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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why collaborate? Writers lead isolated lives and we both have active careers separate from each other. So the opportunity to work together is a relief from our individual work, offers a new kind of writing challenge, opens up new markets and... is very enjoyable.
How does it work? It's evolved since we started writing together in mid-2005 and nothing is set in stone. However... William writes the first draft and passes it over to Helen for editing, suggestions, her own written input and discussion. This happens in chunks of text, maybe about 5000 words each time. While Helen is working on the 'previous' bit William is working on the 'next'. Arguments, debates and moments of sudden creativity and change ensue. As the book progresses things change. William writes faster and more loosely, not to say carelessly; Helen edits harder and faster and imposes herself more. By the end the book's voice is somewhere between the two and different from their individual work.
Why Chicago?
When most Europeans think urban America they think New York first and Chicago second. If they get to think Chicago they do so in terms of Prohibition and all those 1920s gangster film cliches. We were excited by the challenge of late nineties Chicago, an incredibly fast growing, vibrant place, full of life, crime, big industry, creativity, good things and bad things. A place whose meat industry gave birth to the modern production line pioneered later by Henry Ford, and whose people were driven by an overriding 'Can Do' attitude. Chicago in the 1890s was still in many ways a European city without, as yet, a defined American identity, thanks to the huge numbers of immigrant workers flooding in from Eastern and Southern Europe. In was a young, vibrant city in flux and as Europeans we felt very comfortable with
the diversity of its culture and people.
How do you do the research? We do it differently. Helen is a professional researcher and does desk (library and other) research like a knife through butter or, possibly, a scalpel through a body. Highly focused, disciplined and generally reluctant to read anything unless it is obviously relevant. That's the historian in her. William, by contrast, meanders along dipping into material (including locations) here and there and allowing it to seep into his creative soul. It was an early source of conflict until we realized that both approaches work and in combination they work very, very well. Dark Hearts of Chicago obviously involved several trips to Chicago, throughly planned ahead, so that every minute was well used. Since Chicago has always been a highly mobile society, in terms of both ethnicity and location, and there is not the tradition of local walking and wandering (locally perceived as too dangerous in many locations we were researching) we soon knew a lot more about Chicago's history than many of its inhabitants. Cab drivers were bemused and alarmed at our inclination to jump out and wander off to explored locations which were vital in the 1890's but which are now derelict or changed beyond recognition. In only one location (the site of the 1893 World Fair) did we feel any alarm, part of it now being a drug dealers' paradise. But generally Chicagoans are friendly and very willing to help; and their historical and library facilities are second to none, making our job much easier.
Do you enjoy the project? Intensely, though at any particular moment one of us might be in the mood to kill the other. We have frequent, sometimes passionate, fallings out and makings up, get over it and then move on to the next chunk of words. This is not a corporate office relationship - we do not have to meet furtively.
Are there downsides? Professionally speaking, yes, in that we have inevitably had to put our individual work on hold for long spells and sometimes the conflict of interests can create tension. But in general the positives greatly outweigh the negatives and we feel that the collaboration is a gamble that is now coming good. We are once again working on our own projects while being able to enjoy the fruits of our joint one and looking forward to Emily Strauss book 2. But it's a balancing act that requires tolerance, patience and give and take.
How did you meet? Via an On-line dating agency, namely Dating Direct. We found we lived near each other and often worked in the Bodleian Library in Oxford simultaneously, though we has not noticed each other there. As we were too old (and sensible) to make children we decided to make books together instead.
Are there other Horwood:Rappaport books in the pipeline? Yes, we'll be delivering No 2 in the series in October 2007 for publication by Random UK in Spring 2008.