Hello everyone: I am co-authoring a story with a friend that I have known for 17 years. However, I am running into problems and need advice. First, let me give you some context. Around 2011, I started writing a fictional story. Without going into too much detail, it is basically an action-thriller peppered with some dark humor and slapstick humor. I started writing this solo as a means of maintaining my sanity during some rough periods in my life. Eventually, I partnered up with my close friend from school since we both share a similar sense of humor. Around 2014, our friendship faded away for various reasons. It wasn’t exactly an amicable end but it wasn’t hostile either. Fast forward to this past Christmas, I reached out to my friend. The conversation went really well, we sorted out our differences, and we picked up where we left off. My issue is that I am not really enjoying the process of writing the plot or story. It feels like a chore now and doesn’t really relax me like it used to. I think there are a few reasons why this is happening: 1) Our ideas on plot progression, character development, etc. have diverged. 2) Our locations and schedules are not ideal. I’m in BC and my friend lives in Ontario. Because of the time differences and our schedules (I’m single and he has a kid), we have our writing sessions late at night (once per week). 3) The way we are collaborating isn’t working. Right now, I write the chapter and send it to my friend to read. We later discuss the chapter over the phone and make changes. We are trying to strike a balance between humor and keeping the story believable. During the last chapter, there was a certain part of the story that we were trying to change to make it more realistic. However, my friend’s ideas didn’t make any more sense than what I originally wrote. I found writing used to be more enjoyable when we each took turns writing a chapter. My friend has made a lot of great suggestions on how to do things differently. However, part of me feels like I am losing my voice and the story is slowly becoming his story and not our story. Does anyone have any advice on how I should navigate this situation without destroying our friendship? Thanks!
You could just let them have the story. You could tell them that since you both aren't on the same page (no pun intended) artistically, it's best if they work solo. It's like what Dave Ramsey says: a partnership is the only ship that never sails. (Although this arrangement has worked for others though, like the guys that write the Expanse books.)
Handing the whole thing over to my friend would just make me more resentful. I'm not understanding your logic here.
This may have a bearing on your issue without directly addressing the interpersonal part. I’ve been involved with a few co-author situations (all of which ended in disputes between the co-authors) and I feel it is essential to have a written agreement between you two. It can cover everything from the collaboration process and timeline, how disagreements about the direction of the story are resolved, and which (if either) of you gets the final say if a disagreement over the story cannot be resolved, to how your names will appear on the cover, spine, and copyright notice, who makes decisions about agents, publishers, and deals, how payments are handled, and how rights to the work are handled if the collaboration breaks down irretrievably and you go your separate ways. One way it helps, besides protecting you by setting out rights and obligations in black and white, is that it can take some of the emotional aspect away when a disagreement arises. Not always, of course, but sometimes. You’re referring to a document you’ve both agreed to and moving forward based on that. You still have interpersonal dynamics and emotions to deal with, and sometimes there’s no way to resolve that successfully, but an agreement helps and, in the worst case scenarios, will protect you.
You could try telling your friend, "Our current process feels awkward (unwieldy, frustrating, discomforting, confusing, whatever) to me, and I'm having a hard time working with it. How about we go back to talking turns writing chapters, get the book put together, then edit the whole thing when it's done?"
I've collabed many times, usually with the same friend, a few times on one-offs with other people, though most of those were just for the idea-generating phase or playing around. My experience has been that if both people are fully willing to be part of the team and egos don't get involved, everything can go well. As soon as somebody gets an ego it's over. That's a hard thing to maintain unless it's equally important to both of you and you're both willing to submit yourself to the larger whole of the writing team in the full spirit of helpful collaboration. Also you need to be willing to work on the idea even if it goes a way you don't like. Or convince your partner to change it. When things diverge this way it can mean the end of any meaningful collaboration unless you can agree on something. Have you suggested going back to what was working better, each doing a chapter? Are your writing styles really compatible enough for that to work, and feel like the work of one writer? Or is that not necessary?
I really appreciate everyone's responses! We won't be talking until this Thursday night. When we do, I will have a conversation with him before we go any further on this. I'll post again about how the conversation went. Cheers!
Hey everyone, I just wanted to post a follow-up to this. On Thursday night, my friend and I were talking and we eventually began talking about the story. I brought up some suggestions for doing things differently. My friend was very understanding and we agreed to do the following. 1) Focus on getting the long-term plot sorted out before we write any more chapters (our story spans over a 30 year period like the movie Goodfellas). One thing that we didn't consider was that we are jumping back and forth from plot planning to chapter writing. 2) When we start writing chapters again, we are going to go back to each of us taking turns writing each chapter. As long as the beginning and end of each chapter follows the plot, we are both free to write each chapter our own way. I feel our writing styles are similar enough that we can make this work. 3) For the main characters in the story (there will eventually be 6), we will collaborate with 2 of them. For the remaining 4 characters, I will have creative control over 2, and my friend will have creative control over the other 2. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!
To be honest this feels like it’s going to fall apart… having creative control over different characters isn’t going to work well, what’s going to happen when your characters interact with each other? Who has control then? Also two people writing chapters separately their own way is going to be problematic as the story comes to its climax realistically unless you can work well together on the same text it’s difficult to see why you are collaborating in the first place also what’s going to happen when the manuscript is complete? Have you agreed how you will share costs and share royalties and all of that? In all honesty I’d be inclined to cut your losses now and shelve this project before it destroys your friendship in future next time you set up a collaborative project I’d suggest getting all major aspects agreed on writing before the project starts
A written agreement is imperative, imo. One of the situations I had with co-authors (no written agreement) was related to the fact they were each writing separate chapters and inevitably there was tension as to how each should change their chapter to fit in with the other. In the end, the written collaboration agreement they finally decided on had enough detail to specify who was writing which chapters and how disputes over the direction of the chapters would ultimately be decided. But by the time they got to me the project was a bit of a mess, in part due to not having an agreement in place ahead of time.
So how did they decide on the direction of chapters during a dispute? If I do write an agreement now, what things should I cover in it? Is this something I need a lawyer for, or can my friend and I just draft it ourselves?
In this particular case, the agreement provided for good-faith negotiations between the authors for a set period of time. If that failed, there was a third person they both knew (who had been a sort of mentor to both of them) that they agreed would decide the issue. There are other ways this can be handled. You can search online for sample collaboration or co-author agreements and get an idea of the sort of thing that should be included. Probably best to have counsel involved if you are able--they'll know exactly what should be included and how to best protect your interests.
