Adventures in Co-Writing (by Sandra Murphy)

If you’ve ever watched a cooking show like Iron Chef or Chopped, there’s always one chef who uses every possible ingredient, every pot and pan in the kitchen, and who knocks one or more of them onto the floor while in a cooking frenzy. Often the original plan will be scrapped, and an entirely new recipe started when it seems impossible to finish on time. When the buzzer sounds, the chef presents a creative, tasty dish, served on a spotless plate, complete with edible origami-shaped garnishes. In the background, you can see the workstation. It looks like a tornado blew through, caused a train derailment, and fire is imminent. 

The chef at the next station is a mise en place guy. The ingredients are not only within reach, quantities are premeasured according to the recipe, and the ramekins arranged in the order they will be used. When time is up, chef’s coat will be spotless and the workstation, immaculate.

Both dishes will be tasty enough to make you want seconds and thirds.

(Photos from Pexels.com)

Co-writing with Michael Bracken is much the same. I, of course, am the one without a plan of action. My mind wanders into twenty-seven possible scenarios and that’s before the halfway mark in the story. What if? guides every plot twist. A sidekick character will wander from my imagination onto the page. I try to evict them but besides being stubborn, they’ve often proven useful and stayed around to improve the storyline. After all, a main character needs a confidant, someone to make them laugh, or to just hold the flashlight while they dig.

Michael has a plan. In scene one, introduce the characters. In scene two, add conflict. When I wander too far off track or throw in a bit of trivia found during research, interesting but not vital to the story, he reins me in. On the other hand, we’ve had occasions where he tells me, here’s the crime. I don’t know who did it. I read it over and send back an email and say, it was this guy. And it works.

So far, we’ve co-written five stories and all have been published, most on their first submission. One uncooperative story is in limbo and two are in the “wait and see” stage. I write my ideas on scraps of yellow legal paper and tape them to the wall. Michael has files. Organized files.

We are the Odd Pairing of short stories, like tacos and toasted ravioli, but for us, it works.