Forum: Author Hangout

Offer to collaborate with another Author (back and forth -take turns)

Eddie Davidson 🚫

I'd be excited to do a back and forth short to medium length story project with another author.

If you are familiar with my writing and enjoy it - and either an author or thinking about being one please send me feedback on here. We can pass back and forth a few ideas for a premise.

I am a big fan of "fan fiction" based on celebrities or TV shows. I've had one based on Tik Tok star that is either Naked in School or just an angry father or repressed mom who wants to teach her a lesson about flaunting her body on TikTok.

I've also had an idea where the wife wakes up after a bachelorette party in bed with a stranger, with a tattoo of the word "SLUT" and the letters end with the ace of spades. She has no idea how she came to get it - but now has to return home to her husband.

How it might work is once we both pass a few ideas like that back and forth and agree on the main characters/setting one of us writes a chapter. Then round robin the next author takes a turn and maybe takes it down a different (but plausible) path than we might have.

The challenge is taking turns crafting it into a workable story with a single polished voice.

I will warn you that I have no editor but I do the best I can to polish my stories before I publish them. I still make my fair share of mistakes.

If this is something you'd like to at least try - please hit me up.

Vincent Berg 🚫
Updated:

The vital element in such collaborations, is knowing (in advance) that you both have similar writing styles. There's nothing productive in one author taking the story in an entirely unexpected direction (aka. surprise twists), that preempt everything their collaborative partners have been patiently planning for. (That's typically a well-planned plot vs a fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants improvisor.)

Thus, ALL collaborations should be between two authors who mutually respect each other's work. What's more, rather than merely alternating chapters, such collaborations work best when each author specializes in their strengths (ex: one focuses on dialogue, the other on descriptions, or in specialized cases, you have a male author for fight scenes, and a female writer to handle female POV). That way, they help build and develop each other's natural talents, producing a better complete story. I've often wished I had other authors I could rely on to write specific POV characters (ex: Southerns, specific nationalities or children's vs. adult dialogue), as those are a few of my weak points as an author (individual character POV dialogue).

I suspect that your 'alternating chapters' is likely to permanently end promising author collaborations, unless precautions are set up in advance (hence the "pre-").

Replies: Eddie Davidson

Eddie Davidson 🚫

@Vincent Berg

I don't know why it would ever end anybody's aspirations to be a writer

Just looking for a collaboration partner

Replies: bk69 Vincent Berg

bk69 🚫

@Eddie Davidson

I think you missed what he was trying to say.

If you limited yourself to improv-style writers, the type of collaboration you suggest could work. However, many writers prefer to know what all the major plot arcs are going to be, what the ending is going to be and how the story is going to get there. Now, most will be willing to handle some unexpected turn (or inspiration) when some character refuses to act out of character just to advance the plot the way the author planned...but even so, a free-form back-and-forth collab style would never work for them.

So what he was saying was by limiting HOW you want to collaborate, you're limiting WHO you can collaborate with.

Now, if you're interested in knowing how to collaborate with a 'planning' style writer, several people could explain that.

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Eddie Davidson

I don't know why it would ever end anybody's aspirations to be a writer

It wouldn't, but it's a sensible precaution when approaching collaboration. You need to understand and appreciate writing differences before planning a collaboration. You can do that before or after you pick someone to collaborate with, but ignoring it entirely is only a recipe for disaster.

I've just heard too many disaster stories about collaborations that went horribly wrong.

Eddie Davidson 🚫

Nope, I'm just looking for someone who wants a creative exercise to write a short to medium story.

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Eddie Davidson

Nope, I'm just looking for someone who wants a creative exercise to write a short to medium story.

That's fine, as you'll never find anyone if you don't ask. But if I were you, I'd thoroughly vet anyone who volunteers, as spoiling a collaborator's plans will establish a lifeline foe! Just make sure you're both thinking along similar lines.

Replies: Eddie Davidson

Eddie Davidson 🚫

@Vincent Berg

They key is to divorce yourself of concern for the story.

As long as it is relatively plausible, you need to roll with it.

I actually found a collaborator and we are on the fourth round so far.

He took the story down a totally different direction than I would have. At first, my instinct was to say "Ooh, but it would have been more satisfying IF..."

But rolling with the difference is exactly what makes me a better writer and gets me out of reliance on old habits and styles. As long as it is PLAUSIBLE - and that's probably where a difference of opinion could exist. I think if there is a reasonable doubt that "Yes, that could happen" we should let it lie and just keep on writing.

I am excited to start posting it up. We've finished what feels like the first actual chapter. We've been taking turns doing about five pages each.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Offer to collaborate with another Author (back and forth -take turns)

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