Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Collaboration

This is topic Collaboration in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

Do you think it's possible to collaborate with someone on a novel over long distances? Have you ever collaborated with someone over short distances? I tried that once and found it extremely difficult, since we both had very different interests in the novel (which made the partnership doomed to fail, I suppose) and very different ideas.

In any case, I'm interested in hearing about how others deal with such issues.

Chris

Posted by Goober (Member # 506) on :

I have tried to partnet to write a "novel" or some form of story, but we never did anything. I think our views endup up being too different anywas.

In my Composition class last semester, however, we were required to do at least one collaborative piece, and me and 2 partners ended up figuring out characters, a plot, and actually ended up with a solid story when we handed it in. You could tell what person contributed what to the story, and where it overlapped.

It worked well as we each had our own interests in writing the story (which ended up being really short, a few page long short story really). I feel I am good with setting up scenes, while one member was good with dialog, and another was really into making up different characters. Combining our skills, it turned out really well. I have this drive to sort of "tie things together and clean up loose ends" that made all the character and dialog discions come together, but everything came from such distinct writing styles that it still ended up feeling really collaborative. It wasnt too bad.

Anyways, over long distances, I think it IS possible if you have good two way communication. I dont know if it would be better for one person to write while both partnets phone in their ideas, or if you could do some kind of "email a blurb, have the other person edit and add to it, then send it back etc".

There are many ways to collaborte, but it is very possible and can yield results neither person could come up with individually.

Of course, I think it can also crash and burn but hey, lets think positive.

To Edit: I must also say, I hope your partner is open to critique. If they are very "no, this is how MY part of the story will be", its going to end badly. Both people must listen, have input, and go ahead and say when someone else's idea sucks and just wont work. If someone thinks your good idea sucks, you must be able to explain to them why it is good.

The method I would use, personally, would likely be for us both to come up with the characters and story, and have one of us do a bulk of writing, and give it to the other person. I would then look over his/her stuff, and give feedback on the story. Then I would also do an edit-draft where I would go in and tweak things maybe.

I must say, I also have a very slow pace about writing, and I am not against changing things VERY drastically from one draft to another, so I take alot of time with my choices, and try alot of things before I find something that works.

The best advice, I think, is to find someone whose writing style compliments yours, and go from there. Do whatever feels right, I guess.

[This message has been edited by Goober (edited August 13, 2003).]

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

To the extent that collaboration is possible in the first place, I don't see that long distance will cause huge problems, not with technology opening things the way it is. Just be prepared to spend hours own the phone. (Find a really good long distance rate.)

Now, on to the possibility of collaboration. The simple answer is that iu's obviously possible because iut;s been done before, even in published works. Goober gave a good example of a situation in which it did work. Everyone brought different talents to the table and I suppose the group dynamics must have worked well.

I, personally, could not collaborate on something. I need to be in charge and it has to be my way. Even when I've done collaborative writing in school I either end up writing the whole thing or letting someone else write the whole thing (usually the former, but there are stronger leader types out there than me).

I guess my point is that group/team dyanmics and personality types will play a huge role in the success of your project. It's not just a matter of not working well with groups, either, because I work fine with groups until you get me around to something like writing which I care too much about. Besides, writing is an inherently solitary task.

I'm spending a lot of space just saying it depends, aren't I? Well, it does, it depends on whether or not you and your potential team can work together.

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

In the afterword to 1633, which was co-written by Eric Flint and Devid Weber, Flint says:

quote:
It is one of the pieces of accepted wisdom in fiction writing that stories written in collaboration are almost invariably weaker than stories written by authors working alone. Since I enjoy sticking my thumb in the eye of accepted wisdom, I like to think I've done it again with this book—as well as a number of others I've written in collaboration with several different authors.
I've never really understood the logic of this piece of "wisdom," beyond the obvious technical reality: until the advent of computer word-processing and online communication, collaboration between authors was simply very difficult. I can remember the days when I used to write on a typewriter, and had to spend as much time painfully retyping entire manuscripts just to incorporate a few small changes in the text, as I did writing the story in the first place. (And I'll leave aside the joys of using carbon paper and white-out.) Working under those circumstances is trying enough for an author working alone. Adding a collaborator increases the problems by an order of magnitude.
... Modern technology, however, eliminates all the practical problems involved with collaborative writing. Thus, to use this book as an example, once Dave and I had settled on a detailed plot outline, we were each able to write our respective chapters, swap them back and forth in emails, cross-edit and add new material, rewrite—whatever was needed—just about as easily as a single author would manage his own rewriting and editing.

He goes on to explain that collaborative writing is a skill. He sees three keys to successful collaborative writing;

1. The author must want to do it. (If you don't want to collaborate, don't.)
2. Pick the right partner. (On personal level, you get along. On professional level, your strengths match up against partner's weaknesses, and vice versa.)
3. Pick the right story. (Close, very personal stories probably won't work. Wide, sprawling epics with multiple viewpoints probably will.)

[This message has been edited by EricJamesStone (edited August 13, 2003).]

Posted by mags (Member # 1570) on :

I think it was christine (I can't see the post as I'm writing this) who made the point that sometimes you can see who wrote what part.

I think that sometimes it is true, even with work that hits the shelves by "famous" partners. And sometimes you can't... I just found out that Mercedes Lackey (I believe) is part of a team, and I don't recall seeing that in her books. - so maybe I hadn't read any that were colaborations.

something to keep in mind also, as others have touched on, is what is your goal for a collab? If it is to make your story stronger because although you do great story ideas, you have problems fleshing out. Then finding someone who loves to flesh stuff out is the way to go, not finding someone who also has great story ideas with the same weakness as you. - if all you are looking for is someone to go after you and fix your grammar, then I would suggest a different path... like a script doctor or some other professional who will help to clean up your manuscript.

Posted by Alias (Member # 1645) on :

I am co-authoring a novel with my cousin at present, who lives about six hours drive away. The telephone and e-mail sove the problem of communication and the two of us have had great success. There have been disputes but compromise is often the key, we mutually decided before hand the better idea would win out. It's just a matter of looking past our own biases toward our own writing and take in each thought independently. Also it is an awkward balance that allows it to survive but i cannot explain it now because I have to run, sorry.