Jen J. Danna and Ann Vanderlaan met in 2007 when Ann, a gun-owning Texan, corrected Jen, a gun-control loving Canadian, about a gun-related error in an online story. That error was the beginning of a conversation that slowly morphed into a writing collaboration. Together, they write the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries, and, more recently, under the joint pseudonym of Sara Driscoll, the FBI K-9 thriller series. Their latest FBI K-9 novel, Storm Rising, was recently released by Kensington Books. Jen and Ann recently sat down to discuss their collaborative process.
Jen J. Danna: Writing as a collaborative team, we each bring different skills to the table. How do you feel your experience, from your reading life to your personal and career interests, enriches the team effort from the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries through the FBI K-9s series?
Ann Vanderlaan: I was a child of the 60s who was always looking for their next adventure. I went to grad school and ended up teaching in a vet school, med school, and a nursing program before veering off and pursuing an engineering career in oilfield services. There my love of mathematics and statistics led to managing offshore drilling rig data and remote accident reconstruction. Thirty years later, after a year-long stint as a defense contractor, I was happy to “retire” to a life where I could rescue and train dogs, give them a meaningful life, and help people who could benefit from whatever skills I had to offer.
Jen J. Danna: To enhance the research for the FBI K-9s series, you signed up for nosework classes with one of your dogs to learn the scent work skills essential to professional tracking dogs. What did those classes teach you and how did that translate into how we write the series?
Ann Vanderlaan: This answer actually has two parts. First, a little-known failure—a Standard Schnauzer I was trying to train for urban SAR named Kirby washed out because on switchbacks or winding trails, he would cut across to the adjacent section of track and then decide whether to continue across country or double back toward the older scent trail. Fifteen years of academic research now tells us that dogs can “tell time” when they intersect a scent trail and decide “which way did he go.” Kirby’s “cut to the chase” approach would be accepted today. Kane is a reliable therapy dog serving AIDS patients, the elderly, and domestic abuse survivors. He is predictable and obedient—the perfect south end of the leash. But I began to wonder what Kane could do if he had control of the leash. Over the course of a year’s lessons, the methodical “greet each client in order” dog, learned to follow any breeze that carried scent to his ever-searching nose. Kane titled in his first nosework competition, and never looked back.
Jen J. Danna: You exclusively work on the all the chapter titles and definitions used throughout each novel. Can you describe the process of deciding on a theme for the novel and the challenge of creating a full set of chapter titles for novels that can be thirty or more chapters long?
Ann Vanderlaan: Weaving a theme goes back to the research I do as I follow things that attract my attention. These items can provide backstory, plot point anchors, or be simple curiosities. And often they are not used, just filed away for possible future reference. Once we start plotting out the story/time line for a new book, however, my focus shifts to learning the myths and lexicon of an environment where this new story will unfold. The chapter titles and definitions are meant to show the reader a bit of history or backstory that determines why or how our characters will act when facing each new next dilemma.
Now I have some questions for you. How do your personal and career interests, enrich our team effort in the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and the FBI K-9s series?
Jen J. Danna: My career in basic science as a technician and, later, as a lab manager, certainly played into getting the Abbott and Lowell series off the ground. Working at a university gave me access to all the journal articles and professional texts I needed to teach myself the field of forensic anthropology. That series taught me how to write professionally and I translated those skills into the FBI K-9s. And while I don’t have any formal English training past high school, I can thank my parents, who were voracious readers, for my love of reading. I was raised on books, and saw their example of adults who loved to read every day. It’s my mother, and her life-long love of mysteries that really shaped the author I became later in life.
Ann Vanderlaan: What do you wish I would bring to the table to improve our writing partnership? How could I make your life easier?
Jen J. Danna: Actually, I think our writing process works pretty well after twelve years of fine-tuning. Brainstorming the books together lets me use your big, beautiful, and very sneaky brain (always useful when writing a mystery!) to come up with great twists and turns. And, of course, you’re always available to assist with any research tasks any individual manuscript requires. The fact that I do all the drafting myself and then you come in for the editing process keeps the overall voice consistent through each individual novel and the series as a whole. I’ve always thought “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” when it comes to our process.
Ann Vanderlaan: How did you deal with providing closure to faithful readers when we ended our first series?
Jen J. Danna: I’m honest with them about the fact that publishing is a business and sometimes decisions are made that have nothing to do with a specific series. When Five Star Publishing closed down their mystery line, we weren’t the only authors caught off guard. And while our editor wanted the next book, there was suddenly no line to publish it. Fortunately, we self-published that book, so the biggest series thread was neatly wrapped up, bringing closure to any loose ends. Self-publishing is a wonderful option, but traditionally published authors need to flexible when it comes to business decisions, and to be constantly coming up with fresh ideas. Diversifying your writing is also a great way to bring new readers to your older novels, so it’s never a bad thing to branch out into new ideas and themes. Vice versa, when we started the FBI K-9s, we brought our existing readers to the new series, so those who enjoyed our writing had access to more of it within a new world.
Ann Vanderlaan: We’ve got two more books scheduled in Kensington’s FBI K-9s series. What are you most excited about in these upcoming novels?
Jen J. Danna: I really love the manuscript we’ve just handed in for book four, No Man’s Land. One aspect of the FBI K-9s that’s always been important to me is the team aspect of the characters. I love Meg and her black lab Hawk, but when we can involve Brian and his German shepherd Lacey, as well as Todd Webb and Clay McCord, that’s when the story really shines. And there’s a lot of team work in No Man’s Land. The other thing I love, and I think readers will find fascinating, is the search sites. We have to base the books around the search sites, otherwise, we don’t need the dogs, and they are simply crucial to the series. Using urbex—the urban exploration of buildings and complexes that are condemned and disintegrating in real time—sites adds a mood and a danger factor that really pumps up the storyline. And we’ve got several great ideas brewing for book five already; I’m looking forward to sitting down with our awesome editor, Esi Sogah, and deciding on a direction for that one. There’s so much coming up; I’m really excited for the future of this series.
