Hey there! So, I have a problem and I was wondering wether you've ever gone through the same. My friend F. and I have very, very similar minds when it comes to writing, and we were excited about this new story we were going to write together. We agreed in basically every aspect of the story, which was going to be huge. And spooky. And it was a lot of fun to plan with him until his girlfriend, C., who is also a great friend of mine, started to meddle. It just didn't click. She threw away all of our ideas, and now it's the three of us planning an entirely revised, almost-new story that pretty much died berofe it began, because she meddled way too much. It's not that her ideas weren't good (most of them were excellent), but they messed with the balance, you know? And now I really, really don't feel like writing the story anymore. Neither does F., by the looks of it. And she hasn't mentioned it since. Frustrating! Has this ever happened to you?
Collaboration is fraught with peril. This is not the first horror story I've heard about a collaboration turning disatrous, and I doubt it will be the last. What does each of you expect to contribute, and what do you each expect to gain from the collaboration? How will you divide the work, and how will you resolve the inevitable creative conflicts? These are just a few of the questions you should address before even considering a collaboration.
Yeah, you're right - except it didn't even start as a collab. We just had similar ideas at the same time and naturally it flowed into one single plot... Then along came C. =P
let it be a lesson learned... and if you ever entertain the idea of co-writing again, be sure to have a collaboration contract in place BEFORE you write even a single word! you'll find a good one here: http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/contracts/collaboration.pdf it's for screenwriters, but can apply just as well to prose...
A collaboration would be extremely difficult for me. There is one person I have thought about working with some day.. not sure though. My creative process is an insane and highly personal journey. I tend to have lightbulb moments and change everything out of nowhere. It would be difficult to be so malleable if I had to go over every little change with someone else. All I can say is if you try again, make sure the girlfriend stays out of it! Two would be hard enough, three? No way. It's always cool to get ideas from people during the planning stages but when it comes to actually writing, I don't think so.
