how does co-authoring a story work?

It looked to me in “Good Omens…,” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, as if they pretty much took turns, with one taking certain characters as his own, and the other doing the same.

I read more about it and it seems they didn’t even see much of each other, but communicated by phone and computer.

I thought that book (it has a long subtitle too… ‘the accurate prophecies of…’ etc.) started well, then it seemed to get patchy. I could almost tell when the writing voice changed.

Later still I heard that Pratchett was getting pretty sick, and I understood more then.

I think collaboration calls for a lot of talk before even starting to write, as well as close proximity if possible… though maybe that’s not so necessary with computers everywhere.

(I think of the great [old] collaborations between Moss Hart and George S. Kaufmann = terrific plays. They practically lived together–which I believe caused both impatience and desperation, which = terrific plays)

Moral Stories – Grandma’s Tales

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