Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children: Christian Jensen, on writing with a Co-Author

A guilty conscience, a wounded girl, and a series of lies merge to create an evil so vile it can only be claimed by Satan himself. It was just supposed to be a game, a way for the sorority to pass a boring night better spent studying. What happens when six sorority sisters find an old Ouija board hiding in the shadowy recesses of their basement? When one of those girls harbors a sinister guilt hell crashes down around them, plunging the girls into a spiraling madness created by the Father of Lies. Can Adrianna overcome her past, or will the truth drive her mad? Demon kills is the exclusive, free read available only on Ibooks from Cassandre Dayen and Christian Jensen.

COMING VERY SOON!

On writing with a co-author

Christian Jensen

It’s a question that comes up whenever the two of us are together, or whenever one of us mentions our combined work: What’s it like working with a co-author?

For many, that question is veiled in polite compliments that mask a harbored frustration. I’ve known dozens of authors who have written with someone else for a book or two but quickly found every excuse to end the partnership. It can be incredibly frustrating and tedious. It can test friendships and push professional relationships to the limit. It can just plain suck. I’ve had my fair share of horror stories when dealing with other authors, but found a comfortable and amazing relationship with Cassandre Dayne.

It’s not just lightning striking. The secrets we’ve unearthed about each other is more like an apocalyptic storm that just keeps churning and growing in intensity. To date we’ve written 5 books, one short story, and are halfway through our sixth. Toxic Leash, the first book we wrote together, was finished in a week. So yeah, there are no veiled compliments or feigned appreciation. We actually like working together.

Why? There is a mutual respect. We appreciate each other and acknowledge what the other brings to the table. I push Cass in certain ways, and she pushes me in others. We know the other’s strengths and weaknesses and work within and around them. We are both obsessed with writing and are prolific as all hell. We’re the only people that can keep up with one another. Also, our styles are so similar at times we can’t tell who wrote what.

We don’t plan or plot, highlight or outline a story. One of us starts it, then sends around 5,000 words to the other and it just goes from there. There is no discussion, no notes passed back and forth, no messages exchanged or lengthy phone conversations about the plot or characters. We each have free reign in our world and respect the other’s choices in condemning or blessing the subjects in our little kingdom. Everything we do is organic.

The fun part is the challenges we leave for each other. Whenever possible we end our section and send it off with a cliffhanger the other has to work out of. It makes the books more interesting, more exciting, and much faster reads. Something is always going on because neither one of us wants to turn in a boring segment of the book. We need to outdo each other, push the other past their comfort zones and into uncharted territory. We work harder on our combined work because there is always a burning need to enthrall each other. At the end of the day, our first reader is our co-author, and we want to impress, shock, and outdo each other.

So for me, what’s it like working with a co-author? It fucking rocks! So throw up those devil horns, bang your heads, and check out our books, all of which are being re-released through Booktrope in the coming months.

Toxic Leash, I like to Watch, The Darkness Within, Believe in the Darkman, Beauty and Rage, Witch Hunter, and the short story free for Ibooks, Demon Kills. By Cassandre Dayne and Christian Jensen. Passion, Pain, and Perversion. Escape to the extreme.