You are both successful fiction authors on your own, but you came together for both The Amish Groom and The Amish Blacksmith. What was the collaborative writing process like? Did anything surprise you?
Susan: I had never collaborated with another novelist before, so I came into this partnership with no experience as a coauthor! That might have been a little scary if I hadn’t already known Mindy personally, not just as a fellow writer but as a friend. I was already familiar with her skilled writing style and attention to detail. If anything surprised me, it was that we had so few clashes over content. We are both single-minded in that we want very much for the story to have its perfect way. When we did come up against a difference of opinion as to plot or character, we found a way to find the common ground.
Mindy: The hardest part about coauthoring for me is trying to describe to others how it works and what it’s like. Everyone is always so curious, but it’s hard to explain. It’s such a unique process and one that’s different with every single coauthor I’ve had. (Susan is my fourth coauthor, so I guess you could say it works for me!) The only surprise I ever have when coauthoring is the delightful experience of running across passages and elements in the manuscript that startle me with their beauty and reflect my coauthor’s amazing skill as a wordsmith. That’s always a thrill.
What made you decide to write from a male protagonist point of view instead of female?
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