Writing with a Co-Author: Tips to Having a Successful, Creative Relationship

When working with a co-author, there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. While you may have the best intentions in mind and want whatever you are writing about to come along swimmingly, there is always the eventuality of differences of opinion, and we all need to learn to cope with those differences. While your idea may sound great to you, the other person may not always see it the same way. This leads to frustration and often the dissolving of the partnership and you are stuck doing it on your own.

Before it comes to that, think about a few things that you will need to do in order to make sure that you are both successful:

1) Keep an open mind. While you are both working for the same goal, there may be better approaches at attacking any writing job. If it is something that was thought of together and you both know that it can work, always be open to each other's suggestions so that the story will have a professional spit-and-polish look before you attempt to sell it to publishing houses.

2) Always have a meeting every day. Schedule a meeting with your co-author to see if they have any new or fresh ideas to interject into the project. Every little bit helps, and different points of view can be very rewarding.

3) Make notes together. Always have a notebook on hand if there is anything such as statistics, data, or even story plotlines that you need to get hammered out. Take as much time as you need, as when you have everything planed out, it will be that much easier to implement into the work and will require less typing time.

4) Butting heads does happen. You will always run into that point of contention when writing in dual mode rather than solo. If you find that you are running into this problem, take a break away from it. If you have to walk away for the entire day, that is fine. Do something relaxing to take your mind off of the stress. Listen to quiet music or watch a movie, anything that will help you take you mind off of your frustrations.

5) Do not take edits personally. If you co-author is in charge of the editing process, take into account that they are only doing what they feel is correct and the publishing process goes through their own editing cycle anyway. A new pair of eyes will always see things in a different light. If they change something and you do not agree with it, always discuss it. You can always work together on the problem if you find that the particular paragraph or chapter is not coming out the way that you intended.

6) If you are both tired, stop. The main problem in writing is that id requires a lot of cerebral brain power and can leave you drained after a few hours. get a snack and just talk over what you have done. You can always go back to it later.

Co-authors are out to get the same goals as you are. When you work together, everyone wins!