When Two Authors Are Better Than One

Author collaborations are nothing new, but the upcoming thriller by renowned author James Patterson and beloved songstress Dolly Parton is getting lots of buzz. Run, Rose, Run, out on March 7, tells the story of a young singer-songwriter making her way in Nashville. She may be a star on the rise, but she's also a woman on the run from her shadowy past. With Parton's experience as a country music star and Patterson's suspense prowess, this seems like a recipe for success! And it got us thinking about some other great author collabs.

All In the Family

Good storytelling is often a family trait, so it's not too surprising that multiple authors often spring up from a single clan. Sometimes, they even join forces to write together. In Sleeping Beauties, father-son team Stephen King and Owen King tell the story of what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men. Another notable example of the apple not falling far from the tree is Samantha Van Leer who, as a teen, co-wrote two YA novels—Between the Lines and Off the Page—with her bestselling author mother, Jodi Picoult.

Other family collaborations include books co-written by siblings like Some Sing, Some Cry by sisters Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza. The story traces the saga of a newly emancipated African-American matriarch and her family, from Reconstruction through to modern day. Another sister scribe duo is Liv Constantine (the pen name for Lynne and Valerie Constantine) The Last Mrs. Parrish, a psychological thriller, which has been described as "The Talented Mr. Ripley with XX chromosomes." And brother and sister team, Daniel Nayeri and Dina Nayeri, joined forces to pen their YA fantasy series, Another.

A Labor of Love

There are quite a few examples of married couples who share the added bond of being writing partners. Here are some of the standouts:

• Renee Patrick is the pen name for Rosemarie and Vince Keenan, authors of historical murder mysteries like Design for Dying.
• Nicci French is the couple, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write popular thrillers like Blue Monday, the first in a series.
• Judith Michael, AKA Judith Barnard and Michael Fain, write racy romance novels like Deceptions.
• Lars Kepler, a Swedish married couple, Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho, who team up for riveting crime thrillers like The Hypnotist.

Genre Power Couples

This is where two bestselling authors from a specific genre put their heads together for the literary equivalent of a supergroup. Get ready for greatness!

• Fantasy superstars Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett expanded their horizons with Good Omens, a wild ride of a story about an angel and demon who join forces to try and stop the end of the world.
• Friends and fellow fantasy authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl teamed up to write YA fantasy Beautiful Creatures, the first in their Caster Chronicles following sixteen-year-old Ethan and the magical girl he falls in love with.
• When Stephen King collaborated in the early '80s with Peter Straub to write The Talisman, they were both top-selling horror authors. The popular tale of a boy braving a parallel world to save his dying mother generated a sequel.
• Young adult writers Rachel Cohn and David Levithan brought the yin and the yang to their romantic comedy series, starting with Dash & Lily's Book of Dares about a sixteen-year-old girl who gets creative to find her dream guy.

It just goes to show you: writing doesn't have to be a solitary activity. By combining their literary talents, these author duos build on each other's strengths and experience to create something entirely new. The more the merrier!

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon