Combined Talents:
When One + One
= ONE
The pen-name of writers Judy Habeck
Weber and Marie Vernon who combined forces to produce a whodunnit
written by Amber Adams, was a pragmatic inspiration.
It stemmed from the reality of the
alphabetical fiction listings by-author in all genres at most
book-shops. Their target readership, “women of a certain age”
will not, and some cannot, get down on hands and knees to scour for
books on the bottom shelf.
Judy Weber explains how she and
co-author Marie Vernon keep from killing each other –
to a roomful of 'Sisters in
Crime' Florida'
A little background.
Judy had a New
York career in Ad-space-sales during the era of liquid lunches and
reality 'Mad Men' in Manhattan's Madison Avenue heyday. She later
edited and wrote for a building trades magazine, based in the
fast-growing South Florida real-estate boom, before retiring onto a
boat at a marina with her hubby. That's when she considered testing
the fictional waters, joined FWA (Florida Writer's Association), won
writing awards, became a judge then Queen of England...(sorry...got
carried away).
Marie's writing career began as a
freelancer with feature-stories in national newspapers Her
non-fiction books included colonial history of Maryland; then
hard-crime tomes co-authored with her late husband forensic
psychologist McCay (Mac) Vernon, about serial killers. Her
fascinating with an extreme fan of Elvis Presley, and that ilk, lead
to the fictional book Graceland. It is currently being adapted
as a stage play.
So, not novices, but neophytes in the
roles they have grown into.And this is how they did it –
without becoming victims in a murder mystery
Amber Adams' creation Day McKelvey, a
lady of a certain age, is a newspaper reporter investigation the
death of a university president who's body is found at the foot of
the 'World's Tallest Cross' (208 feet high) at the Shrine of Our Lady
of La Leche, St. Augustine. The prime suspect is a student she
mentored.
Marie's strength is her
''stick-to-intuitiveness' attitude, which has carried her through six
published books; but she is liable to fall in love with words.
Judy helps keep the storyline on
track.
An example from the Book Two in the
series they are working on; one of the subject/suspects Day McKelvey
interviews, has a parrot. Marie was totally taken with the pretty
polly on a perch who didn't just speak but, was bi-lingual.
Wonderful. But editor-writer Judy gave that colorful distraction, the
bird. He was terminated. The story-line moved forward toward its
objective, bringing a killer to justice.
Judy says she appreciates the
eloquence of Shakespearean verse and soliloquys such as Hamlet's “To
be, or not to be”. But prefers to stick with the 'nuts and bolts'
of constructing stories which will stand up to scrutiny.Her point of
view is, flowery decoration is the icing on the cake.
Marie confessed: “If the house was
on fire, the first thing I'd save would be the thesaurus.”
They barely knew each other when, by
some alchemy following a meeting at FWA they began discussing a joint
venture. They don't live close enough for garden-fence gossip, but
the convenience of social media via email,eliminates a lot of travel.
And bloodshed.
“We've learned to read between the
lines of our messages. If either one of us uses extremely diplomatic
wordage to accept a version the other has written, its pretty sure
they think its terrible,” Judy said.
Separation when either reads a new
draft, eliminates spontaneous outbursts like: “Oh no,” and “I
hate that idea. That's really dumb.”
They agreed on the timeline and
storyline, the foundation of the book during initial kneecap to
kneecap sessions, then submitted progressions for consideration,
work-over, rewrite,inclusion.
Next.
“You have to lose your ego, to
co-operate,” Judy said. Their different personalities, work habits,
strengths, weaknesses, had to adjust to compliment each other without
losing sight of their final target, the reader.
When Judy first attended writer groups
and submitted manuscripts for feedback and criticism, it was an
uncomfortable period of adjustment.
“Every word was my baby. I had to
realize there were alternatives, some of which improved the writing
and story. We will respond, respectably,” she glanced at a smiling
Marie, “to each others suggestions.”
Then added.
“Of course. That was Vol. 1. Who
knows who's going to say 'idiot' first, in Vol. 2 ?”
Ends...
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