Co-authoring has always intrigued me. There aren’t many novels out there with multiple authors. In fact, I can only remember reading a few (Peter and the Starcatcher by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan). Writing can seem like such a solitary pursuit, but for me, it’s always been the opposite. Writing with friends is what got me into writing in the first place.
I started writing, really writing, with my friend Megan when we were teenagers. I don’t know why. I think I was jealous that she had written something with another friend. We liked to goof around, insert ourselves into our favorite stories, write about inside jokes. But as we got older, the stories became a little more serious, a little more realistic. A few years ago, we even tried rewriting one of those stories we had written as teenagers, hoping to publish it.
We’ve kind of faded off in our writing together (because being adult we have lives now – gross) (actually, she has a life, I read all the time), but that bond is still there. We still remember those stories and laugh about them. And we’re still close now, which is the best.
And I write with some other friends too. Again, those stories are kind of silly and never amount to anything (and more often than not, fade off), but it’s always so fun to plan and create with a friend. It’s my favorite bonding activity. Because I’m weird like that.