Speaking of the Process…

Earlier this week I lamented about how difficult I find it to write about the writing process with Marcus. As is the current custom the lament was shared on Facebook, here’s part of it:

Today I’m trying to get “on paper” the process of creating Black Day. I’ve written bits here and there about what writing with Marcus is like. I don’t know why it’s so hard to capture. Because on the one hand it’s pretty simple: He tells me dialogue, action and setting, and I write it down. On the other hand, art is messy and never that simple. We push and pull, the story twists and evolves, I ask questions, sometimes he pops out the next plot point, and sometimes he gets “stuck,” then we come back and do it all again. It’s a beautiful anguish, perfecting a story, and with Marcus, it’s full of surprises and plot twists and aha moments that marvel me.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the category of this page is “Writer.” We are a family of writers, and this week is the first part of a series of exciting releases. The book: Black Day: The Monster Rock Band releases June 20th. At that time it will be available online and in select book stores.

I feel this great pressure to share Marcus with you all. That’s a huge driver in why we pursued this crazy project to begin with. (And it is a crazy project, book, DVD, music…OY.)

One of the folks who agreed to review and blog about the book, also sent us a few interview questions. It helped me to narrow my rambling thoughts to a sentence or two, for example:

KTF: How much did you help him or was this all his own idea?

Mardra: His idea, his dialogue, and his plot twists. I added the fluffy words. My primary job is to get the details and ask “then what?”

Then of course, Marcus’ answers are always interesting and/or amusing to me. You can read her complete post with the Q/A: “The Black Day Book: It’s a Scream“

Kathy’s Kissing the Frog FB post:

Full Grown Ups and Downs about writing lament post: