"Oh what a tangled
web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott
| "Oh what a tangled
web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." |
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| W M M New Issue | W M M Archives |
| P.
J. Parrish is actually two sisters, Kristy Montee and Kelly Montee, who
decided to pool their life-long love of writing by teaming up in 1995 to
create the character of Louis Kincaid. Their collaboration is unique in
that the sisters live in separate states which means hefty phone bills and
regular
emails. The sisters were born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Kristy went on to become a journalist for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, eventually "retiring" to write full time. Kelly entered the gaming industry and currently works in the Human Resources Department of a Mississippi casino. Their first book Dark of the Moon introduced the young, impulsive biracial Louis Kincaid to the world in a case that involved a 30-year old lynching. The sister's second novel, Dead of Winter spent four weeks on the USA Today's top selling books, and earned a nomination for the Mystery Write's of America's coveted EDGAR Award. Paint it Black debuted on the New York Times best-selling list, and was honored with a Shamus Award nomination as well as an Anthony Award nomination. |
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Island of Bones, their most recent release, garnered a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. The sisters are members of the Mystery Writer's of America, The Private Eye Writer's of America, and Sisters in Crime. Kristy serves as President of the Florida Chapter of the MWA and both sisters have been co-chairs of the Florida SleuthFest conference held each year in Fort Lauderdale. Their website is www.pjparrish.com. Direct correspondence to P. J. Parrish or to editor@lifeloom.com. (Kelly is on the left, Kristy on the right.) |
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| P. J. Parrish: Sisters & Partners | ||
The dawn paints the sky with the glimmer of pink. It’s not yet six a.m. but you know the time to quit is near. And you are ready to stop for a while. The last few precious hours have been exhausting, but they are hours well spent.
They are private hours, spent totally alone with your second family. Those strange,
lovable, but sometimes dangerous individuals who call to you in the dark of
the night, tap you on the shoulder in the middle of your favorite television
show, or interrupt your day job with their incessant whispers. Their daily lives
are always in turmoil, filled with a melodrama of good versus evil. They are
some of the most important people in your life, and you are the most important
one in their lives, for without you, they would be nothing. Their very existence
is dependent upon only a few taps on a computer keyboard.
They are arguing tonight over which of them will suffer the scandal of tomorrow’s
headlines, which of them will be compelled to commit a terrible crime and even
which of them will die in the next few months. And tonight, they look to you
to make those decisions.
You. The fiction writer. The creator of a world in which so many colorful souls
thrive and die. The author carries the burden of these vitally important decisions
alone. It is a learned skill, shouldering the sole responsibility of manipulating
so many lives, weaving them into a story that will bring tears and laughter
to strangers, and satisfaction to our souls.
But we, the two sisters who write as P.J. Parrish, are authors who do not know
this usually singular responsibility. We have always had each other as a co-author
and editor. From the time we typed Chapter One over eight years ago, we have
relied upon one another to help those make those creative decisions that allow
a novel to unfold naturally, to add that new layer of flesh to a budding character,
and to place that last critical clue.
Our brains have conjoined over the years and many times we feel we experience
something close to a psychic connection, where an incomplete sentence can bloom
into the solution. Often we will call each other, and discover we have developed
the same plot twist, or share the same vague sense that a scene is not working
as well as we hoped.
We instinctively share a common vision for the book as a whole. We collectively
know what events should take place in the first chapter and who will share that
critical final moment with our character, Louis, as the book comes to end. Not
a scene is crafted, not a character created, that does not have some part of
both of us in it. On the rare occasions when we debate an image, photographs
help us bring it into focus.
But the greatest advantage of working with someone comes in telling the story
itself. There are always those moments when the story seems to get away, when
the plot becomes so convoluted even the author can no longer follow it. Or moments
when you come close to dumping everything you have written for the last ten
months into the shredder because you know in your gut, that what you have created
does not fulfill the promise of the concept penciled months before.
We have those moments, just like all writers. Times when you’ve written yourself into a corner, or you realize that your hero cannot possibility get out a situation realistically. We talk about these things. And then we talk some more. And eventually one of us will come up with the four words that have come to symbolize our partnership: “I have an idea.”
Sometimes it takes one ‘idea,’ sometimes a hundred. But eventually, the book comes back into focus, and we move on. Our tradition is to always find ourselves together, in the same room, at the same computer, when the final scene of any of our books is written. At that time, one of us types THE, and the other types END.
Recently, we have talked about writing our individual novels and one of us has actually dared to start one. But the process is strangely unfamiliar for someone with seven books under their belt. There is no one to email a chapter to and say: Finish this scene — I ran out of ideas. Or what do you think of Louis doing this? Or even…Is this stuff brilliant or just junk?
It’s very intimidating and we have gained great respect for authors who sit alone at their computers, and rely only upon themselves to create and then resolve their twisted, mysterious stories. We marvel at their talent, yet continue to feel blessed as a team. There is great satisfaction in having a friend and partner to share the successes, as well as someone to help shoulder the disappointments. It has shaped us as writers, as people and as sisters. For us, it was the perfect way to go.
Copyright 2004 by P.J. Parrish
| "Oh what a tangled
web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." |
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| W M M New Issue | W M M Archives |