Christina Lauren Is Two People and Here’s How They Write

Christina Lauren is two people. If you only know the name from the cover of Love and Other Words, which is now getting a movie, that might be news: “Christina Lauren” is Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, two best friends who write every book together. I asked them how that actually how the Christina Lauren writing process works and it’s one of my favorite looks behind the curtain. Here’s the duo on how they outline, draft, and revise as one.

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Today, here we have a team that has broken onto the scene with a bang and has had massive success.  You already know them, but lets get to know them a little better.  Here’s Christina Lauren.

The Christina Lauren writing process

Hi Christina and Lauren! Thanks so much for stopping by to talk a little bit about your writing process! 

Thanks so much for having us!

First off, how did you decide to work together?

We met in 2009 while writing fanfiction online; we’d read—and loved!—each other’s stories. That summer, we met in person at San Diego Comic Con when Lo organized a panel about fandom and fanfiction, hit it off immediately, and thought it would be fun to write something together. We wrote a little one-shot (single chapter) story and we worked so well together that we wanted to do more. We thought, why not write an actual book?! So we did, finishing it in 2011 and signing our agent, Holly Root later that year.

For the book you are currently working on, can you share a little bit about your writing process? Who does what and at what point does it happen?

Although we live in different states, we always outline together in person, and—because we usually write alternating POVs—during that time we’ll figure out who is writing which character. It isn’t the case that Lo always writes the men and Christina always writes the women; we usually switch it up every book, but also make that choice based on voice and who we think would be best for each of us.

From there, we have a basic skeletal outline that has the general plot points, emotional arcs for each character, and then we write. When we draft, we do it alone because we have very different writing rituals, and would probably murder each other if we had to work in the same room.

As we write, we share the documents, compile, and then revise, revise, revise. Most of the magic happens in revisions, where we both really get our hands in every single paragraph so by the time it’s done, we’ve essentially written every sentence together.

When coming up with new ideas or working out a problem in a book, how do you usually tackle a problem together?

As we mentioned, we always outline in person, but we’ve found over the course of writing fifteen books together (!!) that things always change as the words come out on the page, and so part of our process includes talking through nearly every scene of the book. If something unexpected happens while we’re writing, we always discuss it. The nice thing is that we are two very different, and very compatible, people and we tend to freak out in different stages of the writing process.

Christina tends to panic at the beginning, when we’re starting a new project and she doesn’t yet feel like she knows these characters yet. Lo tends to panic at the ¾ stage, when she decides she hates everything that they’ve written. Because we’ve done this before, we anticipate these things and now it’s sort of comforting to see them happen every time because it’s like, aw, our process works.

What would you say is the greatest strength of the other writer?

Lo says: Other than just being an incredibly positive and encouraging force in our working relationship, Christina’s greatest strength is her ability to bring the characters back together for the ensemble moments. Some of my favorite scenes she’s written are ones where the entire crew is together, being hilarious, with each of the personalities coming through in these tiny bites of dialogue. She is a scene builder, and a master of the sexual tension. I just adore reading the words she puts on the page.

Christina: In terms of our working relationship, Lo absolutely keeps this ship moving. Spreadsheets are scary but there is no way we could do any of this without them. In terms of writing strengths, no one can rip my heart out the way Lo can, no one can make me swoon the way Lo can. She nails it the first time she writes it, and so many times I think, “Not in a million years would I have thought of that.”

Out of the two of you, who writes the dirtiest sex scenes?

We are equally dirty, and equally likely to shock each other.

Who is most likely to cry during edits?

Neither of us, really, because we both love revising, even when it’s intensive. But from an emotional scene standpoint, probably Lo.

Who is most likely to get details wrong in a book?

Christina (Lo is typing this with love, but just read the question out loud to Christina and we’re both cracking up because it’s so true)

And finally, what is the best thing about getting to work with your best friend?

How else could we talk so often and see each other all the time? Besides, writing is our absolute passion and it’s the best thing ever to be able to do it with someone we love and who is just as excited about every step as we are. Seriously, we are so lucky!

Want to see what that Christina Lauren writing process produces on the page? Love and Other Words is one of the duo’s book headed for the big screen, and it’s the one I’d start with this one if you want emotional damage. Here’s my honest review.

Christina Lauren Frequently Asked Questions

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