On Writing A Deux, or How to Co-Author in a Cross-Country Friendship
by Carol Kerr and Linda Edelstein, co-authors of Not The Trip We Planned
In the early 1980s, Linda Edelstein and I made a vow we would someday write a mystery together because it would be so much more fun than our dissertations. We were plowing through a psychology doctoral program at Northwestern. She was a feisty almost-divorced single mom of two; I was still shyly looking for a husband. She was from New Jersey; I was from California. But we had a common sense of humor that forged an enduring bond even though subsequent life events put miles between us and years flew by.
Fast forward to 2019: I had just retired from my public health career when Linda, still practicing as a psychologist, declared now was the time to write our novel. Why not? With Google Docs and many long Zoom meetings, we dived in. Then the pandemic unexpectedly provided surplus time to focus on finally becoming novelists.
We had no blueprint for writing a novel together. Co-creating our two lead characters was the obvious starting point. We each “owned” and built one of the two protagonist friends’ identities. They were us, but not us. We wrote the first version of early scenes separately, hoping that each protagonist would feel whole and complete, not a compromise.
While we used elements of our personalities and life histories to create our characters, they took on unique lives and traits of their own as the story evolved. We detailed family histories, career paths, their wardrobe style, mood states and food proclivities. We wove in elements of the decades we each had lived through before we knew each other that had shaped our lives. In the process, we got to know details of things we’d somehow never talked about before
To stay oriented, we made the novel’s setting the one city we had in common, Chicago, and began sketching out unfolding events together. We continuously shared developing scenes and dialogue back and forth, edited each other’s drafts, and talked through details in weekly Zoom sessions. When we were younger, we just wanted to write a mystery. Now we could write a mystery that would also demonstrate that Medicare-qualified women are still vital, ingenious and have a growing edge.
Because we had written non-fiction together in grad school and beyond, we had already developed a workable style of feedback, methods to work through disagreements, and tolerance for each other’s author habits (too many adverbs, not enough sass, excess cynicism, random commas).
But shared fiction and a mystery plot were new skill sets for us. Since a mystery typically needs a body, a villain, and a motive, there were some lively debates about who, what, and where. A politician, with an overdose, in the library? A lawyer, poison, on a yacht? The “how” was tricky as it had to be believable as something a social worker and a journalist could figure out when their long-planned, post-pandemic reunion is disrupted by a third old friend’s urgent demand for help.
Equally important to our goal of co-authoring a novel was the goal of creating characters and a plot that 1) was fun and 2) reflected what we know as psychologists who’ve studied women’s adult development. We wanted the developing story to also mirror realities in women’s lives, the essential humor needed to get through the difficulties life presents, and the shared insights and surprises that come with deep, lasting friendship.
We did not shy away from sharing our goal and process with friends nearby in the Midwest and West Coast. Our crew of “beta” readers also of “a certain age”, did not hold back on honest feedback and good advice. When we had improved, revised, and reached a sense that we had an embryonic “book” we invested in a close reading by a developmental editor that was valuable and helped us chart our path toward our goal.
There was a steep and long climb into the query phase and learning about how traditional publishing has evolved in recent years. We became much more skilled with spreadsheets and the vocabulary of loglines, hooks, and polite rejections.
Nevertheless, we persisted and found our publisher, Koehler Books. Our enthusiastic editor, Becky Hilliker, herself had co-written a novel with her sister so appreciated the dynamic of the shared process. We read, proofread and reviewed while our manuscript become a book across 6 months, consulting on cover design and watching as they rolled out a “cover poll” and onto finalized production.
With help from the younger generation, we built and launched Chickie’s Blog, where our journalist protagonist could post commentary to draw interest in the book. It became a platform for ongoing publicity as we approached the marketing phase. (https://www.chickiesblog.com/). We both generated posts in the voice of “our” protagonists to have a bank of topics to carry us ahead at least 6 months of weekly blogging.
Now we are poised, still cross-country and two time zones from each other, to launch our long-promised book and talk with book groups and in book stores about Not The Trip We Planned which was released March 4, 2025.
NOT THE TRIP WE PLANNED
Chickie and Maddy are aging in their typical yin and yang styles when old friend Lena’s husband, Edward, suddenly dies. Maddy, a retired social worker, is eager to offer support; Chickie, a chronically underemployed journalist, is peeved at the inconvenience. Friendship prevails and the two reluctantly return to Chicago, where they’d all met decades earlier.
They soon learn that Lena requires more than comfort or casseroles-she is certain Edward was murdered and demands answers. Chickie and Maddy dismiss her suspicions as grief but agree to help. They’re soon astonished to discover they have a penchant for unraveling secrets, learning more about Edward than they ever wanted to know. As the tensions increase, the women must choose to remain silent or pursue justice . . . or is it revenge?
Publisher link: https://www.koehlerbooks.com/book/not-the-trip-we-planned/
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As a clinical psychologist and professor, .Linda N. Edelstein has authored five nonfiction books about the twists and turns of life but has waited a long time to create her own fun and sassy characters. Linda has two grown daughters, lives in Evanston, Illinois, maintains a private practice, travels whenever she can and practices yoga when her body permits. Previous books by Linda N. Edelstein: Maternal Bereavement 1984; The Art of Midlife: Courage and Creative Living for Women 1999; The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits (1st and 2nd ed) 1999, 2006; What Do I Say? The Therapist’s Guide To Answering Client Questions 2011 (with C. Waehler); Object of Obsession 2012; and Shattered 2014
Carol G. Kerr and Linda N. Edelstein met a long time ago in graduate school at Northwestern. Then, marriage took Carol back to her native California, where she worked in Bay Area public mental health for thirty-five years, doing crisis intervention and graduate clinical training in serious mental illness. She has longed to write detective fiction since she first discovered Nancy Drew. Carol has two grown children in Portland, Oregon, where she, her husband, and Angus the cat have recently relocated.
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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