How do you write a book with another person?

Well... Too many complications and headaches for me, tbh . I wouldn't even know where to start to
write a book with someone else. But good news is; there are other threads you can check
out about this, so maybe you'll find something useful there .

There are a number of ways to do it. When I write with one co-author, we alternate chapters (I write as one character, she writes as the other). She writes one, sends it to me, I write the next, send it back to her, etc.

With the other two, we'll open up a document on Google docs. One starts writing while the other watches (you can see what the other person is writing in real time), then we switch every 300-500 words or so.

Just depends on what works best for you and your co-author.

There are probably several threads about this throughout AW, including this one in the Erotica forum.

Rechan said:

For starters, he's more discovery and I'm more plot-centric.

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All three of my current co-authors are pantsers, whereas I'm an outliner. We discuss what we envision ahead of time, and then roll with it and see where it goes, stopping every so often to discuss where we think it's going. I find it easier to do less outlining on co-written projects than on my own because if I get stuck, there's a whole other brain on board to try to figure out how to proceed. Plus it's sometimes fun to throw each other curve balls and see what happens.

But also we're not sure how to divide the actual writing. Is it done by the chapter? By the scene? Won't that be obvious, the transitions changing styles?

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My co-authors and I have all found that our voices tend to blend pretty well. Most people can't see the transitions. With one co-author, as I mentioned in my previous post, we write alternating chapters, so our separate voices work perfectly.

Play around with different techniques (real-time, alternating chapters, etc), and see what sticks. There's no one way to do it.

I agree. It's great to have a friend to support you in your writing, but I don't think I could write anything without owning it. I choose what's important to include and exclude. Art by committee is inherently lifeless, and even a committee of two is still a committee.

Drachen Jager said:

Art by committee is inherently lifeless, and even a committee of two is still a committee.

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I'd say that's a matter of opinion. For me personally, some of my best and most emotional work has come from putting my head together with another author. And for that matter, some of my favorite music has been collaborative, whether by a band (which is a "committee" by your definition) or two artists coming together for a single performance. I'd hardly call the results "lifeless."

Co-writing isn't for everyone, but inherently lifeless? I disagree.

To be honest I don't think I've read a novel that was written by more than one person (except a few YA ones back in the day), but a lot of great movies are written by two people. I don't mean when the studio gets in a committee of writers to change it for greater marketability; I mean filmmakers like the Coen Brothers or Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Might be worth investigating how those guys do it.

Indeed, it's not uncommon for screenwriters to collaborate.

I still can't get my head around the idea that having more than one person involved automatically makes something "lifeless." It's actually kind of insulting, TBH, especially as someone who has co-written over a dozen books.

Lifeless?

Wow...um. Hmm, as someone with over 20 co-authored novels, I'll also have to dispute the concept that they're "lifeless". Actually, it's the co-author who has the ability to bring a book more to life, because of different takes on the same scene.

Now, my co-author and I wrote our books in the "lead author/secondary author" method. One author writes the WHOLE BOOK. That's the lead author and is chosen, for our part, by a coin flip. The secondary author steps in when the book is complete and has free rein to edit at will. Character backgrounds, chapter structure, dialogue, narrative, etc. it's all up for grabs. So long as the intent is respect and the betterment of the book, egos have no place in the process.

That IS something you have to be continually on guard of within yourself. Ego has no place in co-authoring. Let go of it now because it will cause nothing but heartache.

Cathy C said:

That IS something you have to be continually on guard of within yourself. Ego has no place in co-authoring. Let go of it now because it will cause nothing but heartache.

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QFT.

Collaboration does not make things lifeless necessarily, but it can. Sometimes things are written by committee and this can remove any particular voice from the work. But then again, sometimes not.

To use a TV example, think about a show like Two and Half Men compared to early Simpsons. Both written by 'committee' (well, staff), and one is completely lifeless and utterly inane, whereas the other is one of the best things to ever go out on television. So basically if you gel with your writing partner, then there is no reason it can't be awesome.

Stephen King & Peter Straub.

Lock thread.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Yeah, wow. I have to chime in because I am currently reading Cathy C's "committee-written" series and I can't think of a more lively read. "Lifeless" it ain't; it's full of juice!

And if there were no mention of it having been co-written, I would in no way be able to detect that blend of creative work. It reads like one voice.

Nicci French is a hugely successful writer, who is actually Nicci Gerard and Sean French, writing together. Great books, full of life. I heard an interview with Nicci and Sean on BBC R4 this week in which they discussed their working methods, which I bet is still available if anyone's interested.

Drachen Jager said:

Art by committee is inherently lifeless, and even a committee of two is still a committee.

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Some of the best novels out there were written by co-authors. Two good writers working together does not a committee make.

I've collaborated on books, and I don't personally enjoy the process. I tend to agree with Lawrence Block who said, "Co-writing a book is twice the work for half the money and a quarter of the fun."

This does not mean the resulting book is lifeless. There have been many, many co-writing teams who produced great reads over and over.

For that matter, I think the best written of Stephen King's novels is The Talisman, co-written with Peter Straub. Straub is a remarkable wordsmith, and his influence comes across right from page one.

Thanks all for this discussion. I'm new to co-writing and this gives me a lot of things to consider.

Trying to remember how Niven and Pournelle described their collab method... I vaguely recall it goes like "Larry writes til he's out of gas, then hands it to Jerry who writes til he's out of gas", rinse and repeat until it's finished. (As to the three-way with Steve Barnes, that was described as "Larry and Jerry hand Steve an idea, then stand over him with a whip.")

I've done collaborations and shared-universe stuff. With the collaboration, my partner-in-crime and I more or less wrote off each other's ideas, then I cobbled it together. With the shared universe, there might be an "event" to consider, and we might borrow one another's characters, but the rule was any borrowing had to be vetted by the character's owner, to make sure it stayed in character. And we often co-wrote bits or whole stories. This worked really well for the six people who didn't bring their egos, and not so well for the one who couldn't separate his writing from himself.

One of my fave books is a 3-way collaboration.

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Art is where you find it. If you find inspiration alone, on some rock out in the desert that's fine. If you find artistic inspiration in the middle of Times Square at New Years, then that's fine too. It's unique to each individual and calling absolutes is just silly. Each person is different with their artwork, and each person finds creativity according to their own creative needs. Thank god we're not all the same, or else every book would be exactly the same!

Not only that, but how would photographers do their work? I guess they could take still life/nature photos, but I like photos of people, and that's team work. The famous bands, like The Beatles or the Eagles wrote their songs together. Stairway to Heaven was written by more than one person, and that's been called the greatest song ever written.

Anyways, back to the original post, my sister and I co-authored a thing together (I call it a 'thing' because it never really got finished). We dove tailed a story. She wrote a chapter with her own characters, and I wrote a chapter with my characters and eventually, our two groups of people met. It never got finished though. You just need to figure out a format that works between you and the other author. Everyone will go about it differently.

ETA: I didn't realize this was an old thread. Wow, I just looked at the OP date! lol

Anarchic Q said:

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

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Logged in for the first time in about 4 years to say this, and somehow missed your quote!

Good Omens is a great book and shows what 2 top quality authors working together can do

People may find this interview interesting. From back in the 90s
http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Issues/1991_Gaiman_Pratchett.html