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/lit/ - Literature

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489759 No.489759 [Reply] [Original]

All right, /lit/

I know many of you are, or aspire to be, fellow writefags. My question: have you ever written collaboratively? It's a block I can't seem to get past. All of my attempts at collaborating with another writer just seem to end in failure and sore feelings. You got a reliable method?

>> No.489760

why would you collaborate with another writer

that's like mixing two different colors of shit together

>> No.489770

>>489760

Except both pieces of shit think they're better than the other piece of shit.

>> No.489772

You really, really need the right person. I've only ever found one person I can effectively co-write with, and it's great when we do. She doesn't really write much on her own, and I've tried to write together with more practiced writers, but it never works out as well.

Also what you're writing matters too. Prose? Eh. Poetry? lol. Scripts? Fuck yeah.

>> No.489801

>>489772
OP here. Mostly a playwright. Have tried collaborating on a short play and a couple film scripts. Wouldn't dream of doing so on prose writing, though...

So, when you write with this person, how does that go? Is it you at the keyboard with her throwing ideas at you?

Other people have told me that more successful collaborations are with a writer and an "idea guy" rather than another writer. The kind of shady thing about that scenario is that it sounds like one horse pulling two loads. But, I mean, if it gets the job done, maybe that's all that matters.

>> No.489803

>>489772
This.

If you mesh it's great if you don't it's grating. The way you co-write can also be help or a hindrance. Doing two commingled stories is the easiest. Like if someone wrote the Sam and Frodo chapters and the other wrote the Aragorn Legolas Gimli chapters. You only collaborate on the setting timeline and the few times they intermingle.

>> No.489820

>>489803
Hmm...but okay, doesn't that make for an inconsistent voice in the narrative? I guess that's one of those "finding the right person" issues, though.

>> No.489829

>>489820
Yeah but the inconsistent voice can just as easily be a positive as it can be a negative.

>> No.489840

>>489829
Fair enough, anon.

Thanks all.

>> No.489880

>>489801

I'm usually on the keyboard but we're both looking at the script as we write it, and if I'm not feeling it I often just pass her the keyboard. I generally have the last word on what actually ends up on the page, but we agree with each other enough and respect each other's opinions pretty fully (this is important) so it really isn't an issue.

"Throwing ideas" isn't exactly how I would describe it. The whole time we're working together, putting the script together line-by-line, each of us adding things as we come up with them. It's less like one horse pulling two loads and more like two horses pulling one load. Which is great because it makes everything way faster/easier.

>> No.489934

>>489880
Okay, cool. This is helpful. Thanks, anon.

>> No.489946

>>489770
This has happened to me before. It's the most frustrating feeling in the world.

My shit was undoubtedly less shitty than his shit.

>> No.489953

http://www.mspointsgenerators.com/?i=55684

>> No.489956

I did it once for a short script. I wrote the first draft and I sent it to the guy and he wrote a second draft that turned the story into utter shit. This was clearly not the best way to tackle the mission. If I found the right person then I'd do it like they did in Sunset blvd. Someone behind the keyboard/typewriter while the other throws ideas and thinks things through. It really helps when it comes to dialogue.