Joys of Collaboration

So. I sent in another chapter of the Kruliss novel to my oldest son, Josh. I was super happy with the chapter. I know I might not like the chapter later, and that things might need to be changed around, but I felt good at the moment and chose to revel in that moment. My son emailed back in an hour: OH NOES, you forgot the MOST IMPORTANT scene. Then he said what I forgot to put in. I wrote back and complained that he should have told me what the most important scene was BEFORE I started writing the book. He emailed back that he HAD.

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Then he wrote the chapter the way he wanted it and sent it to me. I was highly offended at how he messed with my sacred text. I gave myself a week to calm down and think, and then rewrote his chapter to accommodate the character arc I had been working on, and sent it back. Best Beloved and I drove up to see our sons that weekend, and I think the first thing Josh said after, Hi, Mom. was Now I know how you felt about having your words messed with. I laughed heartily and told him the story of how Jimmy Carter and his wife co-wrote one book and swore they would never do so again. Then Josh started arguing for some of the things I left out or changed in my rewrite. And he was absolutely right on some of his points. Some. So I agreed where I could as we discussed pacing, modern writing techniques and reader expectations, geography, and biology. Then he had a friend take some authors pictures. All in all, a great weekend.