Most authors do not even consider the possibility of working together with other authors. They see this as being contradictory to being able to express their own vision. However, there are those that have produced collaboration fiction with great success. Where control has been shared successfully, the result can have a richness of many voices and sometimes surpass the efforts of each author working individually.
Collaborative works are produced for a number of different reasons. They can be attempted as an educational exercise thus helping all the participants to develop their writing skills. Writing groups often produce such stories. It is also done for commercial purposes where experienced authors decide to work together for various reasons.
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.
One of the difficulties of working in this way is to achieve a consistency of style. A trust and mutual respect needs to exist between authors to make working in this way possible. Each author needs to give up total control and rely on the skills of others. If there is a mutual respect, the particular skills of each author can be utilized. One may be better at driving the script forward and another at providing shape and form to the text, settings and dialogue.
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.
When this type of work is attempted, problems can easily arise as is the case with any act of collaboration. One author may be too domineering and another may not contribute enough. One may feel as though he is doing too much of the work and another may feel he is not doing enough. This is where communication becomes vital for success of the project.
The world of gaming has resulted in some collaborative writing. This is probably due to the role-playing nature of many of these games where characters constantly interact with one another. Other attempts in collaborative storytelling have been done at online websites where a story is begun and then driven forward by visitors to the site.
Works produced in such a way where each author has relinquished total control have the potential of being better than what can be produced by each individual. On the other hand, there is also the possibility that the final effect is inconsistent and unsatisfying to read. Like any other type of fiction, there is a place for it and the best attempts are rich, creative examples of what is created when authors work together.
Collaborative works are produced for a number of different reasons. They can be attempted as an educational exercise thus helping all the participants to develop their writing skills. Writing groups often produce such stories. It is also done for commercial purposes where experienced authors decide to work together for various reasons.
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.
One of the difficulties of working in this way is to achieve a consistency of style. A trust and mutual respect needs to exist between authors to make working in this way possible. Each author needs to give up total control and rely on the skills of others. If there is a mutual respect, the particular skills of each author can be utilized. One may be better at driving the script forward and another at providing shape and form to the text, settings and dialogue.
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.
When this type of work is attempted, problems can easily arise as is the case with any act of collaboration. One author may be too domineering and another may not contribute enough. One may feel as though he is doing too much of the work and another may feel he is not doing enough. This is where communication becomes vital for success of the project.
The world of gaming has resulted in some collaborative writing. This is probably due to the role-playing nature of many of these games where characters constantly interact with one another. Other attempts in collaborative storytelling have been done at online websites where a story is begun and then driven forward by visitors to the site.
Works produced in such a way where each author has relinquished total control have the potential of being better than what can be produced by each individual. On the other hand, there is also the possibility that the final effect is inconsistent and unsatisfying to read. Like any other type of fiction, there is a place for it and the best attempts are rich, creative examples of what is created when authors work together.
About the Author:
You can visit www.fablers.net for more helpful information about The Nature Of Collaboration Fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment