I am excited to welcome the dynamic writing duo Philippa Ballantine & Tee Morris, who are getting ready to release their new anthology, Ministry Protocol.
The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels are a multi-award winning steampunk series, which tells the story of the government agency committed to keeping citizens safe from the strange, the unusual, and the bizarre.
In a very successful Kickstarter in July, the Ministry Initiative was funded, allowing the creation of both a roleplaying game and a brand new anthology.
Ministry Protocol: Thrilling Tales from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is a collection of short stories that will take readers across the Empire and all over the world, revealing new facets of familiar characters and introducing new agents, allies, and enemies from the Ministry’s colourful history.
The authors of this globe-spanning anthology include Delilah S. Dawson, Leanna Renee Hieber, Alex White, Jared Axelrod, Tiffany Trent, Peter Woodworth, Jack Mangan, JR Blackwell, Dan Rabarts, Lauren Harris, Karina Cooper, and Glenn Freund from The League of S.T.E.A.M.
And one of the Ministry’s creators, Tee Morris, presents the origin story of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences itself.
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Collaborating; how we manage it
Creative collaboration is nothing new, but it seems to be a growing trend with authors and writing groups. There are teams like Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, or the numerous pairing-up’s that Baen Books is known for that make collaborations look like a great way to create a bestselling epic. It’s also easy, right? You take the idea, split up or divvy the work, and then at the end — ba-da-bing-ba-da-boom — you have a manuscript, right?
Not by a longshot.
When authors collaborate, it’s different from team to team, but what is essential in a successful collaboration is to tell a story—the same story—while remaining true to your own style. However, that style should be able to mesh with another’s style if you want to write a book together. Both of us have our own way of writing, but there are similarities and compatibilities that led us to working together, and yeah, probably getting married.
No, we’re not suggesting you marry your writing partner or partners. We just got lucky that way.
But we digress…
Our collaboration began with one of us looking to launch a podcast-for-pay idea while the other wanted to promote a series idea. The compatibility of both ideas led to a rollicking steampunk adventure featuring archivist Wellington Books and pistol-packing agent Eliza D. Braun. We were casually putting this idea together when our agent, Laurie McLean of Foreword Literary, told us there an interest in our “new steampunk project” announced on our blogs. We then set out to write the novel the same way we were planning to write and produce the podcast script —from either Wellington’s or Eliza’s point-of-view.
With our idea fleshed out, the collaboration started immediately with talking through plot developments and twists. This doesn’t mean you have to tell your partner about everything you want to pull. We surprise one another constantly with either one-liner gems or revelations that we will go deeper into detail during the editorial phase. It is during the edits, when we smooth out our distinctive styles by editing one another’s chapters, that trust comes into play. We trust one another implicitly. We know that some things we write will make the cut, some will be removed, and some may be reimagined, provided we can keep the story moving and the plot solid.
Often times, you will hear about authors talk about the importance of trust in collaboration, but open communications trumps trust every time. What do we mean by that? Both of us have survived collaborations gone wrong, both of them involving a breakdown in the communications between our partners. While one of these instances was resolved more amicably than the other, we now understand the importance of planning for the worst-case scenario. What would happen if either one of us were “done” with either the series, or the collaborative process. No, we didn’t like talking about it; but it was important. In fact, it was imperative that we planned for that, just in case our writing relationship took a wrong turn somewhere.
Thankfully, after five years, we are still going strong.
The only time we find ourselves at odds with one another is when it comes to writing Interludes, the segments of our novels that are told from a variety of characters’ points-of-view. We both love writing for the Maestro and Sophia del Morte, and in Book Three we even have opportunities to get into Nikola Tesla’s head, so there were a few rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock and heated arguments over who was writing which scenes. Apart from that, we always enjoy working together on the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. We are each other’s best sounding board for ideas and for character developments. It does not mean we will lock horns over the details of a setting or of a situation. We never forget that this is a collaboration, so it is our responsibility to find out the best ways of making plot developments work. That trust we share in real life only grows stronger, and together we figure out how to make our work — both shared bylines and solo — stronger for our audiences. It’s a very special relationship we have, and we don’t take it for granted. Not for a second.
There are plenty of benefits we’ve found in the collaboration process, but it’s making one another laugh, smile, and even shudder at what we come up with that have their own rewards. Maybe we have a subversive competitive streak between us, but we do try to ramp up the tension for both Eliza and Wellington. Whenever one of us completes a chapter, we genuinely look forward to what surprises await us. It’s that ability to bounce ideas back and forth, either in pre-production or during the editorial process, that makes writing the books fun for us, and hopefully for others when they read them. Collaboration, when done right, makes the writing process less solitary.
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Meet Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris!
Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris are the writing team behind the award-winning steampunk series, the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. While they both pursue individual fantasy and steampunk writing projects, they still manage to keep the magic of working together alive, while living together in Virginia, with their daughter, and a mighty clowder of cats.
Contact Info
Website: Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences | Pip Ballantine | Tee Morris
Social Media: Facebook Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris | Twitter: Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
Want to purchase Philippa & Tee’s novels?
Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
- Phoenix Rising
- The Janus Affair
- Dawn’s Early Light (Mar 25, 2014)
Shifted World by Philippa Ballantine
The Billibub Baddings Mysteries by Tee Morris
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