Successful Co-Writing: the Who with the What Now?

[lunabee34]

I've been wondering for some time now how those of you who co-author fics negotiate doing so. It seems to me that writing with another person is potentially an incredibly rewarding experience but also one that can be fraught with tension. The only time I attempted to co-write a fic was roughly two years ago, and while the experience was very positive and a lot of fun, the fic was ultimately abandoned when we both had different visions for the project.

In the interest of full disclosure, my musing is prompted by an unfinished fic currently sitting on my hard drive. I'd love for someone to write it with me, but I'm unsure how the actual writing would proceed. Does one person do most of the actual writing, while the second person contributes heavily in the outlining, plotting, and revision/expansion stages (which seems the most workable model to me)? Do both people write equally, maybe taking turns every page or so (which seems much more difficult to me as even two very good writers will differ in terms of style)?

If you have written with another person and feel that the experience was a positive one, please share with me your tips on co-writing. And I'm maybe kinda putting out feelers to the hard-core flisters here about collaborating with me on something. Maybe. LOL

Comments

Re: on teamwork...

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

This is such good advice. I've used Google docs before in a professional setting; I don't know why it didn't occur to me that the program is ideal for this situation as well.

And I also hadn't thought about setting boundaries with editing--whether your partner will require that you show your work or simply trust your edits.

The more that everyone comments, the more I become convinced that collaborating is an amazing experience that is A LOT of work to get right. LOL

Re: on teamwork...

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

collaborating is an amazing experience that is A LOT of work to get right.

absolutely. It's wonderful when it works right, but it's too easy to hurt someone's feelings or make them feel slighted or just dissatisfied. And that's the last thing you want, isn't it?

I'm lucky that Leah's extraordinarily thoughtful and gracious, but not everyone has that mode as their default setting, so it's probably a good idea to agree on boundaries and how you and your partner would be comfortable working together. Then you can relax and have fun writing cool fic together!

Re: on teamwork...

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

*nods*

And you're not the only lucky one. We all get to benefit from how well the two of you work together. :)