Never Write Alone
Written by James
July 15, 2008
Plenty of writers enjoy their fiction. They write for fun. They write for themselves. Collaborative writing? Sure, they’ve heard of some authors who pair up, like David and Leigh Eddings or Anne Rice and her husband.
But the majority of writers never collaborate – and that’s a shame.
At Bob Younce’s blog, the Writer’s Journey, he recently discussed writing for fun. Keep in mind that Bob (and we) write for a living. Words are our lives, day in, day out. We’re paid to write, we write for free, we work in writing and we write on the side.
We write for fun, too, Harry and I. We wrote a novel together. It was a great experience. But even greater than that experience are the moments we collaborate in a group environment.
It’s exciting. You never know what’s coming. It’s fun! You’re amongst friends. It’s helpful, because you get instant feedback. It’s educational, because you can watch others and learn from the way they write a brilliant description or some captivating dialogue.
Whipping out 6,000 words in a day becomes absolutely nothing. The love for writing buoys each person as they frantically type as fast as they can. Then they sit and wait anxiously for the next player to write.
It’s a frenzy sometimes. No one can post fast enough. No one can wait. Everyone’s excited and sharing in the story. That – right there, that sharing – is what makes collaboration one of the best experiences you’ll ever have.
Integrating with Other Writers
Shy? Have trouble with groups? Collaborative writing is perfect. You don’t need to be yourself. You don’t have to talk to anyone. You can happily write from the perspective of someone that isn’t you – someone bolder, more confident and outgoing. Anonymity can allow writers to come out of their shell to create fantastic stories.
Difficulties integrating into a tight-knit group? You’re only hurting yourself by assuming you wouldn’t be welcomed. Most gamers are extremely excited to welcome new writers into the group – hey, the more the merrier, right?
What about feeling not good enough? It’s easy to look at other people’s work and immediately think, “They’re better than I am.” But if you asked these writers if you could see their earlier work, you’d be stunned. And they’d be the ones who feel shy.
You see, collaborative writing improves skills quickly, easily and in an amazing environment. Within just a few short weeks, many writers go from barely passing fair to rocking scenes left, right and center.
It’s incredible what you can learn when you’re having fun.
So go ahead. Write for pleasure, but do it with someone else. A love for words, for fantasy or for fiction is something too good to keep to yourself. Take a deep breath, ask someone to write with you and start enjoying your passion at its maximum potential.
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I have to admit this is something I never thought of doing. It would be an interesting experience. But don’t you need someone at least a little in tune with what you want the story to be like to write with them?
Diane’s last blog post..My Thoughts on the movie The Other Boleyn Girl
Ahh, but if you already know exactly what’s going to happen in the story, how can you experience the richness of the story itself as it unfolds?
Sure, it’s important to say, “My character is going to the park. When he gets there, he’s going to ask the girl to marry him.” Great stuff.
But what happens if the other character divulges a deep secret that spins the whole story into something so emotionally tangible that it becomes compelling for everyone? Sure, the guy will ask the girl to marry him eventually - but now there’s a huge wealth of exciting scenes and drama to tap into.
With more than one player, you can achieve very vivid, emotional scenes, and it’s far more rare for writers to achieve alone. What do you think?
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..When You Lose a Different Kind of Everything
Diane,
I write with James at ER and I have to tell you it is thrilling NOT to know what is going to happen. Fun, scary, exciting….each day is different and there you are wondering what is going to happen next. It is like you fell into a book and you can’t wait to turn the page.
It wouldn’t be polite, so we don’t do it, but you want to IM the next person and say “Hurry, write…I can’t WAIT to see what is going to happen next!!!” so you keep running back to the screen refreshing the page to see if there is anything new.
Terribly addicting, but more fun then you can imagine.
He is right about the rapid writing growth too.
Wendi Kelly’s last blog post..Finding Friends
Diane - Like Wendi said, it’s more fun not knowing what’s going to happen. It’s almost like living the story through your character, but having the knowledge of everything that happens in the story, not just what your character sees.
So you *could* make plans for your character to ask another character out or something like that, but just like in real life, it’s all too easy for someone else to throw a wrench in your plans.
The potential for improvement in this environment? Amazing. Really, just amazing. Before ER, I was not a writer. No sirree, not me at all. I was completely uncomfortable writing in the scenes, because I felt like I was the worst writer there. Now, I’m comfortable writing in a scene with almost any of the other players, and I’ve even had people comment on how much my writing on my blog has improved.
For that, I thank you, Harry and James. I wouldn’t have been able to do something like this without the two of you.
Allison’s last blog post..Bulgogi Roll
I need to find a group or some partners to do this with. I can picture how useful writing together could be with the right people. Now, to find the right people.
Steve Olson’s last blog post..Ergotron - Ergonomic Wellness Through Innovation
@ Steve - We offer this at Escaping Reality. The link is in the main navigation at the top of this page. Cheers!
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..When You Lose a Different Kind of Everything
@Wendi & @Allison One Pen Man is wriggling in his seat and the other is grinning like the Cheshire cat right about now. I wonder if this flattery ever gets old.
“It is like you fell into a book and you can’t wait to turn the page.” -Wendi
“It’s almost like living the story through your character, but having the knowledge of everything that happens in the story, not just what your character sees.” - Allison
Those are perfect descriptions! Have you two been practicing your descriptive writing?
Seriously, I can see serious improvements in every’s writing at ER. Some of us started out writing good descriptions but crap dialog or vice versa. Now everyone is so much more well rounded, and it’s only been what, six or seven weeks?
I also think writing with other people and not knowing what’s going to happen next, keeps me interested. I have a pretty low boredom threshold, and I’ve never come close to being bored yet on ER. AND, I think it’s actually helping to improve my goldfish memory, because I want to remember ever little detail of every scene so I can use those somewhere down the line.
Nicole’s last blog post..What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Meeeow… *grin*
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..When You Lose a Different Kind of Everything
Alas, nothing seems to help with my typing skills.
Nicole’s last blog post..What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Thanks for the link, James.
Everything you said here is rock solid. My own attempt at a novel was… well…. let’s just say it was (and is) slow going. Escaping Reality is a wonderful outlet for those creative juices, and has actually helped me get going again on my novel some, too.
Now, I’ll say this, just to knock the Pen Men down a peg…
They’re vicious bastards once they get going. Not personally, but in-story. Vicious and conniving.
Then again, that may be more a compliment than it sounds.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..Tools of the Trade
Muahahahah!
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..When You Lose a Different Kind of Everything
@Bob (not) Yeah, because JP doesn’t dive right into the middle chaos or anything. Y’all are hilarious.
Nicole’s last blog post..What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
I agree with wanting to work with people. I’ve been running the same game for the last three years, and I’ve found that the best ideas I’ve had and the best plot twists and character developments I’d come up with were when I was working with an assistant or teaming up with one of the players outside of the campaign–and that’s before we get into the players’ ability to mess with things further! The other way… there’s a company I work with, or at least it’s working on that part and we’re trying to get it ready, but I don’t think we’ve got a system in place yet, so it isn’t as much a give and take as a put something forward and wait a few days, if that. It’s a bit depressing.
Ravyn’s last blog post..Introducing the Current
James:
I’ve just put a post on the Forward Motion Writers forum about this site ( http://www.fmwriters.com ) and after poking around I’ll likely get involved myself. I just finished a major edit of a novel and need something fun to do for a bit.
Cheers,
Alex
Alex Fayle’s last blog post..Pause and Reflect
Rock on, Alex. Do me a favor and copy/paste your post here? FMW seems to be locked down for viewing.
And hey, we’d be happy to have you play.
Your novel, btw? What kind of writing?
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..How to Outsource Your Life to the Right People
@ James:
Here’s the post…
As for the novel - it’s a YA paranormal romance written in blog format about a girl who’s been cursed with a boring life so ends up with a fairy life-coach (godmothers are so last millennium) who throws her into the world of celebrity blogging.
Cheers,
Alex
Alex Fayle’s last blog post..The Return of the Victim
So never write alone. Not a problem so far, since I’ve never really written anywhere but ER. Of course sometimes you have to write alone, or want to, and I’ve been playing with that idea. I’ve started writing, and now apparently I’ve caught the bug and want to branch out. I want to spread my wings and see if I’m able to fly or if gravity will get the best of me.
Granted, I haven’t tried yet, but now I’m wondering if I’ve been ruined for writing alone. I really thrive on the anticipation of what the other people in my scene will write next. What gauntlet are they going throw down? What difficult question will I have to answer or dodge? What random happening is going to affect what I write next? That won’t happen if I write by myself, and I’m not sure it will be enough to hold my attention.
Nicole’s last blog post..What would you do?
You can have that same spontaneity when you write alone. Perhaps not as exciting, but yes, it does happen. When you write for writing’s sake and let your characters lead you, all sorts of unexpected things happen. I often sit down and write what my character is doing just for the hell of it. I’m always a little amazed at where he brings me.
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..Men with Pens Moves Up a Notch with Google
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