From: "Raymond E. Feist"
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996
Subject: Re: Co Authoring
Well, let's see, we originally did one really smart thing, listen to Larry Niven, who said, "Someone must be boss." So because it was my universe, I got the tie-breaker. Then we negotiated a contract between ourselves, so that if one of us had a change in brain chemistry and decided to quit the other's rights were protected. Then we went to work. We started out with the idea that I'd do first draft, Janny would rewrite my stuff, and I'd do a final before we sent it over to the editor. Then Janny said, "I want to do Mara's wedding! I've got some great ideas!" so I said, OK, and from that point on we were leapfrogging and passing files back and forth. There are a few things I can point to and say, "I did most of that," or "Janny did most of that," but there's a lot of stuff where I have no idea who did what, we both worked on it so many times. We were sending files back and forth on disc for a while, and as we both had Apple's, that was OK. Then I got my first Mac, so I had to use a nul modem cable to transfer Janny's files from my old Apple to my new Mac. Then Janny got a modem and we just sent files back and forth via the phone. I was always in California, and Janny was in Pennsylvania, Connecticut when she and Don were getting married, then they moved to Florida, so modems save my sanity. That's it in a nutshell. I'm really glad I did it, but I won't do it again; too much work!
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