Guest Post Amy Faircloth co-author of Wicked Good

[Giovanni Gelati]

So You Want To Co-Author A Novel…

My sister and I have written a novel together called Wicked Good. People ask me all the time what was it like co-authoring a novel with my sister.

My response: all good!

It’s been my dream to be a writer since I was eight years old, and trust me, that’s a long time ago! Amy never wanted to be a writer. She is happy spending time with her sons and saving all the dogs of the world. It wasn’t planned that we would write novels together.

It was March 2008 and I had just finished writing a murder mystery and I was looking for my next project. I was talking to Amy on the phone (she lives in Maine, I live in Florida) and I said without any previous thought: “hey, let’s write a book together”. I’m sure Amy said okay, thinking the book would be about dogs, or we’d never actually write it.

I took the lead when it came to plotting, conflict, structure and things like that. Amy kept the characters and settings realistic. If I had Archer or Rory do something that Amy said they would never do, I changed it immediately.

While writing Wicked Good, Amy and I talked almost daily and e-mailed back and forth. I told Amy what I thought needed to happen from a dramatic perspective and to make sure there was conflict and character arcs. I sent her articles on the hero’s journey and sub-plotting. Amy edited my writing, added flavor to the dialogue and kept the characters authentic. We would discuss what would happen next and then one of us would volunteer to write it. We did not alternate writing chapters. We did not write the chapters together although we revised together. We did not work on a plotline ahead of time; which is because of me since I do not outline my books.

After finishing the first draft, I’m pretty sure Amy agreed to most of my changes in the re-writes however if she wanted something edited out, she won. She is the older sister, after all. At this point, I don’t recall who wrote what. It was truly an equal effort.

We finished writing Wicked Good around January 2009. We had our mother’s book group read it and they gave us great comments. We made further revisions from there. Then, Wicked Good languished as we tried to figure out what to do with it next. There was only one requirement – we wanted to keep working on the novel together.

In November 2010, we figured out our next step. We started blogging the novel, chapter-by-chapter. That’s how Trestle Press, our publisher, found us.

We are now working on the second book in the Wicked series, called Wicked Wise.

If you’re considering co-authoring a novel - do it. But check your ego at the door. Amy and I played on each other’s strengths. She is not a novelist but she is an avid reader plus she has direct experience with what it means to be a parent of a child with Aspergers Syndrome. Amy taught me a lot. If you tell her I said that, I’ll deny it!

We never planned to write novels together. But isn’t that how the best things in life occur?

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