What is it like to co-author a book?
Nate Herzog and I recently released part one of our series novel No 2. Inc.
The next installment is due in June… but, have you ever wondered: what’s it like to write with someone else? Check out this article Nate wrote for the skinny.
No2 Inc. Origin Story
No special abilities.
No special costumes.
Being a sidekick is just a job.
This story is about how we at No.2 Inc are creating a story, actually a series of stories, about an agency that outsources sidekick services to superheroes. With a premise involving superheroes, you might think this story was born from a love of comic books, but strangely it wasn’t. I mean, we didn’t start off by saying, “Let’s write it about the adventures of a super human.” But more on that later. For now, think of this project as one we didn’t expect to love, but eventually stole our hearts.
As I mentioned, telling another super hero story didn’t initially interest us much. It had been done a lot already for decades. But, what we kept wondering about were the practicalities of being a super hero. Who patches and launders the outfits? Who upgrades the computer systems? The hero doesn’t have time for everything. What we were really interested in was the behind the scenes of hero-dom. In some cases, it was the real story of what happened when titans clashed, and who cleaned it all up. And that… that was interesting. But how did this story really begin?
Let us know in the below comments what you think of of our story or the concept of coauthoring.
I’m so interested in reading this book (and all of the other ones that I’m sure are going to follow), but most interested in what it’s like to work with a co-author. I’ve always worked alone through the writing process. I’ve gotten help from writing coaches, feedback from writing groups, and help with editing. However, I’ve never written with another person and worked on collaborating on a large project. I was never good at group projects when I was in school. I like to be in charge. I like things a certain way, and I tended to be the person who did all of the work just to make sure that it got done to my specifications. I don’t know how good of a co-author I would be.
I do think it’s interesting that a social media relationship between two people turned into a whole series of books. It goes to show you that if you surround yourself with people who inspire you, you can find new ways to become inspiring! I think that finding someone to co-author with must be a challenging process. I listened to the Writing Gym Podcast with Vanessa Talbot recently and she gave some really good tips on how to find a co-author and what to look for when you’re considering a project with more than one author. You should definitely check it out!
Dear friend, my work is extremely different from most published books. I tried in earnest to create a book that the main character constantly talks to the listener/reader in the third person.