Guest Post: C.T. Adams author of THE EXILE

We have a guest post from author C.T. Adams. She’s the author of the urban fantasy THE EXILE from Tor books. It’s her debut solo book but not her first novel. Together, she and Cathy Clamp wrote under the nom-de-plume Cat Adams. They wrote the popular Blood Singer series, also published by Tor.

In this guest post she tells us about her solo efforts at writing compared to that of working in tandem with another author – the pluses, the minuses and the bits in between.

And as an added plus we will have a giveaway live for THE EXILE on March 16th. Just in time for a St. Patrick’s day celebration. So stop on by to enter and possibly win a copy!

Let’s welcome C.T.!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Writing with a partner can be very rewarding.  You have someone to bounce ideas off of, to discuss things with, someone you trust who can proof what you’re working on and tell you if something just isn’t working. (Not that you ever WANT to hear that, mind you, but you NEED to sometimes.) It can be loads of fun if you work with the right person, as I had the pleasure of doing.

It’s also a wonderful thing to have somebody who is always in your corner, always rooting for you, and who has a vested interest in your success.  And you get to halve the work.  Not just the writing, the promotion, the costs, the travel, the edits, the copyedits, EVERYTHING. If your schedule doesn’t work for something, there’s another person who can step up and cover whatever it is. 

But working with someone else (ANYONE else) can also be incredibly frustrating because characters you love may not appeal to the other person, and you may have totally different takes on character, and direction for the plot and series. These kind of differences have to be hammered out if you are going to have a coherent vision and keep from frustrating the readers who notice every inconsistency and *hate* it.

Writing solo gives you the freedom of not having to hash things out and not having to compromise. BUT you are absolutely working ‘without a net.’  If things go wrong, there’s nobody else to blame, nobody else to fix it, and nobody to shield you from criticisms that can be absolutely brutal at times. And you only have your own ideas and your own schedule to work with. There are only 24 hours in any day, 365 days in any year. Trying to fit everything you have to do with your writing, your life and, in my case, a day job, into those time constraints occasionally requires a shoehorn, Vaseline, and giving up on getting adequate amounts of sleep.

Is one path better than the other?  No. They’re just different. A partnership is like a marriage—with the right person it is awesome. But I have it on good authority that a partnership (or marriage) with the wrong person is just awful. And breaking up a bad partnership can get very, very ugly. I was very fortunate in that Cathy and I are good friends, and had a good, solid written partnership agreement that addressed what we would do when the partnership drew to a close. So we were able to dissolve our partnership amicably and remain friends.

I write solo now, but I had a wonderful experience in the writing partnership. I would recommend it to others, with the caveat of making sure you (1) know your partner well; and (2) have a solid, written partnership agreement that addresses all the “sticky” issues, including what will happen and how assets will be divided if/when the partnership breaks up; IN ADVANCE of putting the first word on paper. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C. T. Adams was born in Illinois. She spent seventeen years in the Denver metro area and now resides in Texas with a large dog and pet cats. Office work provided a living while she pursued the goal of becoming a novelist. Forming the partnership with Cathy Clamp was the catalyst that led to publication and the two have enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration, with two series published within the Tor Paranormal Romance line: The Sazi, and the Kate Reilly/Thrall books. In addition they have authored stand-alone novels and participated in several anthologies. Working both as a team with Cathy and individually, C.T. plans to be involved in writing novels for years to come. THE EXILE is C.T. Adams’ first solo novel.

Here’s what the publisher says about THE EXILE:

An enthralling urban fantasy with a hint of romance, THE EXILE is the first solo novel by C. T. Adams, who is half of USA Today bestselling author Cat Adams. Like the Cat Adams Blood Singer novels, THE EXILE is set in a familiar world where magic is real and contains Adams’s trademark blend of suspense, action, humor, and strongly emotional writing.

Brianna Hai, an exiled half-Fae princess, runs an occult shop that sells useless trinkets to tourists—and real magic supplies to witches and warlocks. The magical painting that hangs in Brianna’s apartment is the last portal between the Fae and human worlds, making it difficult for her to stay out of Fae politics. Unfortunately, she becomes swept back up in court intrigue when a shocking magical assault on her home by a rival of her father, High King Liu of the Fae, forces Brianna back into a world she had been desperately trying to avoid.

With the help of her gargoyle, Pug, her friend David, and his handsome brother Nick, a police detective who doesn’t believe in magic, Brianna returns to the Fae world to recover what was stolen from her in the attack and in the process becomes an unwilling potential heir to the throne. Fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, and Faith Hunter will enjoy this thrilling start to a new series!

Tor/Macmillan | Trade Paperback | March 10, 2015 | 320 pages

An eclectic blog with an affinity for the speculative.

*Republished under a Creative Commons Attribution3.0 United States License (

)