Collaborative Writing (Part One)

You may have heard about some dynamic duos writing books together. Stephen King and Peter Straub, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Will Ferguson and Ian Ferguson. Collaborative writing can be an excellent way to merge creative minds and bring new excitement to the writing process.

Why would you consider writing with a partner? After all, you’re full of ideas and your words are precious. Writing with someone else means setting aside your ego and being open to compromise. It can feel difficult to let go of complete control of a creative project, especially if you’ve never done it before. But the benefits and joys of a collaboration can outweigh the potential downsides. 

Brainstorming:

Idea generation with another person takes on a life of its own. It becomes a game of word association where one person mentions a character trait and the other bounces back with something else. Brainstorming with another person can generate more ideas and the more ideas a writer has to weed through when finalizing a plotting outline or a character sheet, the more fully developed those resources will be. 

Writer’s Block:

When I struggle with writer’s block, it’s generally not because I don’t have any ideas but because I’m either having trouble focusing the ideas into a cohesive plan or because I have thirty tabs open and I’m flipping back and forth between them, reading about clouds or the nesting habits of birds or basically anything except my writing. Having a writing partner means focusing the ideas—it’s having someone to whom you can say, “I have this idea, but I can’t make it happen.” Like bad moods, writers block can often be lifted by sharing the burden with someone. It also means if you’re having a bad week, you can put a little more of the writing onto your partner and when they’re having a bad one, you’re there to take on a little extra. 

Combined skills:

One of my skills is creating rich characters, but I’m often weak in setting. I love plotting but I sometimes struggle with rising action. Combining skills with another writer means each person brings something to the table—maybe your partner is a master of dialogue but you’re skilled in world building. A good collaboration brings out the best in both writers which can lead to a deeper, more engaging final product. 

Marketing

Different writers have different networks, and a collaborative product gives each writer access to a new group of potential readers. Bantering on social media and posting updates can increase visibility of the collaborative product, bringing a bigger audience to each writer. 

If you’ve been on the fence about taking on a collaborative writing project, this might convince you to reach out to someone to start a shared author journey. In my next article, I’ll write about how to find the perfect writing partner and how to navigate the collaborative relationship once you’ve established one.