Fiona Quinn is Visiting - Things to Consider Before Co-authoring a Book




I met Fiona on Twitter through her article about weaponry for writers (well, not personal weapons, but you know what I mean - info about weapons so our stories are more authentic.) Today, she's visiting with an article about co-authoring books and a few things to consider. Remember, we love comments ;-) 

Is That Even Possible? by Fiona Quinn

When it comes to heartbreak and nefarious villains, I prefer to live those adventures vicariously through a book. But there are some things that I think are more fun experienced in real life. 

Recently, my adventurous spirit lead me into a very interesting literary experiment.  I met English ex-pat John Dolan on Twitter, of all places. He had doffed his Henry Higgins cap to explain to me the retweet concept when I was meandering around the Twittersphere as a newbie. 

Our personalities clicked, and we decided in short order to write a novel together via the Internet.
I thought I might lay out some of the barrels we needed to leap in order to help you make decisions should you ever find yourself wanting to co-author a work. If you are a reader you might appreciate the behind scenes foibles

Timing
I thought the hardest part of this experiment would be time. John and I had our personal constraints as well as the timing issues of a 9 hours difference between EST where I live and Dubai time where he was living. But that was the least of the issues. Technology issues were our #1 headache.

Trusting
If either of us threw up our hands before we were done, then months of work would be down the drain. Make sure you have an exit strategy should one of you need to stop.

Picking a language
John speaks English-English, and I speak American-English. Word choices, phrases, even spelling can become confusing, even if you are from different regions within a single country. Here’s a real-life exchange between John and I that actually made it into our book:

John:  "Dagenham Dave" was a 'wide boy' in an Ian Dury song. 

Fiona: OK I think this is fine but have no idea what a 'wide boy' could mean besides someone who enjoys too many pastries.   

John:  Continues Fiona's education in matters British: A 'wide boy' is someone who is an insincere person, a con-man, a snake-oil salesman, someone obsessed with making 'loads of money'. OK, Elisa? Yours, Henry Higgins. 

Fiona - Thank you, professor. Can I take the marbles out of my mouth now?

Writing Style 
I am a writer who has the characters and plotline basics in her head, and then lets the story unfold organically. John is a plotter extraordinaire.  He kept sending me spreadsheets. To be honest, the first time I opened one, I broke out in hives. He had to coax me, like a wounded animal, into opening any others.

Specialties
Combining fortes produced what we think is a really interesting and unique work. I have a background in psychology, weapons, CSI, and fighting. John is a Shakespearean actor, musician, poet, who works with laws and numbers. We each wrote our strong points and did tutorials for the other. Once I even “killed” one of my adult children over Skype with a black magic marker. John needed to understand how the move worked and how the victim would fall.

A Meeting of the Minds
Because we discussed plot holes, characters, settings and all of the issues that make writers have to dump whole scenes, when we actually sat down to write, our first draft was pretty clean. We did do some rearranging and tweaking, but for the most part, we had already ironed the wrinkles out of the major issues.



Co-authoring Chaos Is Come Again with John Dolan was a fabulous experience. I had the most fun. I laughed so hard when we were working together that my sides hurt. If you would like to read the outcome of our experiment for yourself, here’s a LINK


Chaos Is Come Again is a psychological suspense, a mystery, and a love story, packed with irreverent humour, and viewed through the lens of obsession. You’ve probably never read anything like it.

Fiona Quinn runs ThrillWriting helping writers write it right. Stop on by she might just have the research already done for you. 
Fiona's Thrillwriting Blogsite

Comments

Olga said…
I know both John Dolan and Fiona (I know John better and read his books to date) and I'm looking forward to reading the book. I'm not sure I'd try the experiment myself but I guess you need to meet the right person and feel the time is right.
Fiona Quinn said…
Thank you so much for having me. What a fun blog you have!

Cheers,
Fiona
Dariel Raye said…
Thanks for accepting my invitation, Fiona! This is great information and might calm some fears about co-authoring :-)
Dariel Raye said…
Very true, Olga :-) I've participated in anthologies, but never co-authored. Like you, I think it has to be the right match to make things work.