A friend and I have a communal idea we've been bouncing back and forth for a while now, and she has expressed a desire to get it plotted out this summer so she can go ahead with a rough draft while I'm in school.

Has anybody here ever tried to co-author something, or know someone who has? Any suggestions or caveats? What are your opinions on it?

Yeah, I've co-authored a couple of different stories with Havoc. The way we normally do it is that each of us gets a couple of characters and we write the story that way. Much like a role play, but with actual writing instead of any kind of a short hand and without dice and that sort of thing.

If you aspire to do this professionally, I highly recommend you both draft up some sort of contract stating that should one day you have a falling out with each other, there will be no arguing over who gets the rights to what element of the story. Nobody says "five years from now, I'm going to hate you" but it does happen. Tracy Hickman also stated that throughout each book/story/piece that one person and only one person does the actual writing. Otherwise the style in which the piece is written will be inconsistent.

If you are shooting for publication, it would be far better to work on material yourself. It's hard enough for a single debut novelist to get through the door without the burden of two.

One of the things a publisher will be looking for in a first time novelist, is a good work ethic and the ability to go the distance and produce quality work. Having a co-authored book says that you can do it with help... but not necessarily alone. This would make it harder for a publisher to invest money in your "unproven" writing future.

Not that there is much hope for debut writers to begin with.