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

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

And I'm maybe kinda putting out feelers to the hard-core flisters here about collaborating with me on something.

If it contains 1) Lorne 2) Dirty, smutty sex (as opposed to that completely unsmutty sex?), 3) Lorne + awesome skills 4) wacky offworld adventures 5) spanking, 6) in space!, I'm totally in ;)

(Okay, not with the spanking)

(probably)

ANYWAY. I've only co-written a couple of fandom things. One was a story, and I had a great time. We alternated scenes and POVs, and it was fun and challenging. We mapped out where we wanted to go first, and then had a series of back-and-forth conversations about details of scenes as we wrote them and sent drafts to each other. The other was Merc Talk, that 'magazine' that I co-wrote with ozsaur, and we basically did a brainstorm thing about articles to write, and then wrote them and edited them for each other. In both cases, I think it was important to have a mutual sense of where we wanted to go.

I've written some non-fiction things with another person, and the same thing goes. We did brainstorm about how to approach the writing, with a sense of our endpoint (although that did evolve as we were writing), and then split the writing according to our skills/preferences. And then there were many drafts sent back and forth with edits and questions and so on. It was very enjoyable!

the hard-core flisters

Well listen, you know I'm just not comfortable with that scene, OMG.

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, and I completely forgot about co-writing LantisJournal (baby! I'm so sorry! You know I love you). Mostly we were just entertaining ourselves with that one, and then mklutz decided to make a webpage, and we kept writing more, and cursing LJ downtime, but also loving it at the same time. It was just off-the-cuff wacky fun!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I thought you invented hard core flisting. LOL

I outlined the project upthread in a comment to thelastgoodname. I see no reason why this story couldn't be about Lorne. Or anybody else on Atlantis LOL which is part of the problem. I've no plot.

PS I love Merc Talk. Cracks me up.

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

thought you invented hard core flisting.

Stop listening to these things Phil tells you, omg!

I outlined the project upthread in a commen

Dang! An SPN crossover! I can't do that :(

I love Merc Talk. Cracks me up.

Hee! Yay! Thank you! We had a lot of fun doing it!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh, phooey. Why don't all my online friends share my exact same interests!!!!!!! LOL

Actually, I think I've gotten over my writer's block for this story so yay! Or at least I've written some more. I still have no plot. LOL

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I still have no plot

You say that as if it were a BAD thing.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

LOL

I am rather fond of stories where nothing much happens.

*muses*

Maybe I should just embrace the lack of plot.