How to Co-Write a Story Online

Step 1: Decide How You'll Take Turns

Before anyone writes a word, agree on the shape of the collaboration. Most online co-writing uses one of three patterns:

• Strict turns — writers go in a fixed order. Fair and predictable, but the story stalls whenever one person is busy.
• Open relay — whoever is ready writes next. Stories move fast and pass through many voices.
• Planned co-authoring — outline together, then split scenes or chapters. Best for long, plotted fiction between two or three people who know each other.

If you're new to co-writing, start with short turns — one paragraph each. It keeps the stakes low and the story moving. (For the bigger picture, see our guide to collaborative story writing.)

Step 2: Choose Where to Write

Step 3: Write an Opening Other People Want to Continue

• Start in motion. Drop the reader into a moment — a knock at the door, a message that shouldn't exist — rather than a paragraph of backstory.
• Name one character and give them a problem. That's the thread every other writer will pull on.
• Leave doors open. Hint at more than you explain; the next writer gets to decide what the strange light in the window was.
• Set the tone with the genre. A horror opening and a comedy opening should feel different from the first sentence.

Step 4: Take Your Turn Well

1. Read the whole story so far — not just the last paragraph.
2. Keep names, places, and facts consistent with what's already there.
3. Move the story forward: add an event, a decision, or a reveal — not just description.
4. Match the tense and point of view the story is already using.
5. End on a hook that gives the next writer a clear choice to make.

Step 5: Finish the Story

Most online co-writing projects die unfinished. Decide in advance how long the story will be and who writes the last part. On TaleUs, every story has a set number of paragraphs, and whoever starts it chooses whether the final paragraph comes from the last writer or from an AI narrator — so every story gets an ending.

Co-Writing a Story on TaleUs

1. [Create a free account](/signup) with your email or Google.
2. Start a story — choose one of nine genres, give it a title, and write the opening paragraph. Stuck? TaleUs can suggest a title and three different openings for you to pick from or rewrite.
3. Invite someone by email to write the next part, or let any TaleUs writer pick it up.
4. Add your paragraph to any open story. Each paragraph can be up to 2,000 characters, and TaleUs can suggest three possible continuations if you want a starting point.
5. Read the finished story with its generated cover art and audio narration, and react to your favourite endings.