The Art of Collaboration...

...writer and friend, Helena Fairfax, joins me on the blog this week.  Hello Helena and thanks very much for being here and it's over to you...

If you’ve followed Angela’s blog for a while you’ll know last year we were both part of an anthology of short stories called Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings.

There are nine stories in the anthology, and nine authors.  Although we’re all members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, we each have a very different style of writing and we write different genres, from romantic comedy to Regency romance.

Miss Moonshine and her little shop in Haven Bridge appear in each of the nine stories.  Reviewers have loved our main character, and despite the fact our styles are very different, our Miss M and her little chihuahua, Napoleon, appear in the same mysterious – and loveable! – way throughout.

Each story flows seamlessly from one to the next, but, as is often the case, although the writing appears effortless, getting the anthology to read consistently required planning and careful editing.  First of all, we set up a sort of ‘Miss Moonshine Style Guide’, so that we each described her appearance in the same way, and to make sure her dialogue was consistent.  One of our authors, Marie Laval, came up with the brilliant idea of basing Miss Moonshine on Vivienne Westwood.  This was perfect! Vivienne Westwood has just the right timeless appeal.  She also has the right northern accent, and, since she’s a designer with an eye-catching style, using her as a starting point meant we could each have fun dressing our own individual Miss Moonshine.

Once all the stories were written and collated, there were a few issues that came to light.  Chihuahua with a capital ‘C’, or chihuahua? Does Miss Moonshine prefer ‘dear’ or ‘love’?

There was also the location of the shop to consider.  Some of us had the emporium on Market Street, and some on the high street.  Several of us featured a packhorse bridge, based on the real Packhorse Bridge in Hebden Bridge.  Where was the bridge in relation to her shop?  A couple of minutes’ walk or a ten-minute drive?  When not writing, I also work as a freelance editor, and these are the sorts of things I consider when editing.  It only takes one inconsistency for the reader to be thrown out of the story.

Our inspiration for Miss M's shop

Our approach and our rigorous editing must have paid off, because we’ve had some wonderful reviews, such as: ‘As an initial premise I wondered how such a collection from different writers would succeed in one book – I need not have worried’, and ‘Brilliant idea that different authors wrote each story and they came together so well.’

We’re now working on a second anthology, Miss Moonshine at Christmas, to be released in September.  I’ve already begun work on editing the stories.  (It’s been wonderful to read about frosty streets during the heatwave!)  It’s an absolute pleasure to work with the other authors in this anthology, who all take a professional and creative approach to their writing, and who have such wonderful ideas.  I’m very much looking forward to giving our Miss Moonshine another outing in the fictional town of Haven Bridge.  Roll on Christmas!

...about the author  Helena Fairfax was born in Uganda and came to England as a child.  She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the Yorkshire moors.  She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

Helena is a freelance editor and a member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, the Society of Authors and the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She’s also addicted to reading and will read the back of the cornflakes packet if there’s nothing else available.

...about the book  Kate Hemingway is prickly and aloof...or at least, that’s what she likes people to think.  Since the death of her photographer husband, Stuart, the only people Kate allows near are her best friend, Orla, and her son, George.  She loves them both more than anything in the world.  Everyone else she keeps at a distance...including Paul Farrell.

Paul was Stuart’s closest friend.  An ex-war journalist, he and Kate have one thing in common.  They both seem equally distant.  Then Paul publishes an article, revealing an astonishing secret.  On a trip to the Yorkshire moors with a group of teenage girls, Kate's scarred heart begins to open up.

But can she risk her son’s happiness, as well as her own?

You can follow Helena on her Website, on Twitter, Facebook, on Amazon or by subscribing to her Newsletter for news and occasional free stuff

Thank you so much for having me, Angela. I’m looking forward to the release of our Christmas Miss Moonshine!

Me too and thank you, Helena. Another fellow Author on the Edge will be visiting the blog next month, so watch this space...

Kate Field  Melinda Hammond  My Own Post  Helen Pollard  Jacqui Cooper