How to (Successfully) Co-author a Novel, Part 2: Characters

So technically I still posted this on Wednesday, so I kept my promise.  :)  But there was PANIC! at work today, and I was so frazzled I forgot just about everything that I should know about anything and yeah...Evangeline was so nice and patient.  Great gal to work with!

But today (or this evening, rather), we are talking about how to write the characters when you are co-authoring a novel.  And just as a reminder, when I am "speaking" the text is underlined, and when Evangeline gives her wisdom, the words are italicized. 

Writing the characters can be one of the hardest and most complicated parts of co-authoring a story.  It can also be one of the best and most enjoyable experiences - when done so as to please both writers. 

It’s complicated.  :)

Today, we are going to tackle the two main ways characters can be handled in co-authoring: sharing the characters, and splitting characters.

Sharing Characters

Again, hop over to Evangeline's blog.  She'll be talking about how to co-author while sharing all the characters.  Very interesting.  :)

Splitting Characters

Most common to co-authoring, each character is assigned to a writer, and that writer is responsible for making sure that the character and the plot surrounding him/her is taken care of, nothing is forgotten, and other character plots are not trampled.  So one writer might take the main character, the other writer the sidekick or another MC.  Side characters are divided up, according to the writers preferences and writing abilities.  (I personally have a hard time writing villains, so I usually just let Evan take over them.)

(I rule the Dark Side.)

Of course, you can always try something new, and work with a character type or plot you usually avoid, just for some practice.  You have your co-author there to help you out, or take on the writing of hard character for you.

You also will need to set up some rules regarding characters to abide by, such as in the words of Iron Man, "Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose? I'm open to suggestions."

See, when you have a co-author, you can't keep little secrets about your characters’ history or abilities.  Everything has to be on the table.  The point of writing is to surprise your readers – not your co-author.  They need to know what’s going on.

This is a common pitfall I’ve seen (and experienced) in co-authoring.  Everyone wants the cool character with the tragic backstory – which isn’t revealed until later. (ba-dum tiss!)  Please restrain yourself from hiding things from your co-author.  They might unintentionally ruin your secret plot, leaving you furious.  Or in the revelation of your secret plot, you might crush their own plot…and then things go downhill.

You have to be willing to compromise when it comes to characters.  Your favorite character can't win every victory and be the center of attention all the time.  You must be willing to work with your co-author's characters and plots.  Not everyone can have a cool life (or win them all)!

But how do you write a story when you have your own characters you are writing?

Simple.  You take turns - going back and forth with them, moving along the draft, using the POVs of your own characters.  It will often look like this:

Julian:  Vanyar turned back to her visitor.  “Please excuse me for a moment.  I will be right back.”  With a final smile at Jewel, she turned and stormed through the shop, practically yanking the door off the hinges as she burst into the street.  “Tharn Blackshard, you get here right this minute!”

Evangeline:  Jewel covered her ears, and moved farther away, pretending to examine the wares of the shop.  When all was quiet, she turned back to her friend.  “Have you heard from Hwen or the Sisters recently?  Any news from their end of the map?”

Julian:  Vanyar stuck her head back in the shop.  “Say what again?”

Evangeline:  “Have you any news?” Jewel hesitated to stop closer - Tharn had not yet arrived, and Vanyar might break into more ear-shattering screams at any moment.

Julian:  Tharn trotted up, soaking wet, followed by Joshi, who was also damp from head to toe.  “What happened to you boys?” Vanyar waved a finger in their faces.  “What on earth happened to you??”

Evangeline:  The boys both pointed at each other, crying, “He started it!” at the same moment.

And so on until the end is reached.  This is a fun way to get stories covered, but it does have drawbacks: editing can be rather complicated.  If you copy the story right over, you will most likely have some serious head-hopping, POV problems, tenses and such change, and a mash-up of different styles.

Another problem that arises is lack of detail.  Often times when you write alone, you spend more time introducing a scene, and adding description.  When you’re going back and forth quickly, detail and description often falls to the wayside.

This can, however, be fixed in editing (which we will talk about next week, Lord willing).

Key

(Though I will add that Evangeline and I know each other and our characters fairly well, so we often don’t bother to ask, and don’t mind when someone else takes care of a character for a few lines.  Like in the example above, Evangeline "took" my character Tharn when she made both boys point at each other.  I did not mind, however, because she played him correctly - they are both trouble-makers...always close to disaster.)

The Return

How you handle the characters will be up to you.  You can practice both ways before you draft, test things out during the first draft, or just decide which method you want to use beforehand.  You may even try using both (it’s actually very easy to do both, and ultimately, it will sorta’ end up that way regardless of which way you start with)!  Take a look at your story, and where you think it will go.  Which method will help the story flow?  Do you have multiple POVs?  A large cast of characters?  Splitting them up between the co-authors might be best.  Or are you sticking to one MC?  You may want to go ahead and share the writing of him/her.

Come back next week for our wrap-up post where we will discuss editing, give some general knowledge and tips, and dare you to try something new this coming 2018!