BIG BONE LICK PACK
(ANTHOLOGY)
Bad Wolf &
Devil Dog by Kendall McKenna
Big, Bad Bear by Jambrea Jo
Jones
Shifty Fox
Shenanigans by Cherie Noel
Big Bone Lick Pack is an anthology, with stories written by Kendall
McKenna (www.kendallmckenna.com), Jambrea Jo Jones (www.jambrea.com),
Cherie Noel (http://talesfromthewritingcave.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html).
The stories take place in and around Big
Bone Lick
State Park in Kentucky
Partnership. Writing stories for an
anthology is different than co-writing a novel with another author. Contributing
to an anthology like Big Bone Lick Pack is also different
from contributing to a publisher call anthology. With a publisher call they
provide you a theme or a topic, and each author writes a solo story that matches
the theme. Jambrea’s done a few of those. Kendall
never has. Big Bone Lick Pack was different because Cherie came up with
the original idea. It started with seeing pictures in a Facebook post that
prompted the desire to write a story about the location, Big
Bone Lick
Sate Park ,
in Kentucky Kendall into going in with us. Getting Kendall
on board was a major coup, because she consciously chooses not to collaborate,
for a myriad of reasons.
Once we had the geography of the
setting sorted out, and established that we were writing about shifters, we had
to consult with each other to ensure our world building was consistent. Each of
our stories takes place in the same place at around the same time. We borrowed
one another’s characters when and where necessary. Elements in each story
affected elements in the others. For instance, Jambrea’s story starts at the
same point as Kendall’s, but Jambrea’s story functions as a reveal for one of
the most significant events in Kendall ’s story.
It was necessary to make sure our world building was consistent all the way
through. It was also important that none of us contradicted something said or
done in one of the other stories.
We also had to coordinate our
timelines. When Kendall borrowed Cherie’s
character, Simon, she had to ensure to write him in a way consistent with his
behavior at the beginning of Cherie’s
story. When Jambrea borrowed Kendall’s character, Asa, she had to ensure that a
telephone call takes place at a point when Asa is not actually on the page of Kendall ’s story.
While we started out with a Google
doc, listing all the vital statistics of out characters, and links to relevant
research tidbits we’d each dug up, we mostly PM’d back and forth a lot via
Facebook. We helped one another to determine distances between towns and
cities, and what that meant in terms of drive time. Jambrea and Kendall have
characters who work for the same law enforcement agency, so it was necessary to
coordinate who held what rank and patrolled which beat. Kendall and Cherie had
to coordinate what physical injuries Kendall ’s
character, Seth, had received, so that Cherie’s character could provide the
correct after care.
It helps immensely work with people
you have interacted with before. One of the only reason’s Kendall
agreed to participate was that she’d met Jambrea and Cherie in real life, and
knew she wouldn’t have to worry about them trying to dictate story elements to
her. We all knew a little bit about each other, and we were pretty sure we
could work well together. It’s always an experiment when individual work as a
team for the first time, but we think this one worked out pretty well. The
experience was collaborative, educational, cooperative, and most of all, FUN.
Having fun was one of the few hard and fast rules our editor, Kris, gave us,
and we took it to heart.
There’s talk of a sequel, and rumor
has it that Cherie has already created a Google doc that includes actual plot
bunnies. Kendall is waiting to find out the
deadline for a previous commitment, to see what her writing timeline looks
like. One thing is for certain, the experience of creating Big Bone Lick Pack was a
positive enough one, that none of us is ruling out the chance of a sequel.
Without a doubt, this was a successful collaboration.
Blurb:
Welcome to the Big Bone Lick
Pack: A more friendly and hospitable group of werewolves you’ll never
meet! Visit with; 'Devil Dog & Bad Wolf', a 'Big Bad Bear'
and enjoy some 'Shifty Fox Shenanigans'. Watch yourself, 'round the
state park, 'cause we had a grizzly on the loose, just a bit ago. Our brave men
and woman of the Boone County Sheriff's Department have everything under
control. (Except maybe their own love lives!) But if you find yourself needing
a doctor, head on down to Rabbit Hash clinic, or St. Elizabeth's Hospital is
just up the road a piece. We hope you enjoy your stay.
Enter
below for a chance to win
an
authentic Big Bone
Lick State
Park
tee-shirt!
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