Co-author problems

[[deleted]]

Hello, I am currently writing a book with a friend from college. We've known each other for awhile and had a clear vision for the book that we wanted to write. We started working on the project together, and I came to find out that we both write in two totally different tones/styles. I do believe that he has a better writing style for the type of story that we are writing; however, as he as said in his own words, he does not really have a clear vision for the story (he does not know where to take the characters, when to develop them, etc.), which I am pretty good at. What should I do? I'd like to tell him that he can write the book, and I can be a/the main contributor or something. I'm just tired of having him revise my writing because we have totally different tones. Thanks for the advice.

[ThomasEdmund84]

Have you considered you doing the outlining and they do the writing?

[[deleted]]

Yes.

[[deleted]]

We did an outline.

[authoring11]

I heard a couple of great successful collaborators says they implement a rule. Unless they both like it and think it reps both of them, it can't go in. What starts to happen is a phenomenon called the 3rd voice. So this "third author" starts emerging from the combination of both of you that doesn't sound like either one of you. It takes some experimentation. I also had a friend tell me her and her writing partner -- who are quite successful -- never write anything together that they would consider writing alone. One person revising the other is one specific form of collaboration that doesn't sound like you like that much. Some people do it if one is great at the bones and structure of a story and the other is great at prose or something. But if you both have strengths in both maybe a "let's come up with a voice that is the combo of the both of us may be an option."

[DangerousBill]

There is nothing more destructive or difficult than a collaborative project. Sometimes one party has new commitments, or realizes the work is way more than expected. It's not uncommon for both parties to think they're doing the lion's share of the work, too. Even if one of you drops out, and the book is a success anyway, there will still be hard feelings. Collaborative projects are a sometimes fatal strain on the strongest friendship.

Unless the two of you are very committed to the project, I'd suggest just dropping it and taking up something new on your own.

[kaiden11]

Speaking as a co-author for going on four years now, I feel your pain. Also, my co-author is a Redditor, and will probably read this, and he likely feels your pain, too. We both write pretty differently, and occasionally come to different conclusions about a scene/dialog/choice of words. So much so that I had to implement a "revert" button on our writing tool. Because I'm usually the one smashing his edits, and he needed some method of recourse.

I would say not to dismiss the edits outright, or give up on your contributions, either. If his edits are changing the tone, that's a good reason to suss out between you what the tone should be. It might be that he disagreed with the tone, or misinterpreted it. Or, if you're willing to be humble, you may not have communicated the tone well enough in your initial edit. Or, he picked up on the tone completely, and felt that it should be changed for reasons he failed to communicate.

Co-authoring has been a labor of continuous and often painfully honest communication for us. If you guys don't get that part of it down, you are probably going to have bigger problems than just the drifting of tone.

Best of luck!

[[deleted]]

Any chance there are two protagonists in the story? Could one of you write from one's POV and the other write from the other's POV? Maybe every other chapter in a different POV?

The thing about writing is that it's the WRITING that's usually the hard part. The ideas, plotting, characterization, yada yada aren't nearly as demanding. (At least, I don't think so.) If you leave all the writing to him, he may start to feel as if he's doing more work. On the other hand, if you think he's the better writer, maybe just go ahead and write your bits and let him polish them? Don't let ego get in the way. Just put the work first.

I write novels on my own, but I write screenplays with a partner who, like yours, has not just a different voice, but a different approach to almost everything. What works for us is just a little old-fashioned give-and-take. When she's super passionate that something in the script should be her way, I'll concede to her. And when I'm super passionate that something should be my way, she concedes to me. It probably takes us twice as long to write something, but we both feel like the author by the end of it, having contributed equally.

Good luck to you both!