Kim and Steph are the wonderful minds behind the queer dark fantasy novels by R.P. Dunwater. This author duo have worked together seamlessly on the Book of Payne Trilogy, and with the upcoming publishing of book 3 in the series ‘The Shadow of Payne’ I thought I would have a chat about their writing process and their books.

Read on to find our interview!

The Interview

Anna: First up, a (hopefully) easy one, what was it that drew you to writing and publishing?

I love the idea of writing a novel and publishing it with a friend. What was it that brought you both together to publish a book collaboratively?

R.P.: Love it! We’ve been writing together since high school and when I started working on the idea for Book of Payne, I knew Kim was the first person I wanted to share it with. A year later, and she’d worked so hard on this story with me that it was as much hers as it was mine. We’d created something great together and I proposed that we move forward on the project together as a team and write stories together like we’d always enjoyed.

Anna: Love that! Such a great start to this wonderful series!

What is it about the darker side of fantasy that drew you to this genre for these particular characters and the story you wanted to tell?

R.P.: We’ve always been attracted to darker, more gritty media. We like realistic tales with flawed characters, where nothing comes too easily and every choice has a consequence. That fits perfectly within dark or grimdark fantasy.

Anna: It definitely shines through in the writing that you love the genre you’re both writing in.

I’m not sure how much you want to share about the writing process for you both, but I am definitely curious! When writing together do you have certain pov characters you write for then cross edit, or is it by scene/section? Or both? Both is good!

R.P.: We actually work very differently from other coauthor situations, we’ve found. We make an excellent team in the way that one of us is great at creating something from nothing and the other is great at taking that something and twisting and pulling it until it’s even better. We talk things out constantly, obsess over dialogue and character arcs, and work together on all things, but so far all of the technical writing has been done by one of us and expanded upon through several rounds of edits as a joint effort. This is why the story reads so cohesively.

Anna: This is so interesting about your process! I love that it works so well, the novel really does read so smoothly!

More on your process – do you find that you do a lot of planning for your work, especially writing together?

R.P.: So. Much. Planning. We outline everything and we love having planning sessions where we just go wild and throw things at the “pasta wall” to see what fits/sticks.

Anna: I can imagine! Sounds like a fun process!

You have so many vivid and rich characters in your series. Do you have a favourite to write the pov for?

R.P.: Steph really loves writing Nell’s POV—the snark and the anger are a lot of fun. Kim is enjoying working on Nyla’s character, who readers haven’t technically met yet but they will in Book 3!

Anna: Nice, I love that you both have different favourites.

This one is changing track a little, but what was it about indie/self publishing that made you want to go down that path as opposed to the traditional publishing route?

R.P.: We had a story we wanted to tell, and we were a little worried about being told to change it. We are also both artists and have been selling our separate crafts for years, so we have a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit and were pretty familiar with the amount of work it was going to take to self-publish.

Anna: I love that – it was similar for me, having that freedom was a big draw.

Is there something you’ve found quite difficult with self publishing, but that you found a work around for or overcome?

R.P.: Top of mind, we can’t recall anything too difficult. But we’ve made such an amazing network of other indies that we know, should something arise, there will be someone right there to help us out. Networking is everything and we are so grateful for the authors we’ve met.

Anna: That is so true! I owe so much to the group of indie authors I’ve met through Insta!

I am so excited for Book 3 in your ‘Book of Payne’ series! I am sure you can’t share too much at this point (unless you can!) So do you have any plans for more collaborations in the future?

R.P.: We’re hoping that The Shadow of Payne (Book 3!) will be a satisfying ending. It’ll hurt a little, as most of the series has, but it’ll be realistic for the kind of story it is.

We also have several collaborations in the works. Some just vague ideas and some nearly drafted. We’re really excited for what’s next!

Anna: Ohmygoodness! I am so excited! (Also mentally preparing for book 3 hurt!)

Last few questions, this is one I love to ask! If you had the opportunity to adapt the Book of Payne series into any form of media, would you take it? And if yes, what form would you want it in?

R.P.: We’ve always had a very visual idea of Book of Payne and would absolutely love to see it adapted into a limited series. We’re not too picky on who would adapt it so long as we get a say!

Anna: A limited series would be so cool!! I would absolutely watch it!

Last question (sadly!), if you had any advice for aspiring and self published authors, what would it be?

Thank you so much for doing this interview with me! It has been wonderful!

R.P.: Our advice would be: Don’t give up! If you’re self publishing like we did, it can take a long time to get sales and reviews. It doesn’t necessarily mean your book was bad, it might just mean that you haven’t found your audience yet.

Thank you so much for chatting with us! It means a lot!

Anna: Love this answer so much!

No worries! It has been wonderful!Thank you so much again for the interview.

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I will be continuing this series with a host of wonderful indie authors. I can’t wait to share these interviews with you all!