Interview with Fantasy Authors Katherine and Rose Robbins

Until now, every author I’ve interviewed on “The Vigilante Author” has worked alone. I’ve always wondered about collaborative writing partnerships and how they work. I found a most unusual one in the mother-and-daughter team of Rose and Katherine Robbins.

Katherine Robbins is a novelist currently entering her freshman year of high school. She lives in the northwestern United States with her mother and four siblings. The Accidental Dragon, a fantasy tale co-written with her mom, is her first novel. Katherine is creative in other ways, too. She enjoys weaving, working with leather, carving, and cooking. Her long-term plan is to live in Scotland and to continue writing books there, “where it is cool and misty and I can smell the ocean.”

Rose Robbins, Katherine’s mother, is an accomplished songwriter, singer, and musician. She also is the author of nine books, six of them novels that she wrote and published within the past two years. Her “Carlin series” consists of five romantic suspense novels set in the same town. They all explore domestic abuse and its effects on the many people it touches. Rose also heads a mentoring program for former abuse victims and hosts a website that offers resources for victims and mentors alike.

After reading and thoroughly enjoying The Accidental Dragon [which is available as a free ebook download through October 31, 2014], I invited this unusual writing team to be interviewed, and they graciously accepted. I think you’ll be charmed by what they have to say.

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THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Welcome, ladies. Well, this interview breaks with established tradition here on “The Vigilante Author.” It’s the first time I’ve jointly interviewed two writers; the first time I’ve interviewed authors of a book that is not in the “thriller” genre; the first time I’ve ever interviewed any author under the age of twenty; and the only time I expect to ever interview a mother-and-daughter writing team!

Before we get into your writing backgrounds, let me start by chatting with both of you about your jointly written children’s fantasy novel, The Accidental Dragon—which I thoroughly enjoyed. (Note: For details about the story, see my Amazon review here.) Why don’t you briefly summarize the story?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Basically, Kit Markham, the main character, sees a dragon, which accidentally pops through the veil of energy between our world and his. She discovers his world with the help of her friend Merlin, and they go on a wonderful adventure there.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Which one of you first came up with the idea for the story? And what inspired it?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: I actually thought I saw a dragon when we were driving home from school one day. But it turned out to be an airplane.

ROSE ROBBINS: So disappointing!

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Yes. But then we thought, wouldn’t it be cool if it really had been one!

ROSE ROBBINS: So we decided to write it.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Without giving away secrets, what are your favorite parts of the story? And who is your favorite character?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: My favorite character is Kit, and my favorite part of the story is the part with Septimus the Serpent. He was so fun to write!

ROSE ROBBINS: I love the part where Artemis [the goddess of the Outer World] is telling Kit that she should give up, and Kit suddenly has this great moment of maturity . . .

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: I have to ask this, Katherine: Based on the similarity of your names and ages, how much of Kit Markham is based on you?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Um . . . a lot. She is pretty much me, based on personality. Although, sadly, I have never seen a real dragon.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Both you and your mom are extremely talented, so I imagine each of you brought your own individual creative contributions and strengths to the story. Who invented which characters, and who came up with some of the plot ideas?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: I invented Endymion [a faun]. Oh, and Drudd [a cyclops], and he was pretty fun. Also Septimus. And although Artemis already existed in mythology, it was my idea to use her. And I invented Gol the Gryphon. As far as plot, most of the action parts of the story, the fights and battles, those were all me!

ROSE ROBBINS: Yes, Katherine has such a great touch with the action that I really let her make all those scenes happen. I tried to flesh out the meanings behind things, the reasons why. That sort of thing. I also put in touches of humor, like the baby gryphon trying to sneak into the battle.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: I noticed a number of funny references to C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” stories in the book. Katherine, was that because you’re a big fan of those tales?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Oh, absolutely. I was raised reading those. Mama read them aloud, and then I read them to myself a few times, too.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: So your mom introduced you to those kinds of stories when you were little? What has been her influence on you as a writer?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Yes, she read to us all the time when I was little. And writing certainly seemed more possible because she did it. And she seemed to do it easily, so I believed I could do it, too.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: What other authors and books do you like, Katherine? Which ones inspired or influenced you the most as you wrote yours?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Erin Hunter’s Warrior series, the Harry Potter series, definitely the Narnia series. Also The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, by James A. Owen.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Rose, having written adult romantic suspense with serious themes, the subject matter, tone, and target audience of The Accidental Dragon couldn’t be more different. How did your previous five novels prepare you for writing a magical fantasy for children?

ROSE ROBBINS: Reading magical fantasy for children, all my life, prepared me for this. Writing the “Carlin” series simply made me realize that writing a book is a reachable goal. Honestly, writing a children’s book, half the length of one of the novels in my series, about happy, charming topics, with the help of another gifted writer, was a wonderful summer vacation!

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Yes, having read your other novels, I can only imagine how much of a pleasure this departure was. So, how did you two decide to collaborate on writing the book together? Whose idea was that?

ROSE ROBBINS: It was my idea. I actually had to convince Katherine that we could do it.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: I don’t think it would ever be possible for me to collaborate with another author. Yet you managed to pull it off. Did you have any misgivings when you were starting out?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Yes, I was worried that we would have really different writing styles. Also, I was worried she was going to be too—no offense, Mama—Mom-ish.

ROSE ROBBINS: But I wasn’t?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: You totally weren’t!

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Well, I’m glad that you managed to get through it and still love each other. After all, writing a book is such a complicated process. How did you divide up the work load?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: I would do rough drafts of action sequences, and then hand them over to Mama, and she would smooth them out.

ROSE ROBBINS: Yes, and then when she was gone from home, sometimes she’d email me whole chapters, and I’d email them back twice as long!

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: What would a typical writing session look like? And where did you actually do that?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: We worked at a local coffee shop. We’d get our espresso and sit there for hours silently typing.

ROSE ROBBINS: Yeah, for the whole summer! Once in a while, one of us would look up and say something random, like, “I think Endymion should scold them for that.” Something that would have made absolutely no sense if both our brains hadn’t been completely immersed in our story.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Katherine, how did it feel working with your mom? Was it easy? Come on—be honest, now.

KATHERINE ROBBINS: It was pretty easy. We think pretty similarly. Again, no Mom-ish-ness. Also, one time my brothers and sisters were with us, and we all brainstormed and had the idea for the Syscophae and the bad dreams!

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Ah yes, the “Syscophae.” I’ll let our readers remain in suspense about what that might mean, so that they’ll have to get your book to find out. What about you, Rose? What was it like collaborating with your daughter on a book?

ROSE ROBBINS: It was wonderful! I was so proud of her endless creativity and her persistence. I wasn’t sure how it would work, and wondered if I would have to be a little pushy or “Mom-ish” to get her to finish, but it just flowed really beautifully.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Did you ever disagree about something in the story? And if so, how did your resolve your disagreements?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Not really—only in the sense that one of us would have an idea and the other would say, “No, because remember, Hyrax had already . . .” Or something like that, and then we’d brainstorm and come up with a way to work it out.

ROSE ROBBINS: Yeah, it helped that neither of us had an outline or an ending planned. We came up with all of it as we went. Each time we’d change something, we’d have to go clear back to the beginning and figure out how that change would affect the entire story. It was a lot of work, but it was really fun.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Are your school classmates aware that you’ve written a novel, Katherine? What’s been the reaction of your peers and teachers?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: About half of my classmates and teachers know now, I think. They have reacted pretty admiringly. It’s cool.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Have you yet done, or are you planning to do, any book signings or public readings?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: We’d like to, but it hasn’t happened yet.

ROSE ROBBINS: We’ve had some interest, but no firm dates yet.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: So, what are plans for your future, Katherine? Do you want to collaborate with your mom again—or do you prefer to go it alone?

KATHERINE ROBBINS: Maybe we could do another one like this one, but as far as my other book ideas, they’re probably solo ones.

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Well, I certainly hope you continue the adventures of Kit and Merlin in the “Outer World,” at least for a little while.

Rose, your “Carlin” romantic suspense series was fascinating to read. I want to interview you separately here about that very soon. Are you game?

ROSE ROBBINS: I am always game!

THE VIGILANTE AUTHOR: Well, game on, then. I’ll have my people get in contact with your people.

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(The Accidental Dragon is available exclusively from Amazon in both ebook and paperback. You can download the ebook edition  free through Friday, October 31, 2014. My Amazon review of the novel is here.)