Ted Dekker and Erin Healy

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Ted Dekker and Erin Healy answer readers' questions about the initial inspiration behind their novel, KISS, the process of co-writing and the strengths they each brought to the table, and the possibility of movie adaptations.

Monie from Arlington, TX: Will your future collaborations be based on some of the same characters, or will you develop new storylines?

Erin Healy: For now, we’ll be developing new storylines. BURN is a stand-alone novel with a new cast. But never say never, right? Shauna might have a sequel one day.

Beverly from Chicago, IL: How long did it take to write KISS?

Erin Healy: About nine months. Not unlike birthing a baby. BURN took less time, about six months.

Beverly from Chicago, IL: How did you execute co-authoring KISS? Do you alternate writing chapters and creating characters? Do you edit each other’s work in progress? Do you work in the same city?

Erin Healy: We did most of our “writing” over the phone. I had to buy new batteries for my cordless because I exhausted the ones I had. We hammered out a dozen ideas, decided on one, then I laid down the first draft of the first act. We talk that to death, one or both of us revised it, and we moved on in that manner until the end.

Beverly from Chicago, IL: Where did the idea for KISS come from?

Erin Healy: I came up with a concept for a story about a woman who can relieve people of their most painful memories, a mercy “angel” whose good intentions go all wrong. It was rooted in questions I had been asking myself about how far a compassionate person could --- or should --- go in trying to relieve someone’s suffering. Maybe this story will find its footing one day in a sequel about Shauna. Who knows? Ted loved the idea of memory stealing and transplanted that device into a story concept that had bigger political and relational stakes, and KISS grew from there.

Beverly from Chicago, IL: Have the two of you considered writing a stand-alone story?

Erin Healy: KISS and BURN are both stand-alones. For now anyway. The question we haven’t yet considered is whether we’ll write a series.

Tiffany from Amelia, OH: I feel like this book was written more for the movie screen than the pages of a book. Did you believe this book can/will go to film?

Ted Dekker: I think KISS would make a great film. It wasn’t written as such, and on screen the device would probably need to be amped up. But, yeah, I can see it now in all its glory.

Tiffany from Amelia, OH: Ted, what strengths did Erin bring to KISS? What direction do you think the book could have gone without her? Or do you think it would have been a different storyline altogether?

Ted Dekker: Erin is a fantastic wordsmith, coaxing nuance from sentences, full of great figures of speech --- a true craftsman, as you can see in KISS. Had I written this story without her, it would have undoubtedly lacked some of her skill and leaned more on my skills, which tend to lean in the direction of plotting devices, emotional impact and intense pacing. I might have turned Shauna into Angelina Jolie at the end, using her gift in a dark way to gain great wealth and power before crashing :-)

Together, I think we delivered a really good balance of both, and both of our own works will benefit from the experience moving forward.