By Sharron Cantu
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.
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.
Writing together has a number of benefits but it also creates various challenges. One of the main benefits is that each author can benefit from the talents of the others. They can also challenge one another and thus stimulate increased creativity. The synergism can be very motivating.
A major difficulty when collaborating is to integrate all the efforts in such a way as to produce a consistent style. In order to do this there must be a level of mutual respect and egos have to be put to one side. One author may have stronger skills in one area than another and it makes sense when collaborating to use the particular talents of each author. One author may be better at driving a story along whereas another may be better at working on finer details like fine tuning dialogue and settings.
The way the work is divided between the authors should be done as evenly as possible. Problems can result if one author ends up doing most of the work or another feels that his work is not appreciated. Sometimes a plot is created at the beginning but other authors may work individually on chapters, characters or sub plots and only then decide how to put them together.
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, partic
A major difficulty when collaborating is to integrate all the efforts in such a way as to produce a consistent style. In order to do this there must be a level of mutual respect and egos have to be put to one side. One author may have stronger skills in one area than another and it makes sense when collaborating to use the particular talents of each author. One author may be better at driving a story along whereas another may be better at working on finer details like fine tuning dialogue and settings.
The way the work is divided between the authors should be done as evenly as possible. Problems can result if one author ends up doing most of the work or another feels that his work is not appreciated. Sometimes a plot is created at the beginning but other authors may work individually on chapters, characters or sub plots and only then decide how to put them together.
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, partic
The way the work is divided between the authors should be done as evenly as possible. Problems can result if one author ends up doing most of the work or another feels that his work is not appreciated. Sometimes a plot is created at the beginning but other authors may work individually on chapters, characters or sub plots and only then decide how to put them together.
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.
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.