Christina Lauren

Frequently asked questions

• How did Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings meet, and why do they write under one name?

  They met in 2009 through the Twilight online fan fiction community and became co-authors in 2010, publishing jointly as "Christina Lauren," a combination of their two first names. They describe the partnership as a single author identity.

• Is it true their first novel started as Twilight fan fiction?

  Yes. Beautiful Bastard (2013) was originally posted online as a Twilight fan fiction titled "The Office" before Simon & Schuster bought the rights to the series.

• What are the two authors' individual backgrounds?

  Lauren Billings earned a doctorate in neuroscience from UC Irvine and researched neurodegeneration before writing full-time, while Christina Hobbs previously worked in a junior-high school counseling office.

• How do two people write a single novel with one voice?

  They outline together intensively in person, then divide the work, alternating points of view and switching off who drafts and who edits, blending their voices into one.

• How successful are their books?

  The duo has published more than thirty books, over twenty of them New York Times bestsellers, with translations into more than thirty languages.

• Have they won any awards or honors?

  They have been inducted into the LibraryReads Hall of Fame, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, and were Lambda Literary Award finalists for their young-adult novel Autoboyography.

• Are any of their books being adapted for film or TV?

  Yes. Their novel In a Holidaze is being adapted as a Netflix rom-com, and other titles including Roomies and The Unhoneymooners have been optioned for the screen.

• How did they get published?

  They signed with literary agent Holly Root in 2011, the year after they began writing together, and Simon & Schuster went on to acquire the Beautiful series.