This Dynamic Duo Explains HOW they actually do co-authoring

This Dynamic Duo Explains HOW they actually do co-authoring

by Addison McKnight

The minute Krista and Nicole tell people that, together, they wrote An Imperfect Plan under their pen name Addison McKnight, the next questions are invariably, Wait? What? How? Although lots of co-authors sit side by side on the computer, this is how the duo tackles co-authoring.

Decide we are passionate

At first, Nicole and Krista knew nothing about the publishing industry, but they were so passionate about their story that they just made time for it in their busy schedules. Within six months, the authors had what they thought was an amazing, sparkling manuscript. While it ended up needing lots of editing, the passion is what drove them into action.

Decide on a compelling plot

For Krista and Nicole, it all starts with an idea they can’t get out of their head. The next step is to put those initial ideas down on the page. As working moms with six kids between them, Nicole and Krista carve out an hour to meet up between their jobs and kids’ schedules. They meet in a diner, plot out the book’s skeletons with stickynotes, and each take a character. In their first book, Nicole was Colette and Krista was Greta. Next, each of them go off and write during their own pockets of time and then set up another meeting.

Digest each other’s ideas

The authors’ next meeting consists of swapping chapters and editing each other’s work. This is the part where they“kill each other’s darlings” in the nicest way possible. Nicole and Krista both have experience writing non-fiction and interacting with women audiences, but fiction writing is new to them; thus, it helps that their partnership offers built-in feedback. They look for cliché phrases, redundant words, and offer that outside eye that can be a bit more critical than when they are working as solo, free-flowing creatives.

Divide and Conquer

Writing an entire book sounds so daunting, right? But writing a half of a book? Now that is doable. When Krista Googled “how to write a book,” she learned that a thriller should be about 90 thousand words. In response, Nicole said, “Wow, that is only 45 thousand words each! Let’s get started.” This process of splitting the word count allows Krista and Nicole to continue with their other jobs, be attentive mothers, be pleasant wives, and enjoy their role as dual authors sharing the work and the pressures. In other words, the amount of work involved with making their work sparkle is absorbed by two people. Unless you’re Chuck Palahniuk, working all alone is likely a ton more work.

Decide what matters Most

Krista and Nicole met at the hairdresser. When asked about this, they laugh and say, “We both cared about our hair, women’s issues, and writing!” Their bond grew over the years, and starting a “business” together sounded fun; however, they never wanted it to get in the way of the friendship they’d built before diving into this project. Therefore, Nicole and Krista wanted to get their values onto paper and share some very simplistic ground rules on how to write together and for how long. They jokingly refer to this working agreement as a prenup. All kidding aside, the authors like that they have outlined their shared visions, values, and expectations for each other and recommend that other women in business do something similar.

As a partnership, Nicole and Krista capitalize on each other’s strengths and tend to naturally delegate work based on this. Nicole will often come up with the creative twists in the book, whereas Krista will be more drawn to researching the rich topics broached in the book. When it comes to the business side of the writing, Nicole, a type-A real-estate agent, is the one to alert the duo to their next deadline.

Conversely, Krista, a life coach, spearheads the Addison McKnight vision board that reminds them to stay focused on obtaining commercial success by being authentic, writing compelling plots, and most importantly, not letting the drudgery of day-to-day life get in the way of what makes writing with a friend fun!

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Addison McKnight is the pen name for Nicole Moleti and Krista Wells. After over a decade of writing nonfiction, their common interests in women’s emotions and the cultural obsession with perfection sparked an idea for their debut novel An Imperfect Plan available on Amazon.com

Twitter @MoletiandWells

Website https://addisonmcknight.com/

AN IMPERFECT PLAN

All it takes is one lie for the best-laid plans to go awry.

After decades of pushing away traumatic memories from childhood, Colette De Luca is ready to start a family of her own. It’ll be healthy, a wish come true, with a man she believes is the love of her life. Thankfully, she thought ahead when she was younger and froze her eggs for this very moment.

Greta O’Brien, a wealthy hedge-fund manager, is forced to confront the making of her own family when tragedy strikes her twin teenage sons. As she debates whether to confess a betrayal to her husband, the ripple effects of the family’s devastating circumstances begin to spread far beyond their home.

These two women, hopeful, disillusioned, and desperate, are on an emotional decades-long journey to motherhood by any means necessary. Strangers whose lives explode in the wake of a shocking event―and converge in more ways than one―Colette and Greta are forced to face the twists of fate and the choices they’ve made.

BUY HERE

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing