Q: You two play tennis; is this novel based on your experiences, or people you know?
Melanie: Well, every novel is based to a certain extent on the writer's experiences, but not in the way people think. Something that happens can give you an idea, or even just the germ of an idea. Then your imagination takes hold and from that idea you create something new and completely different.
Andrea: Everyone we know or play with asks if this book is based on them, or people they know. I'm afraid neither Melanie nor I, nor any of our friends, has the kind of eventful life the Belle Vista ladies lead. A book based on us, or anyone we know, just wouldn't be that exciting.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
Melanie: Lots of places. Sometimes it will be a newspaper story - clearly some of the political scandals in the book were inspired by the many Washington scandals that have occurred over the years.
Andrea: Sometimes we just get together at lunch and talk. For instance, everyone has had a match where you say "I swear, I was one step away from jumping over the net and going after so-and-so." Well, that all takes place in our minds, but as an author, you can say, "Yes, let's make that really happen!"
Melanie: A book is also a great place to explore things that may have always intrigued you, like Wiccans, snake handling and missing persons.
Q: Did you do a lot of research for this book?
Melanie: Yes. Even though it's fiction, and humorous fiction at that, as a former newspaper reporter I have a thing about verisimilitude. That's a fancy word that means that a book must be believable, even if it's fantasy or sci-fi. I researched seances, snake handling churches, reading auras and French Polynesian death certificates, just to name a few things.
Andrea: I delved into the Wiccan religion, Civil War reenactments, Brooklyn and retrieving adoption records from the state of West Virginia.
Q: Do you actually sit together and write?
Melanie: No. I don't know how other writing partners do it, but we meet and come up with plot developments, characters and sometimes scenes, then we split them up.
Andrea: Each of us writes the scene or chapter that she has the most feel for.
Melanie Then we edit each other's work. That gives the book a uniform voice.
Andrea: Sometimes, after a number of edits, we have trouble remembering who made up what, or who wrote which paragraph.
Melanie: Well, every novel is based to a certain extent on the writer's experiences, but not in the way people think. Something that happens can give you an idea, or even just the germ of an idea. Then your imagination takes hold and from that idea you create something new and completely different.
Andrea: Everyone we know or play with asks if this book is based on them, or people they know. I'm afraid neither Melanie nor I, nor any of our friends, has the kind of eventful life the Belle Vista ladies lead. A book based on us, or anyone we know, just wouldn't be that exciting.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
Melanie: Lots of places. Sometimes it will be a newspaper story - clearly some of the political scandals in the book were inspired by the many Washington scandals that have occurred over the years.
Andrea: Sometimes we just get together at lunch and talk. For instance, everyone has had a match where you say "I swear, I was one step away from jumping over the net and going after so-and-so." Well, that all takes place in our minds, but as an author, you can say, "Yes, let's make that really happen!"
Melanie: A book is also a great place to explore things that may have always intrigued you, like Wiccans, snake handling and missing persons.
Q: Did you do a lot of research for this book?
Melanie: Yes. Even though it's fiction, and humorous fiction at that, as a former newspaper reporter I have a thing about verisimilitude. That's a fancy word that means that a book must be believable, even if it's fantasy or sci-fi. I researched seances, snake handling churches, reading auras and French Polynesian death certificates, just to name a few things.
Andrea: I delved into the Wiccan religion, Civil War reenactments, Brooklyn and retrieving adoption records from the state of West Virginia.
Q: Do you actually sit together and write?
Melanie: No. I don't know how other writing partners do it, but we meet and come up with plot developments, characters and sometimes scenes, then we split them up.
Andrea: Each of us writes the scene or chapter that she has the most feel for.
Melanie Then we edit each other's work. That gives the book a uniform voice.
Andrea: Sometimes, after a number of edits, we have trouble remembering who made up what, or who wrote which paragraph.