#beesasksandanswers

so ahead of our next story, starting Sunday (!!!) @coffeeandtheton and I thought to do another q&a about our story, the co-writing process, or anything else you'd like to ask!

What did you do differently in your second story compared to your first?

Which story felt easier to write—and why?

Which story are you personally more attached to?

Did your dynamic as co-writers change between the two?

Which story has your favorite scene you’ve written together?

Did you take more risks in the second story?

What moment did readers react to that you didn’t expect?

Was there a storyline you almost included but didn’t?

Which character evolved the most from the original idea?

Did you become faster or more intentional in the second story?

What did you do better the second time around?

Without spoilers: what’s the vibe of the new story?

What’s one word each of you would use to describe it?

Is this story softer, darker, or messier than the first?

Is there a scene you’re dying for people to read?

What’s a spoiler that sounds fake but is real?

What’s something small that becomes very important later?

At what point in a scene do you “hand it off” to each other?

When a scene clicks, how do you know?

What’s something you only realized about your process after finishing the first story?

What’s the most chaotic writing decision you’ve made together?

What’s a line or moment from your story you’re both unreasonably proud of?

Are there any inside jokes that made it into your story? 

What kind of things did you have to research for this story? 

How would you compare the two stories? 

I'm counting down to Sunday!

You and me both!!!

20. What’s something you only realized about your process after finishing the first story?

@bees-bangles-banter: did we figure it our after the first story or in the midst of outlining the second? I’m not sure - but anyway, it’s that even though we had a good chunk of time difference ping-pong, writing together for a few hours, even when one is lurking and the other is typing was a more efficient/interesting/enjoyable process. Writing without Coffee is very weird and I keep opening my own doc and being like “I need someone to come over here and lurk.” 

Coffee: What Bees said. I’m an overthinker. I think we’ve established this. So to have the instant feedback of someone being like “Oh, this is working.” or to start a scene and have someone say “I don’t know if that’s the right direction.” it saves me a lot of time staring at a blinking cursor questioning all of my life choices. Plus, it’s just fun. Getting to share this hobby that we both love with a friend and then getting to share it with all of you. 

Also, how we thrive in a structured chaos setting. I’m not sure anyone who isn’t in the Google Doc could understand the very subtle balance that we have between “Oh this needs to be organized” but also, the ability for both of us to drop a link a Tom/Zendaya interview mid-drafting and the next thing we know, we have three pages of tangents we need to shift through before we can get back to the story. 

21. What’s the most chaotic writing decision you’ve made together?

Bees: Just one? I don’t know. We’re very good that matching each other’s chaos. It is very likely that one of us writes something to the effect of “I have a chaotic idea” and the other would “yes and” to it. I think for this one, other than the opening beat which is really off and running, maybe the last bloc of chapter 19, that’s a chaotic one (in the best way - and very well researched to make it possible). And story number 3 that we just started, it might be in the running for most chaotic? Who knows. Ask again in a month, we’ll have a different answer. Coffee: This relationship is built on the foundation of messaging each other “I have a chaotic thought” and the other one-upping it. Still trying to decide if the opening of High Summer was born from a moment of pure sleep deprivation or genius, and honestly the majority of Story #3 still feels like a fever dream 😅. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Oh @foxymopar what would this fandom do without you

4. Did your dynamic as co-writers change between the two?

@bees-bangles-banter: I think it’s just easier. Like we are so locked in on what we want that it’s just an easy process. High Summer took us less than three months? From outlining to final edit and moodboards. 

@coffeeandtheton It was definitely easier writing High Summer. Which is a funny thing to say because we had an outline for a very different story and ending up scrapping that because there were pieces that just were not fitting for us. So, it took us three months from outlining (technically two stories) to final edits. 

I think the other big thing that changed from Grounds was that we wrote the first 2/3rds of Grounds separately. Like I would write a scene and then pause for the day, Bees would jump in, pause for the day, I’d jump in, etc. I think we wrote all of High Summer in the doc together. In fact, I’m trying to think of a scene or chapter that we didn’t write with the other lurking in the doc, and nothing is coming to mind. 

5. Which story has your favorite scene you’ve written together?

@bees-bangles-banter: the final scene of chapter 19 of High Summer might be one of my favorite scenes I’ve written (and co-written) ever. 

@coffeeandthetonI really love the moment in Grounds where Kate is teaching Anthony to make latte art, and all the moments in the epilogue where we get to see them as parents. But High Summer has some moments that give those a run for their money. I’ll go ahead and say that final scene of the epilogue because I just reread that and I’m sobbing all over.

@bees-bangles-banter Happened to me this morning as well. We’re fine. This is fine.

@coffeeandthetonWe have a problem.

Are we really getting that spoiled with you two?!

Listen, turns out we’re thriving as a duo. 🩵

3. Which story are you personally more attached to?

@bees-bangles-banter: I love all of my stories, but I do think that High Summer, and Kate’s journey in it, has been a very cathartic writing experience for me. 

@coffeeandtheton: This is a really hard question. Every story has a special place in my heart, but they each mean something a little bit different. I think I have to say Grounds for Love for a few different reasons - I love the tone of that story. The late 90s/early 00s rom-com vibe wasn’t something that Bees and I planned, but it’s what I grew up consuming and it was so nostalgic to get to write something that felt a lot like the comfort movies I still revert to watching. It was also our first co-writing experience and so much of it was just us asking “is this really working?” and having so much fun that those memories just really make that story special to me. Plus, coffee is literally part of my username so…getting to write a coffee au? Literal dream come true. 

16. What’s a spoiler that sounds fake but is real?

@bees-bangles-banter: We use the word “bed” 114 times in 274 pages

@coffeeandtheton: And the word kiss/kisses 97. (And it’s not for lack of word variation 🙈).  

17. What’s something small that becomes very important later?

@bees-bangles-banter: A coffee tumbler. 

Sidenote that I cannot wait to see what you and @coffeeandtheton came up with for this story!

7. What moment did readers react to that you didn’t expect?

@bees-bangles-banter: I was very worried in Grounds that people would think that Anthony sold the floors, and was very happily surprised to see the majority of our readers immediately clocking it that he bought them himself. 

@coffeeandtheton: I didn’t expect for readers to latch onto the Benophie subplot like they did. It was so fun reading theories, and watching readers cheer on their relationship alongside Kate and Anthony’s journey. I’ll always feel a little protective of Sophie and her character, so I don’t know, getting to watch other readers giving her that same support was very fun but completely unexpected as we were drafting Grounds. 

14. Is this story softer, darker, or messier than the first?

@bees-bangles-banter:it’s definitely not darker. I think we see a different kind of messiness, and because of the pace of the story, and it’s outline in general, it’s softer - but that doesn’t mean it’s easier. 

@coffeeandtheton: I agree with Bees - definitely not darker! In fact…I think there might be less angst in High Summer than there was in Grounds? Or maybe just a different type of angst would be the right way to spin it. It is absolutely a different type of messy (I mean, it’s never not going to be messy when it concerns Anthony and Kate). But it also has some of the softest moments I’ve gotten to create/co-create for Kanthony. 

15. Is there a scene you’re dying for people to read?

@bees-bangles-banter: just one? The opening scene that @coffeeandtheton so brilliantly wrote up. All of chapter 11. Chapter 14 has some of our best Bridgerton Sibling Chaos™️ I can’t really choose. All of it.

@coffeeandtheton: Chapter 7 is a personal favorite, but Chapter 13 has my personal favorite Kanthony moment. And Chapter 17 to the end are just real bangers. 

@allatonce77 ended up giving us a free choice, so 1 it is. 

What did you do differently in your second story compared to your first?

@coffeeandtheton: We wrote all High Summer together—like in the doc at the same time, together. That changed the way we outlined because suddenly we didn’t need a 60 page outline overviewing every detail because we were able to make decisions together in real time.  

We spent probably the first ⅔ of Grounds really trying to find a rhythm and fine-tuning our system, It was nice being able to hit the ground running with this one. We’d already developed a certain short-hand by that point, the wavelengths were waving, we were locked in and ready to write.  

okay @kelcat27, we made our picks:

23. Are there any inside jokes that made it into your story? 

@bees-bangles-banter: Celine Dion. ISTG. they’re part of our canon at this point. Also we don’t make the rules. 

@coffeeandtheton: There’s a point in this story where we needed Sophie and Kate to just kind of be mid-conversation until Anthony could interrupt and for whatever reason we had the MOST trouble writing those 4-5 lines until finally I just pulled over a conversation that Bees and I were having in messenger and plopped it into the plot. 

Also 👢. We don’t make the rules. 

24. What kind of things did you have to research for this story? 

@bees-bangles-banter: we did my favorite kind of research, vacation destinations. Every setting is real. Be it a hotel, a sea-side town, a rental. You name it, we have the link for it. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to figure out what the distance between two houses would be and the doc was basically me doing this: 10 15 20 50 meters. 20. 50. 10. And Coffee just lurking from their side probably going, “oh she’s lost it.”

@coffeeandthetonI think the exact words I wrote were “Are you okay? Are you having a stroke?” 

And for moodboards we do a lot of “this is High Summer Kate/this is High Summer Anthony”. Like if we’re describing in detail what Kate is wearing, know that the moodboards have Simone Ashely wearing exactly that

@coffeeandtheton: I didn’t so much research as I just asked Bees a million questions about cyber-security. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything when I say that’s Kate’s job in this AU and a whole world away from my 9-5 as a preschool teacher. So there was that. 

We spent a solid afternoon researching Celine Dion lyrics which was only half tangent and half plot relevant. 

Vespas. 

And how to remove green dye off a four-year-old. But that was not story related…unless you count the fact that my child got into the food coloring while I was trying to draft a scene. The answer: About a week and charcoal soap. 

There’s one more very specific thing we researched, but that’s too much of a spoiler for now.