Collaboration = Synergy
One of the more important benefits of writing with a partner is that together you can be more than the sum of your parts. This applies to various aspects of the process, and shows up in unexpected ways.
Some days it’s hard to get motivated, and if you work alone then there’s nobody to help you out with that. But as long as you don’t want to let your partner down, you can find it in yourself to do the work. Put another way, if your partner is pushy enough you work out of self-defense.
It’s like cycling: two riders are faster than one. They can take turns going first, which lets one of them ride in the slipstream where it takes less energy. Racers know that when you lunge out on your own you’ll be reeled back in eventually, because you have to work harder to maintain the same pace.
It’s also more efficient in other ways. You can each take on the parts of the project that you’re best at, which means they get done quicker. Stuff that would have you stumped for days, or that you just can’t get excited to tackle, might be just what your partner is hungry for. When your plot becomes a riddle even for you, it’s nice to have someone as a sounding board. Come editing time you have two sets of eyes to spot typos or grammar errors, and you have two brains to problem-solve larger issues.
Our critique group members always compliment us on how clean our first drafts are. The secret is, they’re not really first drafts. It’s more like version 1.5. At the end of each writing session we share with each other what we’ve accomplished, and immediately flag problems or concerns. This leads to on-the-spot troubleshooting and the “first” draft benefits immensely. A million little course corrections along the way make for a better final product, one that is closer to the visualized ideal.
It takes time to develop a smooth-running collaboration. You and your partner won’t mesh seamlessly, especially in the beginning. It takes mutual respect and dedication to make it work, but it is definitely worth it. Two heads are definitely better than one. In a thriving collaboration, they’re often more than twice as good!