Hey friends! Have you ever read something and thought, wow, I’d love to work with this author? Or, man, our styles would jive. Or maybe you have an author friend and you’ve thought, I’d love to ask them about writing a story together, but you just aren’t sure how to co-write?
Well, guess what? I’ve been there, done that. And I’m here to talk about the process and share my feelings on it. I’m no expert, by any means, but I have co-authored with two pretty big time writers. I’ve co-authored with Shawn Amick, you can check out my blog post about him here. And I’ve co-authored with Dana Hawkins, you can check out my blog about her here.
Each story was different, because Shawn and Dana are different kinds of writers, with different styles. But, the general way we did the co-writing was very similar, and I’m happy to say, rather painless and SO MUCH FUN! So, if you’ve been dying to co-author a story with a writer you are friends with, please, read on to find out my five tips on co-authoring.
I’m going to use Shawn as my example for this post, because we are about to kick off our new story, When Wyverns Went to War, on Kindle Vella. Actually, we are entering it into the Kindle Vellys! So I hope you’ll take the time to read our 10 Episodes and help boost us towards a BIG WIN!
Dana and I are still currently working on our novel, which I’m going to keep secret for now… more to come on this project at a later date.
Tip #1 - Keep the Idea Loose
So the first step in co-authoring a story is having an idea. Shawn and I spoke on a Zoom call and talked about how we could work together on a project. We wanted to make sure it was something we both felt comfortable with. Shawn writes pretty adult epic fantasy. And for the most part, I write young adult across genres. But fantasy is my first love, so it was easy for us to choose fantasy as our genre.
After our call, we drafted four or five concepts and picked one we both liked. The trick with a good concept for a co-authored story is to keep it broad so each writer can stretch their wings. Here, I’ll share the concept we used for When Wyverns Went to War.
A lone rider and her faithful Wyvern return home after the war to find their town annihilated, and only a handful of orphaned children remain. Then one night a stranger arrives, bringing more orphans he’s picked up along the way, and together they decide to rebuild the town and train the children to become a new generation of fighters. But, what if what the Rider and Stranger are fighting for is not the same thing?
Tip #2 - Pick a POV and Episode Length
Once Shawn and I came up with the general idea for our epic fantasy story, we picked the POV and length of each episode. We agreed to use 3rd person POV and to keep each episode around 1k-2k words. Our original goal was to see if we could write a story up to 5k words, then we adjusted during our writing to accommodate a 10k goal.
The reason we changed the word-count total mid-writing was for two reasons. The first reason is that we set a realistic and achievable goal the first time. We weren’t sure how it was going to go co-authoring a story, so why set ourselves up for failure with a lofty goal we could never reach. After we’d written the first 5k words, we realized that we worked pretty well together and our story and the words were flowing. So, why not keep going?
Which leads us to the second reason. If we could reach 10k and 10 episodes, our story would be eligible for the Kindle Velly awards! So we had a new goal, just as obtainable, and highly motivating. The pro-tip here is to pick a realistic goal, one you can both stick to.
Tip #3 - Stay in your own lane!
Of all the tips, I think this one is the most important. You could also call it, respect your co-author and their process and ideas. Not to brag or anything, but I think this is where Shawn and I really shine as co-authors.
When we first started this project, we knew we would be writing back and forth, so we created a word document we could share, and each added the next episode of our story. To simplify things, we would use space holders, so we didn’t have to go back and forth on creatives. For example, we used (TOWN NAME HERE) so we could go back later and put in the same name.
Once we’d each written our first episode, and started layering in the next episodes building on what we’d done, we NEVER questioned each other. We went with the story, as the other was building it. It was magic, flowing, weaving together, reading and interpreting the key plots and ideas, yet remaining true to our own styles and talents.
Shawn and I never judged, asked the other to change, asked for an explanation, or allowed ourselves to be hung up with writer's block. We each just wrote with speed and precision, giving the other author the next building block to keep going on their part!
Tip #4 - Get Beta Readers
Once we’d reached the half-way mark, we decided to pause for a few days and get a “smell check” aka beta read. We contacted some mutual friends and asked them to read what we’d had to get a feel if the world we were building was sitting right.
We were both confident that our story was coming together nicely, but hey, we are authors and we all have ego and personal bias, right? So having independent eyes on something can be a good way know if our own gut feeling is leading us in the right direction.
So, we sent out the first 5k to our beta readers and waited. Thankfully, our readers got back to us within a few days, confirming what we’d already decided was true. That our story worked!! Not just that it was working, but that they wanted MORE! The resounding feedback was that When Wyverns Went to War should be a book or at least a novella. YAY!
This good news only propelled us to write more words faster. Plus, that Kindle Velly Awards deadline was slowly creeping up on us.
Tip #5 - Don’t edit your co-author’s writing!
Now, for some of you, this might be really hard. For me, nah… I mean, y’all know I hate editing anyway, let alone someone else's work. If they want to put a comma there, or start a new paragraph, or whatever, creative liberties go to the author, IMHO.
Thankfully, much like myself, Shawn is not big into editing someone else’s writing. Specifically my writing. And, we came up with a plan for editing anyway. Once our story was completed, we put it into a shared Google Doc, a living, breathing, working document we could leave each other notes and comments. Also, we could do TRACK CHANGES!!! This made editing our own stuff even easier, because it allowed us to see in real time, what we were each changing. Because if I made an adjustment to a scene and forgot to tell him, what if the original scene impacted something HE wrote? Now that wouldn’t have been very chill of me would it?
So by using track changes, we were able to see the edits, then approve them at the end of the day, both being on the same team in almost real time. It was very symbiotic how we worked, two minds co-writing the same story, as if we’d always known it and each knowing how it will end without actually talking about it.
(Yep, that’s our big secret, we literally haven’t shared the story in our head with one another. So I don’t in fact know how it will end… at least, I don’t know how the Stranger’s story will end) Muah, ha, ha… that’s supposed to be me evil-laughing.
Okay, so now you know how to co-author a story! I’m so interested to see what you and your fellow writing friends create. Make sure to send me a message so I can check it out when you get published. And don’t forget to go on Kindle Vella and read When Wyverns Went to War, co-authored by me and Shawn Amick.
You can find Shawn @shawnamickauthor on X, IG and TikTok.
XO
S.E.
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