Tolstoy

The opening line of Anna Karenina famously declares that all happy families are alike, while each unhappy one is unhappy in its own way. Writing partnerships are the opposite: the failed ones are all the same in the end, but each successful one is unique.

We haven’t rambled about what makes a good writing partner lately. It’s overdue.

Some teams gel because of the similarities between the partners, which makes sense because they have common ground. Not everyone gets along with other people who are too much like themselves, though, so some partnerships thrive because the members are different. Also, differences broaden a partnership by letting you each draw from the other’s expertise. More than that, some occasional friction can be invigorating. It is a signal that your partner cares about the project enough to get worked up over it.

All relationships take a certain amount of work, and a writing collaboration is no exception. The thing to watch out for is how much of your energies are going into not strangling each other, because that’s energy that could be better spent on something else. The same reasoning applies when there’s too little passion. If you’re exhausting yourself trying to build up your partner’s enthusiasm, that’s not good either.

Every writing team needs to find its own groove, and sometimes it takes a different groove from one project to the next. Work at it, and find a shared voice you love, and your partnership will be happy in its own unique way.

Happy Winter Solstice!