later, I think we're still the same two rough edged kids who needed a new friend.

KIM:

We met in the 6th grade, way back in 1975, when Lisa moved to my hometown of Mora, Mn. So that would make it 28 years that we've known each other.

2. What prompted you to work together on writing a book?

LISA:

Personally, I write it because it began as a way to express some of the inner turmoil I went through as a teen and still go through as an adult. The character of Nick is near and dear to my heart, since he's an incarnation of myself in various guises. His quest for love is as erratic, misinterpreted and painful as my own. He isn't merely trying to find the perfect mate. He tries to find and learn about himself. In the original conception of the story, Nick was the main character. It was a story about his life and how he ended up being the way he was. It was a search, in my own life, to discover some parts of my own personality. The issues he faces are my own issues. Abandonment, child abuse, obsession vs. love, perpetual anger at the entire world--these are all obstacles I've faced more than once in my own search for happiness.

Kim, in her own way, tends to be grounded in reality. She's a hockey mom now, and she always kept her place in the real world. I tend to rocket off into fantasy, think far too seriously about 'issues', and reality sometimes gets lost in the intensities of my own passionate refusals. She's the grounded center, the one who reminds me to have a meal once in a while, make a friend or two outside the writing, and she teases me when I drink too much. To write this story with her gives it a softness it wouldn't have without her. I just can't write warm and fuzzy. She tends to balance out my sarcastic, bitter verbiage with something more genteel, kind, understanding, and painless.

KIM:

I started putting our verbal stories to paper in 1983 with the storyline immediately proceeding The Captain's Coat. Some of the same characters from that book carry over into Captain's. I had about 150 or so rough handwritten pages completed but hit a writer's block I couldn't get past. So I set it aside and actually forget about it. It wasn't until, in the summer of 1998 I believe, when Lisa and her family came for a visit. We got to talking about school days and I remembered I had the beginnings of this book. I showed it to Lisa and the rest, as they say, is history.

3. Who had the idea for the story line?

LISA:

That would be me. Years ago, when I realized the world didn't understand a thing about me, I invented a character who embodied all the fury and passion I felt but was unable to express. I'd read 'Wuthering Heights' and was thoroughly in agreement with Heathcliff--the world was a harsh and bitter place to live. Nick, who has undergone a few name changes since his inception, is a dark hero with 'issues'. The complete story isn't contained in this single book, but in a series that, in its first rough draft, ended up as nine full novels. The series was meant to explain Nick, and give the world reasons for his anger. What came out was a complex soap opera of events that made him who he is. The Captain's Coat begins his story in the middle of his life, but, because the market tends to like female leads, it's more about Victoria and her search for a family of her own. She has to confront Nick's issues in order to find that family.

KIM:

In Jr. High Lisa started developing these characters and did some storytelling to our mutual friends over the lunch hour. I developed characters of my own and jumped into the fray. Seems confusing, but somehow it worked.

4. Other than writing, what do you have in common?

LISA:

An entire childhood. We grew up together, and Kim tends to know what I'm going to say before I say it. She's usually telling me to NOT say it, but... ;) We do talk about real life occasionally. I shake my head a lot and express my happiness that I do not have her lifestyle. I couldn't be a busy, super-mom type person if my life depended on it. But, to get down to brass tacks, I have two kids and a husband. So does she. That means we have a lot of basic, daily stuff that reflects the same unless you have good lighting. I live in a larger town, and we have drugs and gang problems that affect my kids. She lives in the wilds of Minnesota suburbia, and reminds me of basic values when I need to hear it. We're very, very different people, but, in that difference, we have a bond of friendship that's lasted through thirty years of fighting, laughing, and sometimes crying together.

KIM:

Both have a family of four, a dog, and hail from the Midwest. Both 40, singing, acting, and of course reading.

5. How do you compliment each other’s talents?

LISA:

Kimmie likes to think in dialogue. I think that goes back to the way the story began all those years ago. I told it to a select group of friends during lunch and recess in Jr and Sr High. She was one of those friends. Mainly, I'd come up with the beginning, give a sketchy version of what was going on, and my friends would include themselves into the scene. Interactive story telling. Most of the interaction was in dialogue and the occasional, "I would do this..." Kim provides the inspiration, mostly. I've studied writing for years, and have some amount of training in how to structure a story. Sometimes, this training gets in the way of creation. I'll ponder a comma for an afternoon, which frustrates Kim until she's ready to beat me over the head with my keyboard. She holds the whip. Stop fiddling and write! So, I try to please. But, her job isn't easy. I'm a cantankerous person to work with. I like to do it my way or no way, and it takes an awful lot of effort to sway my pig-headed thought processes. I get stalled and start wandering off on my own into uncharted territory, and she has to drag me back, sit me down like a kid with ADD, and hand me my reasons again. She pretends it's my 'artistic temperament', but I think she knows it's really just plain bull-headed stubbornness.

KIM:

My strength is dialogue and storyline/Ideas. Lisa is a master at description, plot, theme....all the mechanics of writing. She has it down to a science. Captain's Coat actually grew out of a paragraph I had written down from an idea. I sent it to Lisa and she sent my back over 12-pages of work.

6. What keeps your enthused about your writing?

LISA:

Most writers have times when they can picture a scene very clearly and concisely. Each detail becomes a part and parcel of the story. The slant of a sunray against the heroine's cheek; the way the hero's shoulder feels beneath her hand; the soft look of love between an elderly couple who have fifty years of a lifetime commitment together. I see inspiration in everything. My fourteen year old daughter's giggle as she pulls her dad's hair for the thousandth time in an evening; the explosions of sound as my eleven year old son plays his video games; the depth of stars in the sky on a sleepless night; or even the way the tires sound in the drive when my husband is dropped off from work. Every small detail of life is an inspiration. I don't have enough stories in my soul to use everything that inspires me to write them. Sometimes, though, I get caught up in realities and can't write. Then, I tend to feel claustrophobic in my own head. I need an outside source to bring back the words when that happens. That's where the reader comes in. I need an audience. Even someone who hates the story is valuable to me. I don't need good comments to be enthused about writing, I just need insightful comments that prove someone read the story. Sharing the writing with an audience has always been best at making me write faster and better. I read every comment anyone cares to send. Usually, I'll even answer it. In fact, I've formed a few online friendships with people I've met that way.

KIM:

What keeps your enthused about your writing? For me it's the bouncing of ideas off each other. Whenever one of us gets stuck, we can count on the other to get the gears moving again.

7. Do you have any titles published separately?

LISA:

Not yet.

KIM:

I don't. I've been too consumed with the McKnight Clan to work on any other seriously. Lisa has had some that have come close.

8. If someone ask you to recommend co-authoring, what would you say are the benefits and what are the pitfalls, if any?

LISA:

Writing a book is a lot like giving birth (as I'm sure everyone has heard to the point of nausea, but it's too apt not to use the analogy). The idea springs forth, but it's an infant, unable to care for itself. Parents make the decisions and structure the life of the child in order to make that individual morally and physically healthy. If one person is the only parent, there are no disagreements aside from whatever inner conflicts the parent has. With two parents, the job is both easier and more difficult.

The benefits have to do with sharing the burden and the joy. We're all social creatures, and too much solitude is disheartening. Just like two parents, the co-authors will preen and strut over the baby. Each milestone, while it means nothing to the world at large, is a time of celebration to the co-authors. Each scene finished, each word strung like precious pearls on a rope, each single obstacle overcome, all of these are happy moments shared with someone you respect, love and trust. To go through this alone is happy, yes, but that happiness is muted because no one else can appreciate the effort it took to get this far.

The pitfalls arise when you choose the wrong partner, or expect something that partner is unwilling or unable to give. Just like parenting, sometimes issues surround the relationship that have nothing to do with the child, and the child suffers. It's a marriage of sorts. You make a commitment, and sometimes those involved don't understand just what that commitment means. Just like a marriage, the key to working with someone else on a novel is communication. Before the conception of the idea, there must be understanding. Ask each other questions about things like work habits, strengths, weaknesses, and even time constraints. One of the worst things that faced Kim and I had to do with time. She works. She's a busy hockey mom with only a few minutes a day to herself. I stay home, write, dream, clean house, make appointments, feed the dog, cat, kids, husband, but I do not have an eight hour time block taken away from me. When I'm inspired, I work like a demon. I'll churn out ten thousand words in a night if I get no distractions. Kim cannot spend twelve hours dissociating from her reality, and can never equal the amount of writing I can accomplish at one swift blow. I had to discover patience, which was a huge hurdle for me. (Don't roll your eyes, Kimmie. I know the amount of patience I have would fit in a half-full thimble. ;) )

Mainly, I would recommend co-authoring only if the two authors know what they're getting into. Talk about the project, decide who's going to do what, and do your share of the work. It's difficult enough when you face the obstacles every writer, alone or not, must face in writing a book. Just like the relationship of two new parents, you'll have to work out which of you is going to change the diaper this time. Decide the basics of your working relationship before you begin working. It saves time and hassles in the long run.

KIM:

The benefits are you have someone who knows exactly where you going with an idea. We worked wonderfully together writing the first draft of the series. It was relatively easy. We ran into pitfall when we got down to the Marketing of the book. There were times it was difficult at best to figure out the best jumping off point in this series, the editing, and the rewrites. Lisa would get extremely frustrated with me because she felt I wasn't providing enough input on the rewrites. I was frustrated because I didn't know what exactly she was needing from me. Our friendship survived those years… somehow. Probably because we were both too stubborn to give up on it or each other. We kept hammering at it and the result was The Captain's Coat.

9. What brought you to Wings?

LISA:

Ebooks, while they are a new commodity and the publishing sites are challenged by difficulty after difficulty, will become the proving ground for first time authors in the future. There is no room in the hard copy world for new faces or ideas, and the larger houses rely too much on the 'tried and true' marketing strategies. In other words, if a name or a subject sells, that's the only name or subject they want to acquire. It's a business, after all, and the goal is not to put out great literature, but to make as much money as they can. Ebooks, with the relatively low overhead, and the competition of those larger businesses, are blessed to get those odd little novels that don't fit into the mold. Since I've never fit into any mold, I decided Ebooks, rather than the hard copy publishers, would be the way to go.

I've investigated a lot of the ebook sites on the net. In fact, I've published on two sites other than Wings. One site went under before my novel was put online, and the other refused to pay me, breaking the contract agreement. I took the novel off that site, and am now looking for another erotica publisher. Needless to say, I was very picky in choosing to send The Captain's Coat to Wings. I felt the place had a solid reputation, and I was impressed by the organization I sensed in the way Wings chooses the novels they publish. I continue to be impressed throughout the editing and construction of a viable product, and look forward to working with Wings on upcoming novels.

KIM:

Lisa!

10. Have you read any books by your fellow Wings’ authors, and if so what?

KIM:

Currently, I don't have internet, which makes it difficult. No excuses. The answer is no. I should, but I don't read as much as I'd like. Too busy writing, I guess.

LISA:

Unfortunately, not yet.

11. What can we expect from you in the future?

KIM:

Ah, and here we come to the current crisis. I'm working feverishly on two other novels in this series, which we fondly call 'The Castle Series', trying to find the focus for either one of them. I'm thinking any feedback from the readers will help me decide which to finish first, the past or the future. All in all, if I've got my plot lines straight, there will be five books to this series. I'm hoping to put out one a year, but that might rest on how involved Kimmie is. She needs to get out that whip. ;)

As for me, personally, I have a list...

A romantic fantasy involving a hero who doesn't want to be a hero, a princess with delusions of chivalry, and an evil wizard who has all the right intentions. This should be ready to submit for publication in early 2004.

An erotic romance with a distinct gothic flavor involves a mild mannered reporter in a decadent and dangerous investigation into the past of a mysterious man. I'm currently looking for a publisher for this one. It doesn't meet Wings' guidelines.

One more fantasy involving a woman who has magical abilities in a world where magic is a man's domain. She must tread a dangerous path to knowledge, for the Hunt awaits her at every turn, and finally, she must choose between right and wrong, with her life as the payoff for 'doing the right thing'. This one is still mostly in the plotting stage, although feedback, of course, tends to make me work faster. :D

LISA:

As hinted at in the above, we have a series of nine books dealing with the McKnight family in the works. At present Lisa is working on the story prior to Captain's and I have decided to continue the story of the characters in Captain's. As always, we will send the rough drafts to each other for their rework. That process will continue until we have our final draft manuscript of each book.

Ladies, thanks for taking time to answer my questions. I’m sure you’re readers will be delighted to learn more about you. Best of luck with your new release, Captain’s Coat. I look forward to reading it.