I love that our unholy alliance inspires such hatred and envy.
It all started back in the days of yore. Say about a year and a half ago. Someone around AW made the mistake of mentioning Joaquin Phoenix and given the slack-jawed droolery coming from both of us, we recognised kindred spirits in each other.
So I sent a PM saying, "Give me your email address and you won't regret it!"
Never being one to pass up the opportunity of what looks like an inbox full of porn, Lori complied and our shared love of Wack (before he went completely batshit) inspired many a filthy email exchange.
I nagged, nagged, nagged tt42 to get MSN and eventually she did.
Fast forward to NaNo last year. On 31st October I was still stuck as to what to write and tt42 said, "Ah, just make up some characters, get them drunk and have them fuck a lot."
Thus was my entry into the erotica genre. And it worked. She was 'with me' on MSN every step of the way and when I burst into tears upon finishing Book #1 five and a half months later, she too had trouble focusing and her eyes watered, I'm assured.
She writes way, way faster than me, which gives me something to aspire to. I write longer books than her, which gives her something to aspire to. Apparently she's envious of my writing, which is an entirely mutual feeling.
Why does it work?
First off, we both have absolutely no shame. We can talk about Colin Farrell's nutsack one minute, moving quickly on to a family member's illness, to financial difficulties, to which position two men could most easily get into for a quick fuck, to books we've read aaaaand back to Colin Farrell's nutsack again.
We have our own language. We make up words all the time and the other automatically understands and takes those words into their own vocabulary. (GGIW being the prime example).
Also, neither of us are precious. Don't get me wrong. The first time I sent her a chapter it was unedited, a first draft straight out of my pen. Well, laptop. I literally felt sick. But apparently she liked it (as did I when she did the same) and the more work we exchanged, the less nerve-racking it got. Now we're eager for comments and will happily email chapters if the other is in bed because we're over that "ZOMG TELL ME I DON'T SUCK CHEESY DONKEY BALLS, IMMEDIATELAH!" need.
I have a reputation for being brutal on AW and while there are a few precious snowflakes who object to such an attitude, tt42 and I both thrive on it. I remember for Book #2 there was one night she said, "It's good, but, uh...if he knows something's about to happen, why doesn't he just phone ahead instead of going over there?" which elicited a mighty "Oh FUCK!" from me. Thank God she wasn't oogy about telling me what's what, because the book ended up better for it (two more chapters explaining why one of the male MCs' phones were off, rendering him incommunicado and showing him riding another MC into the ground).
Likewise, I've said to her on more than one occasions, "Sort it, Shithead!" Especially if she dares to send me anything vaguely resembling deus ex machina or coincidence.
There was also one idea she had for
The Distance Between Us which I nixed straight off. No-one in their right mind would believe two guys would act in such a way towards each other. At least,
those two wouldn't. Did I couch it in soft, delicate words, with tact and diplomacy? Hell no. And I quote. "Uh, no. Not gonna work. The reader would never believe...look, just LISTEN. How could you sleep with someone for years and not know that about them? Oh don't give me your bollocks. You're better than that."
I also title many of her books, name her characters and suggest 'interesting situations' for them to get into. We call it THE QUESTION. Yes, all caps. "My two [or sometimes more] MCs. What would you like to see them do?" A question which works both ways and we both have a lot of fun answering.
We don't always incorporate every suggestion but most spark off a train of thought leading to a smexuallly depraved chapter.
It's a relationship I don't believe you can manufacture. You wouldn't believe the amount of PMs and reps I get expressing envy over this relationship but...just luck I guess.
I've said before that nothing has done more for my writing that AW and the biggest part of that is down to AW being the place where I 'met' tt42.
Don't hate me 'cause you ain't me.
