Your experiences writing a story with another person

Hey writers,

I am currently writing a trilogy with someone else. For that each of us wrote a story alone and in the third story our characters meet each other. We had really great ideas. Here comes the problem, my writing partner needed a very long time to finish her part when we wrote the stories alone. And now as we work together, things don't go smooth as well. When I ask for continuing the writing, I almost always receive a "no". I don't really see a desire in her continuing nor finishing our story and that makes me really sad. I am even currently thinking about putting that project on ice...

Have you had similar experiences? What were your experiences writing a book with another person? Would you suggest it or not?

Have a good weekend!

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really see the benefit of having a writing partner like this.

 

How much of your story did you share with her and how much do you think she contributed to your story, even if it's just the concept?

To me the question isn't if you should continue the 'partnership' but whether if you pursue publishing your story alone she'll try and take credit.

That's why I don't recommend partnerships like this but it can work for some like the guys that wrote The Expanse books (and I'm talking about 50-50 collaborations, not ghostwriting or situations where big time authors get top billing but contribute an unknown amount to the finished novel).

 

Forty years ago a friend and I made a stab at outlining the plot and characters for a novel, but early on I realized she liked the idea of writing a book better than she liked the labor involved. I never pursued the collaboration; if I am going to do all the work beyond sitting in a chair knitting and making suggestions, then I want all the credit.

 

I've been very keen to write together with someone, for two reasons. Firstly, the two of you motivate each other (it's very difficult to procrastinate when your partner is waiting for your input). Secondly, you can bounce your ideas off each other, you're not left alone wondering if something works or not or how to make it work.

Unfortunately, I have found only one person who would agree to write together with me, and he's the kind of person who has big plans but utterly unable to execute them. We have tried twice and the projects just got stalled because at one point he would lose motivation and not write anymore.

 

My own ‘co-writing’ experiences ended similarly. I have seen people succeed at co writing but they all had one thing in common: Both halves of the partnership had already written several books or been in a writing group together for multiple years critiquing each other’s work. Basically, both partners had a track record of staying committed to writing. Most people who start writing a novel won’t ever finish and that’s okay, nothing wrong with trying out a hobby and deciding it’s not for you, but it’s frustrating if that discovery is made when co-writing a novel.

I’ve had much better luck with writing buddies: you work in separate projects but still talk about writing, write together, and bounce ideas off each other.

 

I had the good fortune to find a friend who wanted to write (and learn about writing) as enthusiastically as I did. We ended up writing what we thought was a terrific screenplay, and we came up with a great premise for our next project. Unfortunately, I started to drift away from him because we clashed on things outside of writing. I definitely enjoyed that collaborative process, and we were both similar in that we generate massive amounts of ideas through brainstorming. Since then, I've reached out to other writers who liked the same kind of material as me, but quickly found out they liked the idea of being a writer way more than actually doing the work of one. I've found that when people talk about writer's block, needing encouragement, having lots of great ideas or lots of unfinished projects, these are not the kind of people that would be a good writing partner. In my opinion, it's better to fly solo. Great comment by Idiosyncratic right above me.

 

Just to add, as well as willingness to commit to writing, a collaborator has to be able to write to begin with, and not just have a grasp of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation. They also need to bring a sense of style and storytelling ability. When I read The Talisman by King and Straub, it struck me that I wasn't sure where King stopped and Straub started (I was probably 20 at the time, so maybe it would be more obvious to an older reader), and that made it a good collaboration for me. I have personally been asked to collaborate with someone who could not write. Everything the person wrote was simple he did this, or she said that. More like reading an undeveloped plot than a piece of fiction. So, my advice would be to not agree to a collaboration based on how much you might like a person or their idea, you also need to feel comfortable with how they write or you might feel you're doing most of the work. Then again, a collaboration could be just that - one person plots, the other person writes. Ah, what the hell do I know anyway?

 

Editing is one thing. Conspiring to write with another person is on my list of Possible Scenarios for Hell.

 

Closest I ever got to this was a funny story a group of my friends in college started. We passed it around each week to a new writer who added their contribution, then emailed it on to the next contributor. It was about each of us as secret agents and it was an amusing project until two of my friends were dating and broke up and her next turn she had him graphically tortured to death...everyone lost enthusiasm after that. I don't think after that experience I would "co-author". I might do something like write a memoir for someone as a co-author where I am the primary author and they supply the name and material...but write a fiction piece? No.

 

Co-authoring can be challenging. There are many pitfalls beyond just getting the project finished (first draft). What is the ultimate goal? If it is to be published, there are contractual considerations (and almost always having these established before the project starts is beneficial). A contract would, for example, spell out who controls the rights to the story and its contents, should one of the authors bow out, for whatever reason.

Finding a writing partner who has already finished projects is better than one who has not. Many, many writers start projects but very few see them through to the end. And that carries over to colaborations as well.

I successfully co-authored a book with another author. It has sold very well. He was well established and I had quite a few published novels as well. He'd had experience co-authoring. We are beginning another colaboration effort. My only other co-authoring effort, I abandoned when the several authors in the "shared world" project would not agree to a contract, which I was insisting upon. I had done some work and development, but bowed out. As I figured, the project fell apart and when nowhere.

 

I don’t blame you for insisting on a contract. Huge red flag the other potential contributors disagreed. I’ve written up contracts for copy editing, just affirming I own the work and the derivatives from the copy edit, and simple NDA. No one ever objected.

 

My partner and I have been working together for about two years. At this point, neither of our high fantasy sagas could exist independently of the other. A handful of characters and plot points tie the two together so deeply it would require rewriting large parts of the plot to separate them. We both are driven to get published and have plans of a contract for those parts we'd write together and a different contract that outlines what happens with works we publish on our own. Our works are designed to be read independently of one another within their own universes, so a reader would be able to get the full context without having to read a completely different book series. I don't think it would work for everyone, but it works for us. Communication is key, if you can't talk to one another, it's never going to go anywhere.

Edit: you also have to both be driven to do the actual writing. I mean it. If one of you only likes to talk about writing, it will never go anywhere. This is harder for me than my partner, who finds word flow a lot easier. The best way, we've found, is to sit down and work on different things at the same time in the same space. It keeps us both on track and away from distracting activities.

 

I tried with one person, but our personal writing styles clashed too much. I rewrote his stuff, and he was deeply offended. Thankfully, we salvaged the friendship, but whenever he asked again, I would offer up some critique but wouldn't engage. That said, he is a great writer. We just don't gel in terms of how we wanted our work to look.

I'd be open to collaboration, preferably under a pen name. I write in third person omni, and over describe the literal hell out of everything. I have three books published. I don't like horror. I love sci-fi, historical fiction, westerns, thrillers, cozy mysteries (no gruesome murders please!) and despite writing romance, I hate it. Except for Asian or K drama romance. Even better if you like writing smut because I'm not much of a smut writer, but I know smut sells.
I've discovered I like writing dark fantasy with no smut and lots of action. Think of me as a man with boobs.

What can I offer in return? A ridiculous sense of humor. Reviews of your books and support. I have an IG, TT, FB presence (even if it's an annoying one) and I can write gobs of text when I put my mind to it. Also, I'm a finisher. I wrote three books last year. I'd like to do four this year. Any takers?
P.S. Married, one cat, grandkids and approaching the old age sound barrier.

 

I am a big fan of The Talisman also. I also could not tell who wrote what most of the time.
One person plots, the other person writes worked out well for me a couple times. I was the writer, and the hardest part was changing things when my partner pointed out mistakes.

 

I did a collaboration of a single story with 5 participants that eventually pared down to three. The challenge was to write blind, continuing from the previous writer's turn. It was bizarre and wondrous. I can say with certainty, frequent communication is essential to success. That, and openness to have your scene taken in a totally different direction at each turn. A great exercise!

 

I think that kind of collaboration would be fun, because it is just an exercise. Very good way to exercise one's creative muscles, especially with a group.

 

I've co-authored two things. One fun collaboration that we self-published but that we ultimately took down because it was fun but rather crap And a second was actually a client project - she gave me the option of either being the ghostwriter and paying me for the text (she had the concept but she's not a writer), or being a co-author and earning on royalties. I was a dumb dumb and opted for credit and royalties (I did since get paid around 50EUR for sales, so that's nice lol, since we split it 60-40 with her as she illustrated the book).

The self-pubbed collab was a case of, we came with ideas together and alternated chapters, one lead character each and wrote from our character's voice. It was a lot of fun, but I think it was our ideas that clashed at times. I'm more analytical and technical and she's much more emotional - she's very much the sort who's like "But this is my character and this is how she speaks". I'm the sort who's like, I'll create one to suit the plot. We would have stalled a number of times if I hadn't backed off and went along with what she wanted, or at least that was my feeling. Nonetheless, it was a blast. So. Much. FUN! I'd love to do it again. However our styles also began to deviate after that book - she got more and more purple, whereas I veered off to focus on plot structure and commerciability or whatever the word is. She's prolific when it comes to self-published works. I have yet to publish because I'm going after trad. As for our collab, we'd verbally agreed that our character is ours to own, so I could always give it new life by writing my character into a new story. I don't wanna edit the existing book with her because our process and our writing style are too different.

The client project was a case of, client gave me the premise and the outline for the opening/beginning third or so of the novella she had in mind. She gave me the tone and message she wants the book to follow. I wrote accordingly. This isn't really the sort of collaboration you're talking about, as this was, well, work that a client booked me for. But it is a collaboration. She was easy to work with and since she chose me because she liked my voice and approach, she didn't tell me how to write and gave me freedom to make stuff up as long as it fitted within her message. This is, really, her book, not mine. It's a collaboration in that I was her writer.

As for your project, I'd take the solo one and carry on with it. Consider the section where your character meets the other writer's character as dead in the water.

 

I know this post is old, but I was discussing this same subject last week with someone. I've written a number of things with other people. However, most of the time it's quite painful. But I had one writer that I just paired with.

We wrote pretty much a novella together, of the fantasy and romantic kind, and it was honestly the most fun couple of months I've ever had writing. We paired against each other well, our sets of characters clashing in all the right ways and we sort of let the story unfold between us, one taking the role of discovery and the other the lead until advantages changed. I was excited to see what she wrote daily. I kept our work, even though it eventually became unfinished. I'm planning on trying to re-contact her and find out if she'd like to pick it back up. She had a child while we were writing, and drifted away. It was a real shame.

I would love to find that sort of partner again.

 

I've done projects before where more than one person was contributing ideas (and usually but not always one person would write it down). I think it works well if the collaborator is compatible to my worldview but with somewhat different mindset. I also had experiences where I would join the project believing I am the dreamy intuitive type of writer and then realize the other writer/collaborator is the same way, so I would refocus on technical writing skills etc.

I think it's not a bad idea to split the chapters between you two based on preferences etc. You can try writing their part and your partner can edit and rewrite if they are feeling currently uninspired.