Looking for a New Writing Exercise? Try Co-Writing
Forget edit-as-you-go; this technique will keep the flow going
A writer friend and I regularly commented on each other’s written work:
“Wow, I so identify with this!”
“I could’ve written this!”
“Are we the same person?”
“We should do a co-write!”
We’d both seen co-written pieces before and we thought we should give it a try. We are both accomplished writers with similar-but-different approaches to our writing. She writes from bodily sensations, creating a visceral connection with the readers. I tend to add a philosophical touch to most of my writing. What would happen when the two of us came together?
What would happen if we literally co-wrote, as in, write in the same document, at the same time?
The answer is magic. And so far, we’re discovering, it’s replicable magic.
With an agreed-upon topic in mind, we opened up a Google document, dropped our cursers in, and started typing.
Seeing what she was typing inspired within me new ideas and additions, which I added in even as she was still typing. She saw my content and added to it or moved it around. We worked for an hour like this. Pretty soon, we were adding to each other’s sentences, giving story examples for something the other had pointed out, taking half-sentences and adding them to other half-sentences.
We wrote from a single “I” perspective. Because we already knew our backgrounds were so similar, it didn’t really matter whose story we worked on. It was a collective I, a single voice, a unified story.
By the time the hour was over, we paused, and typed to each other within the live document:
This is a real piece! Totally! This won’t even need much editing! Wow, that was fun!
We agreed that we would step away for a bit, and then each of us would individually adjust and edit. After a round or two of fine-tuning, we submitted the piece—one that included the bodily sensations she is so good at, the wisdom and life applications I like to add, and a blend of storytelling for which we already have forgotten whose is whose.
We’ve already done two more co-writes with the same results, and a date on the calendar to do it again.
Here are the advantages I experienced during this co-write:
Non-attachment/letting go
What is there to get attached to? Our words and ideas were less than an hour old. If it didn’t work for the other person, it didn’t work for the article. Not that deleting each other’s work happened often, but we both knew we could change words, move them, or delete them without worrying about hurt feelings.
Spontaneity
We writers get caught up thinking about writing, and not always getting around to the writing. But with someone else typing at the same time, the motivation was there to keep letting it flow. To be successful, we each had to get out of our own way — start typing the first story that came to our minds, the first metaphor, the first take-away—and go. No time to edit as you go, we worked with completely uncensored content.
Learning
Watching another writer go through the process is fascinating. This writer and I tend to work/write at about the same pace, so I could almost see her thought process as she moved things around or jumped from one paragraph to the next. It made me realize that none of us really write a piece from the top down. Writing truly is a craft.
Creativity
No time to overthink—whatever came to the page came through. We trusted that our muses knew what they were doing. And we ended up with a piece that feels so creative and yet manifested so naturally. Perhaps this is the best definition of creativity—spontaneous, natural, and free.
I can now say that this was one of the best writing exercises I have ever done. I look forward to doing more. I don’t know that this could work with just any two writers, but if you find a writer whose style and content match yours, maybe consider giving a co-write a try. The more heads, the better!
If you’d like to see the piece we wrote, here is a link!
Keri Mangis
Award-Winning Author & Wholeness Advocate
Founder: KeriMangis.com
Author: Embodying Soul: A Return to Wholeness — A Memoir of New Beginnings, winner of the 2020 IPA for Body, Mind and Spirit
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