The Collaboration Begins

What does collaborative writing look like? Who knows? We’re figuring it out as we go.

Certain friendships are inseparable from books and words and stories. My friendship with the Magical Ms. Melissa is one of those.

Our literary lives have always been intertwined. When we were children, we used to read the same books at the same time so that we could imagine the same worlds together. When we got older, we edited each other’s college essays, grant applications, and resumes. When I wrote my first manuscript, Ms. Melissa proofread the entire thing before I sent it out into the world.

And I think everyone who has such a friend has always daydreamed about writing a book with them.

But the reality is, neither of us has any idea what collaborative writing is supposed to look like or how it's supposed to happen.

We googled it, of course. But the responses weren’t particularly enlightening. So we thought it might be helpful to share how our collaboration is evolving while we engage in the actual, real-time work of writing our book.

So far, it has involved a lot of phone calls and conversations. Ms. Melissa came up with the characters, and together we’re developing the plot.

Here’s a summary of one of our initial conversations:

Ms. Melissa: I think it should be about shifters.

Ms. Lee: Like werewolves? I’m not really feeling werewolves.

Ms. Melissa: It doesn’t have to be werewolves. We can do other animals. Forest animals.

Ms. Lee: I like forests. Can there be a murder?

Ms. Melissa: Sure. But I don’t think that should be the driving force of the entire story. We also want this to be a romance.

Ms. Lee: Maybe the hero can be a private detective.

Ms. Melissa: Mmm, no. Our setting is a forest. He needs to be in that setting.

Our conversations take place on the phone. Friday evenings seem to have become the default time slot. We’ve also created a shared Google Drive to store the notes from those conversations.

And we have started drafting. First, we discuss the chapter over the phone, taking notes in a Google doc. Then I turn the notes into paragraphs to create an initial first draft.

Meanwhile, Ms. Melissa is doing lots of research to build out the rules of our world and develop the various settings for our story. She’s researching foxes and bobcats and wolves, botanical gardens and art nouveau architecture, fracking and seismic surveys, and wildflowers in Virginia. She’s expanding our notes and putting together Pinterest boards for inspiration.

And it seems to be going well, so far.

I read the first scene of our first chapter aloud to my husband. When I finished he said, “I’m glad you’re writing again.”

I’m glad too. And I’m glad to be writing with my friend.

A few days later, I showed him a Pinterest board.

Ms. Lee: Look, honey, the Magical Ms. Melissa made this beautiful Pinterest board about our setting.

Hubby: Huh. That’s a lot of wildflowers and green trees.

Ms. Lee: I know. Isn’t it pretty and inspiring?

Hubby: Yeah. But are you sure that’s your setting?

Ms. Lee: Of course it is. It’s a forest in Virginia.

Hubby: What happened to all the fog and mud and blood and dead trees?

Ms. Lee: That’s also the setting. That’s the murder part of the setting.

Hubby: Which is also in a forest in Virginia?

Ms. Lee: Right.

Hubby: Seems like your genre-mash-up thing is gonna be tricky.