cowrote

Cowrote is the past tense of co-write, meaning to write something jointly with one or more people. The term is used across fields such as literature, journalism, music, and film to indicate shared authorship of a work, including articles, books, screenplays, songs, and scripts.

Form and usage vary by style guide and context. The base verb is co-write; past tense can appear as co-wrote or cowrote, with cowrote being a common closed form in modern usage. Some writers prefer hyphenation (co-wrote) in certain publications.

Authorship and credit: Cowriting implies substantive contribution from all named writers. In published works, credits may list multiple authors or contributors and define their roles. In music, songwriting credits determine royalties and publishing rights. Ghostwriting, by contrast, involves an author who remains uncredited.

Examples illustrate the range of contexts: a novelist may cowrite a mystery with a colleague, two journalists may cowrite an investigative article, or two songwriters may cowrite a hit. The term emphasizes collaborative creation rather than solitary authorship.

See also coauthor, collaboration, joint authorship, and co-writing.