Kris and Nyomi Are Working Together on an Art Assignment

Our co-written middle grade novel, Every Shiny Matter , came out six months agone, and since its release, we've gotten lots of questions about why and how nosotros wrote together. We wondered how other writing duos would answer these questions and how their co-writing processes are similar to and different from our own. So we connected with four other co-author pairs who had some fascinating things to say. Read on to find out all the wisdom they shared for writers wanting to collaborate and teachers assigning co-writing projects. And don't miss the details at the terminate most a special eight-volume giveaway!

INSPIRATION

The most common question whatever writer gets is, "Where exercise you get your ideas?" That question becomes more complicated for co-written books because in that location's the added question of who got the idea.

Some co-authors hit upon their idea together when they notice a shared interest. That's what happened for Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester , authors of the Legends of the Lost Causes series. Brad and Louis were in grad school together and discovered a shared passion for the Western genre. They became excited about the idea of writing a Wild Westward take chances for kids — the kind of series they would have wanted to read when they were growing upwardly.

Other times, 1 person has the initial inspiration and approaches the other. That's how it worked for us with Every Shiny Thing ; we were friends and critique partners, and Cordelia wanted to write a story about a girl who has always taken care of her mom and falls into similar caretaking patterns with a new friend. She thought this story would be richer if it included each friend's point of view and asked Laurie to accept on the friend's perspective.

Kristine Asselin and Jen Malone , authors of The Fine art of the Swap , had been friends for several years before they carpooled to a conference and discussed potential projects on the drive. Kris described ane idea she had — a centre grade novel set in a Newport mansion — and together, they ran with it. Past the end of the weekend, they had "the expanded concept for a fourth dimension traveling body bandy story set in Newport."

Meanwhile, Laura Shovan had worked with Saadia Faruqi a bit through the PitchWars author mentoring programme and asked Saadia to partner with her on a book . Laura explained, " I wanted to write most the challenges and joys of growing up bicultural and commencement-generation American. But I realized that there were areas of the beginning-generation experience I couldn't address because my female parent came to the U.S. from England." Laura knew Saadia was a recent U.Due south. denizen raising first-generation American children, and Saadia agreed to collaborate on their forthcoming novel, A Place at the Tabular array , which is due out in 2020 and features Pakistani-American Sara and one-half-British, one-half-Jewish Elizabeth. Laura feels that working together has helped them both "encounter the first-generation experience through a broader lens."

LOGISTICS

No matter where — or who — the initial idea comes from, co-authors and then need to figure out how they will write together. The logistics to consider include whether they will each take one grapheme'due south betoken of view or work jointly on the whole narrative and how much planning they will do.

Most of us opted to craft a dual-perspective volume with each person writing ane character's perspective. That was the case for us with Every Shiny Thing, and it was also true for Kris and Jen, Saadia and Laura, and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Audrey Vernick , who collaborated on Two Naomis and Naomis Too , novels virtually two girls named Naomi whose divorced parents get together.

For Every Shiny Affair , we did some loose plotting merely then largely improvised, writing capacity back and forth in Google Docs until we were more than than halfway through the book, when we met up to outline the rest.

Like us, Olugbemisola and Audrey didn't create detailed outlines before they began. They alternated writing chapters and sometimes gave each other what Olugbemisola described as an "advance preview of what would lie ahead." And then they got on the phone or Skype to tackle problems that arose—usually with the book's timeline, they said.

Even so, Kris and Jen and Saadia and Laura planned their projects much more precisely. Jen and Kris prepare a detailed, affiliate-by-chapter outline and adjusted the outline equally needed. Saadia and Laura likewise created an outline, but they didn't end at that place; they and then fix upward a chart to figure out which scenes would be in which character's voice and a table in Google Docs to rail what happens in each chapter and which graphic symbol is narrating.

Brad and Louis took a different approach for their serial. Although they exercise accept turns writing chapters, they do not each have an assigned character; they collaborate on one betoken of view. They set upwardly a working outline, then they edit each other's work as they go to ensure their books take one narrative voice throughout. Only they as well piece of work on Google Docs! This seems to be the most popular forum for co-writing.

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS

The biggest challenge when co-writing is fitting the project into an writer'south busy schedule. In addition, challenges can arise considering of the way the authors' writing styles or working patterns fit together, but these challenges often atomic number 82 to benefits, too.

In some instances, writing styles might be very similar, and that can present a challenge. Audrey and Olugbemisola said, "If we were allowed to, our books would be all about 2 girls sitting in bakeries and talking and NOTHING ELSE. And then coming upwardly with and trying to execute a plot was definitely the biggest claiming."

Other times, authors have unlike working styles. Saadia feels that working with Laura has taught her "so much about different means of working." She told us, "For me, working with another person is challenging anytime, considering I take a decision-making personality. Information technology was a challenge to get used to Laura's writing habits, ranging from her multiple drafts to her timeline for completing chapters. When I am working on a novel by myself, I power through without breaks for days on terminate, and I edit as I proceed. For this project though, the pace and intensity of my piece of work had to evolve."

Saadia's pacing slowed downward, but others of usa sped upwards the pace of our work. Kris said, "I was a lot more than diligent nigh my writing, knowing Jen was counting on me to become my function washed when I was supposed to!"

Similarly, the kickoff draft of Every Shiny Thing was the quickest affair we always wrote, and we found that our unlike writing styles occasionally posed problems simply ultimately enriched our work. Cordelia is more of a big moving-picture show thinker and Laurie is more item-oriented. These different approaches can occasionally lead to challenges, but overall nosotros end up stretching each other and learning from each other as we collaborate.

ADVICE FOR WRITERS

It tin be smart to prepare some non-negotiable priorities earlier you brainstorm co-writing. For Kris and Jen, their friendship came starting time. Jen explained, "The single best thing we did at the outset, in my opinion, was take a literal vow to one another that we wouldn't permit the co-authoring feel mess with our friendship. That took priority over all."

Saadia and Laura set some "non-negotiable items" for their point of view characters. They each fabricated it clear upfront that in that location were certain things about their characters that they would not be willing to change.

It'south too important to "set bated your ego," equally Brad and Louis put information technology, and to exist flexible. "You lot'll desire to be open up to new, strange ideas," Brad and Louis advise. "Your partner might make suggestions that at first seem odd . . . but if you're open up and consider your partner's inspiration, you'll find sometimes the foreign idea on the table can really accept the story in an exciting new management, leaving yous with a tale y'all could've never created on your own."

Similarly, Audrey and Olugbemisola advise co-writers to "be open to working in means you oasis't worked before" and to "take the story, merely non yourself, very seriously."

It is likewise essential for co-writers to communicate honestly. Conflicts will invariably arise, and having committed to a project together means working through them; as Kris said, "Being honest with each other and communicating was paramount to the procedure!"

Communication FOR TEACHERS

It's challenging to structure effective collaborative projects in the classroom, and there are kids who go stressed out by the idea of writing together. But nosotros recall co-writing assignments can be very valuable.

Jen described i groovy reason for assigning this kind of work: "As much as I've heard the groans over group project assignments, I'm a big fan of co-writing ones because I think it's actually important for students to know there are so many different approaches to writing (and to having a writing/storytelling career, if that'south something of interest to whatever of them) and the majority of those approaches are not 'sit lonely at a computer and write a novel.'" She pointed out how many careers involve many artistic people working together to develop stories.

Jen advises that teachers continue co-writing assignments very structured at start. She suggests having students collaborate on a play, which is more often than not dialogue; they tin outline information technology together and then each write the dialogue for one specific character.

Teachers tin also set students up for success by pairing them up based on the topics they want to write about. As Laura pointed out, "When students — or adults — have a common interest or experience, that supports collaborative writing."

Audrey suggests that teachers should "encourage students to identify and accept advantage of each person's strength" — expert advice for any group work.

Oh, and she has one other fantabulous slice of wisdom to share: "And when possible, reward yourselves with freshly baked treats." That's good communication for whatsoever circumstances, we think!

THE GIVEAWAY

We hope yous've enjoyed learning nearly how v writing duos collaborate, and nosotros're excited to offering an *8 BOOK!* collaboration celebration giveaway! One randomly selected winner will receive a signed copy of our book, Every Shiny Thing, as well as iv other co-written books and three solo books by the generous authors who worked with us on this article.

To enter, mail service on Twitter or Instagram about any co-authored volume you love and why you beloved information technology past Fri, October 26th and tag your post with #CollaborationCelebration so we'll see your entry .

You can choose a book that's featured in this slice or any other co-authored volume, MG or not. US but, multiple entries are fine. Tweet or DM @LaurieLMorrison with questions.

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Source: https://mgbookvillage.org/tag/legends-of-the-lost-causes/

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