Is that Even Possible? A Writing Experiment: Chaos Is Come Again with John Dolan and Fiona Quinn

First, a Scientific Question

Could two writers who had just met on Twitter come together and write a novel? 

Hmmm.

Some considerations:

* The writers had never met, never even spoken to each other. Only

   tweeted. Though the question was posed in an e-mail. 

* They write in different styles.
* One writes in English- English; one writes in American-English.

   And thus, spelling, vocabulary, and phrasing differences - some

   of them quite significant - some quite funny.

* One writer lives outside of D.C. in the U.S. and the other is an

   English ex-pat splitting his time between Thailand 

   and Dubai so a time difference of 11 or 9 hours respectively.

* They were both very busy. Dolan was running a power company,

   and Quinn was homeschooling her brood. Both were already

   working on their own writing projects. 

* One was a plotter who has a love of spreadsheets, the other a

   pantser who actually broke out in hives the first time she saw a

   Dolan-spreadsheet.

The catalyst for the science experiment.

John Dolan

Fiona Quinn, a newby to Twitter, meets John Dolan, a Twitter proficient, because she did not understand what an RT was. 

This lead to Dolan putting on his much doffed Henry Higgins cap as he tried to explain the workings of Twitter. 

And then, there was a Twitter exchange of a story - line by line - which lead almost immediately to the question - is this possible in a larger format? Could we write a novel?

Background Research

* First, each subject had to read each other's work and see if

   they felt their possible writing partner could string more that 140

   characters together in a cogent fashion.

* Then there was the Skype session - to actually "meet."

* This was followed by ideas thrown about to see if the minds

    could interact as a team.

Hypothesis

Two strangers from different backgrounds and different parts of the world can bring their own talents and knowledge to the table to create a unique and interesting work of fiction.

Test Your Hypothesis

Fiona Quinn

Quinn and Dolan began the experiment in the spring of 2013. Within a couple of months of daily Skyping and numerous emails, they had constructed their characters and plotline. Dolan took time off on a sabbatical, and they came together to finish the project spring of 2014.

Decisions were made about spelling, language, and process and all were documented ad nauseum into spreadsheets (that Quinn had to be coaxed into opening).

Language/cultural barriers were broken down with exchanges such as these:

Dolan - You are a cheeky cow.

Quinn - I'm a cow? 

              I think we could start with a dictionary of weird

              English words - Yonks, Cow, Fanny, Shag, Twee,

              Loo... 

Dolan - The "cow" thing btw. In English the term "cheeky cow" (of

              which "cow" is a shortened version) is almost a term of

              endearment directed at someone who has made a comment

              which is critical but in a non-threatening/insulting way.

              Just so you know.

Quinn - I took it with a spoonful of endearment.

and...

Quinn - How do you envision Sean?

Dolan - * He's not a homeschooled vegetarian

             * He doesn't like anchovies
             * Size 9 feet
Quinn - Size 9 feet? That's unfortunate.
Dolan - Why?
Quinn - Oh... Hmm... Well there seems to be a mythological 

             correlate --

Dolan - I have size 9 feet
Quinn - ACH! I'll stop typing.

             NO WAIT!

             You have size 9 feet in European size?

Dolan - Yes. Well UK size
Quinn - Okay then I'll finish. A correlate between the man's foot

              size and his uhm “endowment.” And here, size 9 is rather 

              small...
Dolan - Ah, but my foot is only a size 9 when it's not aroused. 

             Whenever my feet get excited, they bust out of my shoes.
Quinn - Too early! I just woke up. 

              That's a frightening thought, Mr. Dolan.
Dolan - It's like a scene from Alien.

Quinn - OK, that's enough thank you. I'm off to wake the kiddos.

              L8r G8R.

There were lots of technical difficulties - a typical exchange.

* OK, I've been through it and accepted all your yellows and put a couple of red expansions. Wanna
    talk about the big blocks of green under Sean and Teagan?
* 2:00pm Quinn - yup.
* 2:02pm Dolan - On video? 15 min warning: I need to get something to eat shortly, OK?
* 2:03pm - John missed a call from you.
* May 24 - You missed a call from John.
* 2:04pm Quinn -  try again  it didnt ring.
* May 24 You missed a call from John.
* 2:05pm Dolan -retrying
* May 24 You missed a call from John.
* May 24 John called you.
* May 24 John called you.
* May 24 John called you.
* May 24 You missed a call from John.
* May 24 You missed a call from John.
* May 24 John missed a call from you.
* 2:10pm Dolan - 1 more try
* 2:10pm Quinn -  k u go
* May 24 You missed a call from John.
* 2:11pm  Dolan - Tried. It's not playing. Let me eat and we'll try later if that's OK with you
* 2:12pm Quinn -  Yup

* 4:07pm Dolan - You try
* May 24 You called John.
* May 24 John called you.
* May 24 You called John.
* May 24 John called you.
* 4:09pm Quinn - one more time for good luck - you or me?
* 4:10pm Dolan - you call but give me 1 min first. I thought I'd try headphones and see if it makes a
               difference. OK ready
* May 24 You called John.
* 4:14pm Quinn -  Whoop! I can see you... BOO! I can't hear you.
* 4:15pm Dolan - Can you see my lips moving?
* 4:15 pm Quinn - Sigh. Maybe the book will just write itself????

Description of Outcome:
In Chaos Is Come Again, authors John Dolan and Fiona Quinn step away from their usual writing styles to create a twisted dark comedy for the Internet generation. Pulling back the curtain on the messiness of their characters’ issues, the authors take a satiric look at the juggling act of modern life.

In America, dread propels literary agent Avery Goodyear out of bed each morning. She’s panicked about losing her job if she doesn't get Travis Bishop – the coke-addicted author of the blasphemous Nosferatu, the Lost Gospel – to complete his sequel.

In England, Sean’s schizophrenia meds aren’t doing their job, and the voices in his head are getting louder. To make matters worse, he is being harassed by a predatory girlfriend, and a conspiracy nut who thinks the way to catch the London serial killer is through the magic number 23.

A chance meeting on Twitter connects Sean and Avery. As their relationship deepens, they each try to conceal the chaos that defines their lives. But secrets can be deadly.

 For readers who enjoy works such as The World According to Garp and MASH

Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

* I am holding the end result in my hand. 
* It has a beginning, a middle, and an end.   
* Words form sentences, sentences form
   paragraphs which in turn form chapters.

Yes, by jove! 

I do believe that this experiment produced a book!

Commnicate Your Results

This is what people are saying:

“Readers, get ready for a hysterical, wild, whacky read that
  will keep you biting your nails till the end. ” 

“The characters in this book are diverse, complicated and
  fascinating.”

“The ending will simply blow you out of the water.”


and Quinn's personal favorite:

"A book this weird shouldn't work, but this one does, magnificently."

To read all of our reviews click on this LINK 

Fiona Quinn's Newsletter Link, Sign up HERE

Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Book Review: Reading People

Cover via AmazonReading People - How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior - Anytime, Anyplace. By Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, Ph.D., and Mark Mazzarella
http://www.dimita.com/

Available at Amazon for 10.88 new from 3.01 used
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-People-Understand-Behavior--Anytime-Anyplace/dp/0345504135/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318702907&sr=1-1


Rating: Highly recommended!

Jo-Ellan Demetrius is renowned for her ability to select a jury that will give her client a favorable outcome. She worked on the OJ trial. To be effective at jury selection, Demetrius had to hone her observation skills and her ability to read people. This book shares what Demetrius looks for when she meets people, both professionally and privately.

This is not a typical kinesics book. You will not learn that if a woman dangles her shoe from her foot that it is probably a sexual invitation (or her shoes are killing her, and she’s desperate to get them off her feet). I enjoy studying kinesics because it helps me to develop my characters’ individual, non-verbal vocabulary. When I chose a dialect and a word pattern for a certain character, I like to back it up with the correct-for-that-character gestures, stances, and ways of moving and being in their environment. Kinesics - or body language books - helps me to choose what is right for each character.

This book, instead, explains how a legal mind looks at a person and how these observations apply to the courtroom. If you are writing a lawyer - and your lawyer is good at what she does, then the information about human observation techniques might come in handy. If there is a big court scene in your book - you might want to bring in a jury selection advisor who can talk about the jury - the pros and cons of each juror being selected and how that plays out in the outcome of the case. Very interesting - the ramifications of various personalities on the outcome.

This book is not fast paced- though it is intriguing. The authors take the reader from step one to the final conclusions. They teach the hows and whys of observation and the accompanying thought processes. There is a chapter about effective listening as well as how and when to listen to intuition.

One of the ideas, which is repeated throughout, is that not every action and word choice is indicative of a whole. Sometimes people just act “off” - not themselves. It is when someone strays from the norm that the most attention should be paid. Is the generally smiling, jovial neighbor suddenly morose and drooped? Hmmm…..It is most significant when our characters act out of character. That cues the reader in - something odd is going on here; I’d better pay attention.

From a counselor’s point of view - this book encompasses much of my training. The listening techniques are techniques I used with my clients. The observations, right down to clothing choices and presentation styles, were things that I documented in my files. It was interesting to see these techniques from a different point of view.

As a writer, I like to be reminded of the importance of the small details. They help to give dimensionality to characters even if they just step in and step out of a scene. To me, when I read, if an author has included a detail that reminds me of someone I know then I can color that character in with greater ease. Who knows? The character might just remind me of my neighbor, who always dangles her shoe from her foot as she sits cross-legged - as if she were inviting a sexual overture from my husband. Not good.

Yes. I highly recommend this book for anyone in contact with humans - who might want to develop people reading skills and awareness. I highly recommend this book for writers who are developing rounded characters.