HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER AUTHORS: 10 tips to successful cowriting!

Collaborating with other authors has become increasingly popular over the years. Your author buddy can make or break your story. On one hand, your partner can be amazing. On the other hand, not so much. Sometimes, the group just doesn't work. Other times, it may be because you don't know how to collaborate to your best advantage. Here are some tips to help you collaborate with other authors!

Before Partnering

1. Get to know each other. 

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Before you commit to writing a whole book, or even a series, you want to make sure you actually like the person you're going to be spending a lot of time with. What if that person was unbearable? It's a no brainer. You won't want to spend months, possibly years, trying to work with them. You probably wouldn't make it a week.

Having some time to befriend the other person is vital. Don't talk about your story, or at least, don't focus on it. It can make both of you go into writing mode and chances are you'll end up planning. It's fine if you make the odd I'm so putting a hot chocolate into the book comment, but don't make this part about planning.

Instead, talk about the weather, your favourite book or the latest movie you've watched. Debate whether MBTI is a valid theory or not. (It is.) Complain about your past school days. Anything but the story.

If you're meeting for the first time, I recommend going to a cafe. Not only do you get food and drinks while you socialise, but you also get...

I'm kidding. It's all about the food and drinks. ;)

2. Set out your rules.

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Again, an important step. This helps you and your partner know the other person's boundaries and your own. Some questions to ask yourself are:

• What do I expect from you? 
• What will I let you expect from me?
• What do I want in this story?
• What do I not want in this story? 
• How far am I willing to go when it comes to violence?
• Romance?

Answer however you want, as long as your partner can understand.  For example, you might answer like this:

• I expect you to put at least the same amount of effort into the story as I am.
• You can expect me to sacrifice for the book.
• I want this story to have lots of humour.
• I don't want any swearing.
• Violence should be kept at a PG rating.
• Romance should be limited.

When you set out your rules, don't put things like writing tips or have fun! No no no. They're a waste of your time and their's. Writing tips shouldn't be a rule. They should stay as tips to improve your writing. 

Having things like have fun! is, in effect, forcing the other person to do just that. The rules are about you and what you want from the writing process. Not what you want the other person to feel. Try something like I hope you have a fun time working with me! instead of have fun!. This is more considerate of how the other person works and still projects your wish for them to enjoy writing.

3. Discuss big decisions beforehand.

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This includes things like how you want to publish and how you'll split the investments. Imagine writing a whole book and then falling out of the partnership because you can't agree on how you want to divide the profit. Waste of time? Absolutely. But arguing can also damage what could possibly be a writing power couple.

Talk through pros and cons, and how you personally feel about it. You don't necessarily have to come to a final decision, particularly if your partner is really nice, but at least have some idea where you're going to go. 

For example, if you're deciding on how the money will be split, come up with a general theme. You might decide to do everything in halves. Or you might decide to do everything proportionally to contribution. But you don't have to decide the exact amount. 

While Writing

4. Leave your ego at the door.

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You know how people always say to never show anyone your first draft? This becomes a slight problem when you collaborate. Especially if you have an ego. Your author partner will be right there as you write. Seeing all your mistakes. All your weaknesses. 

So forget your pride and just write. It's okay if you make mistakes because it's still your first draft, only this time, it's written with another person. You'll feel a lot better for this since you won't be spending time worrying about how the other person will see you.  

It's easier to do this if you spent enough time getting to know your partner. By this time, you're hopefully comfortable enough to mess up in front of them. With mutual respect, neither of you will think less of each other after seeing mistakes. 

A psychological hack is to think about how this is a two-edged sword. While they'll see your mistakes, you'll see their mistakes. And you can both make fun of each other. ;)

5. Don't be too considerate of the other person.

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Wait! Before you brush this tip away, let me explain. Obviously, you should consider the other person so you don't come to grips with them. But don't be overly considerate and agree to everything they say. This can ruin your story. 

Let's say your partner wants a scene where the characters are chilling at Macca's but you know that scene won't work, tell them. Debate it. I see what you mean, but... I don't understand. Can you explain? If your partner is sensible, they'll come to see your point with good grace. Or they'll come up with good arguments persuading you to their view. 

6. Have open communication.

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This should be a no-brainer. If you don't communicate, obviously you won't be able to write a book. If you don't tell your author buddy all your thoughts and ideas, they most likely won't make it into your story. Sometimes this can happen because you're too lazy to tell them everything (that's me!) or because you don't know how.

For the first one, I'm going to be harsh and say suck it up baby, because it'll be worth it. For the second reason, you can send them an email, call them, text or send them letters (not recommended). 

Don't be afraid to tell them absolutely everything. You might want to think through how your idea will work before telling them, but that's up to you. In fact, you should set up a document or some sort of space where you have all your random thoughts and question dumped. It makes collaborating so much easier.

7. Book sessions to plan your story face-to-face.

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This is often overlooked, especially with today's lightning fast overseas communication. But you can't share everything with just that. You actually need to organise a date to talk in person. 

Use this time to plan your story, explain questions and raise other questions. You should also try some bonding exercises the author way. Use your creativity! Play some How well do you know this character? games or...something. It's Tip #1 again, but this time, the focus is on the book. 

For whatever reason, if you can't meet face-to-face, use Facetime, Skype or a similar app. This way, you'll still be able to talk about your story even though you're not physically together. 

It's ultimate to talk in person, but as it's not always possible, look at the benefits. To name a few, you can stay at home in your PJ's, you can save money on petrol, save time for travel and prepare whatever snacks you want. You don't have to consider your partner's food preferences! 

8. Find a writing style that works for both of you.

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It's important to find a writing voice that suits you, but how do you do that in a collaboration? You want your own voice to shine, but your partner's voice also needs to be prominent. There's a few ways to do this.

One way is the write, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite and then (yep!) rewrite method. It's when one person writes a section and then the other person rewrites it with their own voice. Repeat the process until you're both happy with the result. This creates a new voice combined from two voices.

My favourite way is to switch who's writing what when the perspective changes. One character is written by you and another character by your partner. This helps create distinct voices for different characters. If your story stays doesn't change perspectives, this method still works because you can still write the dialogue for your character, but the quantity of what you write will be significantly less than the other person. 

The best advice here is to brainstorm and experiment with different methods until you find one that works for the two of you. It might take a while, but hey, bonding time, right?

Bonus Tips

9.  Use Google Docs and Site.

I've always used Google for all my writing. It wasn't until recently I tried Word and realised it didn't have the same sharing options as Google Docs. I was probably more surprised than I should've been.

The advantage of Google Docs is that you can write live with your buddy. It's like watching another person write over their shoulder, except digitally. Google also has a chat option you can use when you're working on different pages of the Doc. However, as soon as you close the tab, whatever you've talked about is deleted.

I don't know much about Word, so if these are also on Word, then...oh well. Google Docs allows you to comment on highlighted text and reply to other comments. This is great if there's a specific part you want to talk about. Docs shows when it was last updated and who changes something. If you click on it, it gives you the full history. Here, you can name specific versions and change the whole Doc back to a previous version.

One thing I haven't seen anyone recommend is to use Google Sites. Sites can be a useful tool when you've finished planning. On Sites, you can make individual pages for individual aspects with polished information. You can easily add images and YouTube videos of theme songs to enhance the page. Sites has a drag and drop system so it's simple to use and you don't have to spend ages trying to figure out how it works. I wouldn't use Sites primarily, but it's a powerful side tool to Docs.

Best of all, these services work well for free! And free stuff is awesome!

10. Promote each other and your book on your platforms.

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With two people working on a book, you have twice the audience. (Unless your audience overlaps. In that case, that's too bad.) Help each other help by promoting your writing buddy with links to their website or social media. 

Having double audience also means double the percentage of people who'll buy your book. Apply strategic methods of promoting your book in sync with your partner. 

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Aaaand, that's a wrap on collaborating with other authors. Before you partner up, get to know your partner, set your rules and discuss big decisions that could potentially break up your partnership. While writing, forget your ego and be considerate of your partner, but not too considerate. Make sure you communicate with your writing buddy and have times to talk face to face with them about your book. As you write, experiment with different writing styles to find which one works best for both of you. As bonus tips, use Google Docs and Sites, and promote each other and your book on your platforms to get a bigger audience!

Have you ever collaborated with another author? What was that like? What worked for you? What about what didn't work? Leave a comment below. If you liked this post, be sure to share, follow and eat chocolate for more content! (Eat chocolate anyway.)