🔖 Super Secret Book Collab Extravaganza -- Post #1 (you heard me, there will be more!) 😎

 Super Secret Book Collab Extravaganza

I am STOKED to introduce a very special project. And humbled this duo picked my blog to share it on. Humbled! Without further adieu…

Angel Van Atta, whom you may know as the meme queen, or that woman who brought us heartwarming terror in her The Children and the Gods series, has told me about a very exciting project she dubbed, well, the Super Secret Book Collab Extravaganza. Since writing The End on her fourth book in the aforementioned series, Leviathan Rising, she has been working with another author to create something that sounds really exciting! But, I’ll let them tell you about it over the next couple of weeks as I share bits and pieces of the conversation I had with them when I got a chance to “sit down” and ask them some questions. Questions that are designed to keep you guessing who the mysterious writer is, and trust me, you already know and love the author. We’ll also be having some fun with a dual cover strip tease, an ARG (alternate reality game) style scavenger hunt and a poll that you can add your guess to of who the Mystery Author is, or vote on another guess that you think might be right! All of the people who guessed correctly will receive free digital copies and it’s just gonna be a lot of fun! Are you ready? Let’s do this!


❤ Fallon: First I want to ask you both about your new exciting project. Can you tell me about your process, without giving too much away for the big mystery reveal, later on, that is?

🔍 Mystery Author: Well, the process was very simple. Angel blackmailed me into doing this. Don’t fall for the sweet, loveable facade she presents on social media. It’s not real! But seriously, over Christmas I believe, we were chatting and we briefly mentioned a collaboration between us. I forgot all about it until a few weeks later when Angel brought it up again. We agreed on a post-apocalypse style story, but like all collaborations we had things to sort out. I won’t get mired in the details but Angel suggested the book be written as a series of emails back and forth. She wrote the first chapter, then I created the next, and we had no clear idea of where it would lead. We went in blind, neither knowing what the other was going to write. I was not only a co-author, I also felt like a reader, reading a new chapter for the first time. We both had other projects going on at the same time, if not for those, I think we would have finished this much quicker.

👼 Angel: It was honestly so much fun! Like a tennis match that I was both watching and participating in! I don't even know how to play tennis! I never knew where they were going to hit the ball next which meant I was always on my toes. I don't know why I'm using a sports metaphor here, because I do not do sports, like, ever. Anyway, I remember thinking I knew where it was headed but then I would get the next entry and I was so shocked or surprised and I realized that I honestly never knew at all where it was going. I feel like this was the funnest time I've ever had writing a book and I absolutely would do this with them again!

 

Is that a cover under there?

❤ Fallon: Sincerely intrigued, and anxiously waiting to see what you both put together! Tell me, what did you think of it all when you first started? Did it feel achievable to you at the time?

🔍 Mystery Author: Honestly, it wasn’t until we were a few chapters in that I started believing it might come together. I’m mostly a plotter, Angel is 100% pantser, so trying to throw ideas off her (What if we do this? What if this happens?)  and receiving a “yeah, whatever, we’ll figure it out” answer was…an experience to say the least, ha-ha! But I adapted, and once we had the basis figured out it all came together quickly. I have to say, when Angel decided on a plot twist here and there, that totally threw me as well, and I had to adjust to these new plot lines. It was an amazing experience, and she definitely made me work hard on this story!

👼 Angel: I never doubted that we would finish and I always knew it was going to be something super special. Not just because of the caliber of writer I was working with, I mean, this author is hugely talented, but because it seemed like such a unique and fun idea for a collab, you know? It was a constant guessing game. And, haha, I really do write how I live my life. I don't know what's gonna happen ten minutes from now, let alone with these characters living in this probable alternate reality somewhere. I just hold on tight to my metaphorical pen and trust that it's all gonna work itself out in the end. As an author I feel like I'm not making up stories, but that the stories are using me as a way to be told. I'm just a girl who raised herself on Stephen King and 80's Saturday morning cartoons. I'm always surprised by what appears on the page before me. But, I gotta say, my writing partner on this really embraced the pantser lifestyle and they knocked it out of the park! Seriously, though! What is it with these sports metaphors???

Wait... a second cover?

 

❤ Fallon: Apparently you volleyed the story well! Sorry, I felt I needed to join in on the sports jargon. 😉 So… this entire book was kind of like an experiment in pantsing. Did that feel natural to you at all, or did you surprise yourself by going outside of your norm?

🔍 Mystery Author: I used to write a few stories as a pantser; having a scene in my head and letting it lead me. So it was not a completely new experience. What was though, was writing the book as emails. Although, to me it all came naturally because it was as though I was ‘talking’ to Angel and not her character. It felt like our Messenger chats we often have. So the biggest challenge was having to adapt to those plot twists she came up with.

👼 Angel: And vice versa, friend! I remember reading a huge plot twist you threw at me and it absolutely turned the entire ending into something completely different and completely outside of my norm. I loved it so much! And it really often did feel like our story and not just theirs. It was an incredible experience, truly.

❤ Fallon: I love it! I cannot wait to read this! Thank you Angel & MA!

Stick around folks, you won't want to miss this. They will be back with more on Monday, June 5, 2023. And, more fun starts right now... This post has the First Clue to the Scavenger Hunt (below). The Scavenger Hunt has Morse code, word puzzles and hidden links in the description. And we have a poll on My Facebook page today, to see if you can guess the mystery author! Winners will receive one free ebook copy. Stay Tuned! ❤

Here is your first clue:

And remember, comment on this post to be entered in this month's giveaway or use the FORM.