One may wonder why team writing endeavors are undertaken. It seems contrary to the benefit of being an independent author and presenting a unique book without suffering the influence of others. However, there are various benefits that can be found in collaboration fiction. Sharing creative control almost harks back to oral tradition where individuals all contributed to stories.
There are many different reasons for collaborating when writing. Writing groups often write stories collaboratively to help develop the skills of individuals. Academics often collaborate when writing articles. Experienced authors may come up with ideas that they feel would work best when collaborating with other published authors and these books are available for purchase, many of them from online outlets.
As with any other endeavor requiring co-operation between people, writing in this way offers both benefits and challenges. It means that there is an inbuilt editorial process going on as the work proceeds. Each author helps to encourage, support and challenge the other. This can help to stimulate the speed of production and increase motivation.
It is often difficult when combining the output of several people to produce a coherent, consistent story. In order to do this, it is important for each individual to have a specific role, know what this is and rely on others to perform their roles too. Each author will often have different talents and recognizing and utilizing this is one of the best ways to produce a good end product. For example, one may push the story forward and another work on developing dialogue and settings.
The division of work is done differently in each case. Some collaborations are looser than others with no plot outline from the beginning and authors contributing randomly, as and when they can. Others are very structured with the basic plot being brainstormed at the beginning and each author knowing exactly what they are responsible for, whether it be developing a certain character or writing specific chapters. Sometimes each author will write sub-plots and they will only be interwoven at the end.
Various problems can arise when a group of authors collaborate on a story. One person may feel that the workload has not been evenly distributed or that his or her suggestions are consistently ignored. Another may want to take over and tell everyone else what to do. A clash of egos can result in disaster.
There have been projects attempted online where any visitors to a site can contribute to a story. Attempts like this push the boundaries of publishing but the results have often been spectacularly bad. Other forms of this type of fiction have emerged from the world of game playing, particularly role-playing games. In these games characters interact and narratives can be generated as a result.
Collaborative works have the advantage of the experience of all the voices involved. They can also suffer from the fact that more than one person is involved, particularly if there is no creative synergy, trust and respect. The best of these works are very good, offering the richness of many voices.
There are many different reasons for collaborating when writing. Writing groups often write stories collaboratively to help develop the skills of individuals. Academics often collaborate when writing articles. Experienced authors may come up with ideas that they feel would work best when collaborating with other published authors and these books are available for purchase, many of them from online outlets.
As with any other endeavor requiring co-operation between people, writing in this way offers both benefits and challenges. It means that there is an inbuilt editorial process going on as the work proceeds. Each author helps to encourage, support and challenge the other. This can help to stimulate the speed of production and increase motivation.
It is often difficult when combining the output of several people to produce a coherent, consistent story. In order to do this, it is important for each individual to have a specific role, know what this is and rely on others to perform their roles too. Each author will often have different talents and recognizing and utilizing this is one of the best ways to produce a good end product. For example, one may push the story forward and another work on developing dialogue and settings.
The division of work is done differently in each case. Some collaborations are looser than others with no plot outline from the beginning and authors contributing randomly, as and when they can. Others are very structured with the basic plot being brainstormed at the beginning and each author knowing exactly what they are responsible for, whether it be developing a certain character or writing specific chapters. Sometimes each author will write sub-plots and they will only be interwoven at the end.
Various problems can arise when a group of authors collaborate on a story. One person may feel that the workload has not been evenly distributed or that his or her suggestions are consistently ignored. Another may want to take over and tell everyone else what to do. A clash of egos can result in disaster.
There have been projects attempted online where any visitors to a site can contribute to a story. Attempts like this push the boundaries of publishing but the results have often been spectacularly bad. Other forms of this type of fiction have emerged from the world of game playing, particularly role-playing games. In these games characters interact and narratives can be generated as a result.
Collaborative works have the advantage of the experience of all the voices involved. They can also suffer from the fact that more than one person is involved, particularly if there is no creative synergy, trust and respect. The best of these works are very good, offering the richness of many voices.
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