Stop the Presses!

Time for another potential downside of having a writing partner: interruptions.

If you don’t have a fortress of solitude to write in, then you’re probably familiar with being interrupted. You’re thinking that it affects us all, with or without a collaborator. True, but with a writing partner there’s an added wrinkle.

 Soloist author's spouse: "Did you see that thing in the news?"
 Soloist author: "Sorry, Honey. I'm working right now."
 Soloist's spouse: "Oh, sorry. I'll tell you about it later."

Collaborative author's partner: "Did you see that thing in the news?"
 Fellow author: "Which thing?"
 Partner: "The missing dog. It got me thinking about that scene in chapter six..."

Notice a difference? It’s easier to give your spouse the old brush-off than it is to stay on task with a chatty partner. Sure, conversational overtures about irrelevant topics can distract you, but the special problem with your partner’s interruptions is precisely that they’re on-topic.

It’s no good to say, “Sure, sure chapter six. Whatever. Tell me when it’s finished.”

It’s also no good to heave a sigh and roll your eyes before saying, “Missing dog for chapter six? Do tell.”

Obviously, there’s no guarantee that your partner will always have something important or relevant to say. Sometimes people just talk a bit too much. But that’s an easy problem to fix: “I’m sorry, but this is work time. We can discuss [current popular tv show] later.” If that doesn’t do the trick, then you might just have a bad partner.

The deeper challenge is with partnership per se. You have to talk to each other, and once in a while that need conflicts with other noble aims. Which is to say, even if you have the ideal partner and you’ve found the optimal fiction project to collaborate on, you’ll run into this problem from time to time. (Voice of experience! Hey, partner!)

The final thing to say on this subject: embrace the interruptions, as long as they’re pertinent. If you try to curb your partner’s tendency to break your concentration, you’ll curb his or her enthusiasm for working with you. To be successful at writing in collaboration, you must adapt to a bit more interruption. It’s worth it.