How did “Rates of Change” originate?

As best I recall, it came from a conversation we had about Octavia Butler’s novel Lilith’s Brood, and the way she handled the struggle of the older generation to cope with their own children. It seems like a metaphor for a very common experience. That sparked the idea about technology and being left behind by your own culture.

What was your collaboration process like for this story? Was it different from how you write novels together?

We plotted it out together, then one of us did the rough draft and the other did the polish. It’s pretty much the same way we do chapters, except there was only one instead of fifty-some.

If you could replace your body like the people in “Rates of Change” could, what would you choose?

I think it would be really interesting to fly under my body’s own power. Something birdlike, I guess.

Do you have any advice for newer writers, especially those who want to try collaborating?

The keys to collaboration are to agree beforehand on what kind of project you’re doing and then understand that the point is that it will come out differently than it would have if you’d done it by yourself.

What do you like to do besides writing?

Avoid work, mostly.