Okay folks, this here is the last segment of our co-writing series. For those of you just tuning in, we are a writing duo of two sisters who wrote a YA fantasy story about a chef who hunts and cooks mystical beasts. You can read more about our WIP, “Mystic Cooking,” here. And you can check out part 1 of our co-writing series here, and part 2 here. Or just jump right in now, whatever makes you happy. 🙂
HEIDI: Writing a book with someone else can be a lot of fun, as long as you’re with the right writing partner. The question is, how do you know if someone would be a good fit? Well, obviously we’re not experts since this is the first book we’ve ever co-written, but here’s our take-away from the whole experience.
KATI: Heidi and I both wrote on our own first, not only completing first drafts of other novels, but also going through the grueling process of editing and re-editing. I am still working on my other story, Tricky Business, about a girl who loses a deal with the god of tricks and ends up stuck working for him when she discovers he’s preparing for all out war against the other gods.
HEIDI: And I ended up scrapping my other story, about a girl who is sold to the god of death in order to pay for her grandfather’s debts, and now she has to help a prince regain his throne by the end of the summer or belong to the god forever.
Interesting, writing that out like that I can see the similarities between our two books, which strangely enough I hadn’t thought about before.
KATI: Of course you didn’t.
HEIDI: ; p
KATI: I guess the point is, we both knew what the process would be like going into this, and both knew the other would be able to hold up their end of the bargain. The fact that we like creating stories with similar themes was also a plus.
HEIDI: So, thinking of co-writing? Ask yourself this:
First, can I be honest with this person? Really, truly, “that is a terrible idea” honest? The nice thing about working with Kati is we’ve both had over twenty years of telling each other when our ideas are terrible – I know it’s not going to affect our relationship if I say I don’t like a plot point she’s putting into the story.
KATI: And I know eventually Heidi will forgive me for cutting out some of her unnecessary characters.
HEIDI: Eventually… 😉 Still, when looking for a partner, the ability to be brutally honest with each other is definitely at the top of the list in terms of importance. Writing is a personal thing, and I know it’s easy to take criticism personally, but you can’t if you’re co-writing or your book will never go anywhere.
KATI: The second thing to consider when choosing a writing partner is how much experience do they have with this process? Are they going to stick with it and write through to the end? More importantly, are they going to help with the editing part? A lot of people newly getting into writing don’t realize exactly how much editing goes into it, and you really need to find someone who is willing to push up their sleeves and dive in until the story is really, truly finished.
HEIDI: I don’t think it has to be a requirement that you’ve both written your own novels and edited them, but I do think that’s extremely helpful, not only because you’ll know the process, but also because it will give you a chance to develop your own individual writing styles, which will only strengthen your combined story.
KATI: Another thing to consider is do you have a similar way of thinking? When you start talking about an idea, will this person chime in, totally on board with your vision? Maybe improving your vision?
HEIDI: In that same line of thinking, do your styles complement each other? What are they good at that you need to work on, and vice versa? For instance, I’m not great at putting in physical descriptions. In my first drafts, you’d think my characters were all naked because I just don’t mention clothing at all. Kati, on the other hand, loves describing the clothing and physical details, so whenever I’d write a section, she’d go in and add those descriptions in, which worked out well.
KATI: I’d also change all your recipes…
HEIDI: Yes, yes, I’m sorry about the whole stew thing.
KATI: Heidi, meanwhile, is pretty good at editing the grammar, spelling, etc., so I can count on her to polish up anything that needs a little extra tweaking. So, when choosing a writing partner, finding an English major is not a bad idea. 😉
HIEID: I knew that degree would come in handy someday. 🙂 And finally, the most important thing to consider of all: Will it be fun, working with this person? Because if you’re not having fun while writing, then really, what’s the point?
KATI: And that’s a wrap. We hope you’ve enjoyed our co-writing posts, and if you have any questions that we didn’t touch on, feel free to leave them in the comments!
The two of you make an awesome team! Loved the posts!
Thanks, Jill! Glad you liked them. 🙂
These have been awesome posts! It’s interesting to hear how two people can write together, it seems so impossible to me, lol. I know if I ever tried to co-author anything I’d end up clawing the other person’s eyes out (not literally of course lol!). I just work better alone 😀
It can be hard sometimes, but most of the time I enjoy it – no eye-clawing yet, at least. 😉 We’re both still planning on writing on our own as well, though, too, although we have a couple other joint story ideas we might do in the future.
At any point did either of you want to see other writers? 😉 Sorry, couldn’t resist.
In all seriousness, these posts have been fun and eye opening. Do either of you think co-writing has helped strengthen your individual writing skills?
Another question I have is would you consider doing a cookbook featuring all the recipes of Mystic Cooking, or maybe adding a recipe section somewhere in the back of your book? I think it would make for an interesting appendix. Food for thought anyway…;)
So..umm…the submission window for Pitch Wars has closed and the mentors are deliberating. How are the two of you feeling? I’m feeling strangely calm. Whatever will be, will be. I’ll be cheering the two of you on no matter what happens. Consider me a fan of Heidi, Kati, and Mystic Cooking. 🙂 Great stuff ladies!
Thank you, Brian. Your support is very much appreciated. 🙂 From co-writing, I think I learned more than Heidi has, and I feel like my writing as a whole has gotten much stronger than it was before we started working together.
We have talked about doing some sort of recipe book or something for Mystic Cooking, but that would have been a little easier to do before Heidi went all vegetarian. But it is something that I still think would be fun, and everything Lailu cooks is a dish that I did a lot of research into its tastes and preparations. And sometime I will see if I can take pictures when I try to make all of them again.
I’m definitely a little nervous and giddy still about pitchwars, but no matter what the outcome is, I’m happy we did it, and I’ll be celebrating no matter what.
Very cool and informative! 🙂
Thanks! These were fun to write – glad you liked them! 🙂
Aaaah, I love these posts. You don’t know how happy I am to get the notification you guys have posted again.
I think it’s been a fascinating series. Plus it must be nice for sister togetherness time. My sis isn’t really the writing type, so I don’t think co-writing a book with a sibling is in my future. But it would be nice to have something like that we could do together. I guess we talk about good food and karaoke and that’s pretty good. 😀
I’m excited for Mystic Cooking to some day soon hit the shelves. But I want an autographed copy, understand! I don’t know how we’ll work it out, maybe I’ll have to mail it to you or you’ll have to do a book signing somewhere nearby, but autographed copy must happen!
Thank you, we are glad you like it. 🙂
It’s good to do anything with your siblings, as long as it doesn’t involve biting and other forms of unnecessary violence. And karaoke is a blast!
When/if Mystic Cooking hits the shelves we will definitely get you a signed copy, but we also want a signed copy of Shade when that hits the shelves. 😉
Deal!
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