Author Writing Duos
Some of these are obvious, but you may be surprised at the others
Hi readers,
I’ve heard it said that “you can do anything you set your mind to do.” Sure, it’s nice to dream and believe that anything is within your reach, but I’m a realist and know that for me, “setting my mind to something” doesn’t necessarily translate to being able to do it. I’d love to write a book; it seems like it would be fun. I know it is hard work, but I’d be an author in another life. What seems almost impossible to me is for two or more authors to write a book and make it sound like one voice and have it blend together seamlessly. Several authors have “set their minds to this” and have written some incredible books.
When I speak of multiple authors writing a book, I’m not speaking of multiple-author anthologies of short stories, no matter how interconnected they might be. I’m speaking of full-length novels that two or more authors write together by divvying up the writing tasks via storyline, characters, or some other method. I knew of a few author writing duos, but I discovered several others through my research. When you see two author names on a book, it is apparent that two people wrote it. What was surprising to learn about was a few of the “one name” author writing duos. I also wanted to know more about how they decide which author will write what part of each book. I find things like this fascinating, and hopefully, you will too.
You have probably heard of a few of these, but maybe there are one or two that you weren’t previously aware was a writing duo.
Christina Lauren is the writing duo of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billing. Together these best friends have written seventeen best-selling adult and young adult novels. They say their writing process is entirely collaborative, even though they don’t live close to each other. They do this by getting together for a couple of days to write the outline, plot, characters, and chapters, and then each chooses the chapters they want to write. They share their writing frequently, and both authors read every word to make sure it reads seamlessly. Each has different writing strengths, and they use those to their advantage when writing their books.
Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke are another writing duo that have been best friends forever. They have written seven books together in various genres such as psychological thriller, humor, and suspense. As friends in high school, they talked about writing books together one day, and two decades later, that dream became a reality. Their writing process differs depending on if there are multiple timelines. When there is only one timeline, one of them will write a chapter, and then the other one edits it, and they go back and forth until they get the chapter correct, and then they move on to the next chapter. When they write multiple timeline books, each will take one of the timelines. They each use their strengths to delegate the tasks of the “business” of writing books.
Charles Todd is the mother and son writing team of Charles and Caroline Todd. Sadly, Caroline passed away in August 2021 at age 86 of a lung infection. Together they have written over 30 novels in two series set in England and Ireland. Even though both lived in the U.S. they traveled extensively in Britain to explore the history, countryside, culture and language that makes up their books. They decided early on that they both needed to know everything that was going on with the book they were co-writing. They worked scene by scene so they could agree on characters, plot, action and all the other details necessary to make their books bestsellers. Charles is busy putting the finishing touches their last two novels written together and says that he hasn’t made a decision yet as to if he will continue the series.
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
The writing duo of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen began as an author-editor relationship, with Hendricks as the editor of Pekkanen’s books. Because they had such a good relationship, they decided to write together, and The Wife Between Us became their first book; they have since written three more together. They say that, unlike other author duos, “every idea and word grew and developed from their shared consciousness and that Google Docs and Hangouts is their third writing partner.” Those tools allow them to write and talk in real-time versus writing independently and sharing after the fact.
Liv Constantine is the sister writing duo of Lynne and Valerie Constantine, who have written four novels and two novellas together. Lynne has also written two novels as L. C. Shaw. Thanks to Reese Witherspoon’s book club, their first novel, The Last Mrs. Parrish, landed on bestseller lists, and it became the book everyone wanted to read. They use emails and FaceTime to write, and each day begins with a conversation to give each other their “marching orders.” Instead of splitting it up by character or chapters, they both contribute to the entire book’s writing. They feel each needs to know every character inside and out and be fully invested to write a cohesive book that delivers the thrills they are known for.
Nicci French is the husband and wife writing duo of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, and they live in Suffolk, England. Together they have published twenty bestselling novels in thirty-one languages. They begin writing longhand many notes, timelines, maps, and plot points, and then they converge in a word processing program where one will start writing the first chunk, email it to the other who makes changes, and then back to the writer, and they move forward. They are very conscious that they write in the voice of Nicci French and not themselves individually. They alternate writing each chapter, and they have put in place several rules that allow them to make changes to the other’s work. They both do the research as neither knows yet who will be writing which part of the book.
Preston & Child is the author duo of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They met when Child, a St. Martin’s editor, commissioned a book about the American Museum of Natural History and asked Museum employee and magazine writer Preston to write it. After thirty-three books, they are still writing together. They live in different states, so they write the outline together by passing it back and forth in the cloud, and when they are satisfied with it, they assign chapters to each. They edit each other’s work and make revisions accordingly. Sometimes there are differences of opinion, but they say that each book is better because they constantly question each other’s work to create the best book between them.
PJ Tracy was the mother-daughter writing duo of PJ and Traci Lambrecht; unfortunately, PJ passed away in 2016 of severe heart failure. Traci says that as her mother’s health deteriorated, their writing became darker and more introspective, and after her mother’s death, her writing became more emotional. When they wrote together, it took them weeks, sometimes months, plotting the story, and then they each would write a section separately and “come back together to discuss, polish and blend the pieces together until the book was finished.” Traci says, “they rarely disagreed, never argued, and laughed most of the time.” Traci “continues to write like a maniac, with PJ’s spirit sitting on her shoulder, cracking wise.”
I’ve always admired authors’ imaginations that allow them to write the wonderful novels I read. I’m even more appreciative of the work that goes into these “author duo” novels. If I hadn’t seen two names, I never would have known there were two authors writing these books.
I enjoyed putting this newsletter together and the rabbit holes I traveled down to learn more about these authors. I have read books from several of them, but I have never read any books by PJ Tracy, Charles Todd, or Preston & Child. In fact, I learned that Charles Todd was an author duo when I read that Caroline passed away last year. I have added several of these authors’ books to my TBR as if I need any more books on it.
My reading has slowed down quite a bit because of my day job, but hopefully, I’ll finish two more books this week that I’ve been working on for several days. How is your reading life going? Are you reading any good books that you can’t stop recommending? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Have a great week; hopefully, Spring is on its way wherever you live, and the bad weather is behind you. Happy reading!
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I finished it weeks ago but I can't stop recommending Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I hated Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell so it came as rather a big surprise that I loved this one as much as I did. (I read it it one sitting; I absolutely could not put it down.)
Another eye-opening and really fun newsletter, Gayla. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to work with another writer to produce a book. I’m glad you went down those rabbit holes. I suspect that there are lots more teams out there than I’d ever have imagined.