A while back, I promised to introduce you to Ruth Virkus, the co-creator of Tyme (the series I’m writing).  It’s hard to be brief; there’s a lot to say.  So we’ve decided to break this introduction up into a series of short posts, mostly to give ourselves the pleasure of digging back into our friendship and writing about it.

I’ve often heard writing described as a lonely process, but it hasn’t been for me.  I met Ruth in 2001, and we struck up an endless AIM-chat conversation about stories.  Harry Potter fanfiction stories – at first.

The fanfic conversation spilled over. We started dreaming up stories of our own.  One day, Ruth asked me to write a fairy tale.  The result of that request is my debut novel.

Our debut novel, actually. 

Ruth and I have talked about this story, and this series, for more hours and days and weeks than I can count.  If I stacked up the time, I’d probably have whole months.  Our collaborative process is simple.  We talk, I go away and write, she reads, we talk, repeat.  The conversation has been rolling for years. We often have a shared vision, but often enough we debate and see things from different perspectives.  It’s good.

Ruth and I have rarely met in person.  The first time we did is a story worth telling.  So Ruth – whose storytelling I love – will tell it in the next post.