Hey, this idea just popped in one day: a collaboration short story contest. Doesn't have to be biweekly like the regular contest, just a sort of special change of events: Groups of two enter the contest, and work together to write a story. Give certain rules during each contest, such as: -one teammate writes one half, one the other. -one teammate writes the scenario, the other writes the ending. -both just write whatever they choose And so on and so forth. So...what does the population here at WF think? Good idea or no?
why should that be any different than a 'normal' short story contest?... after all, no one but the entrant can tell how many writers contributed to the submitted work and it doesn't matter anyway, since it's the story being judged, not how it was written...
I don't see the point. Members start collaborative story threads in Word Games, if you like that sort of thing. But the story contests are intended to stretch your skills as a writer, to give you an incentive to try writing for subjects and styles that may be a little out of your comfort zone. To me, it just sounds like a cheap gimmick. And knowing the kinds of hard feelings that can come from collaboration efforts, I can't recommend it.
Did you ever read Stephen King & Peter Straub's collaboration THE TALISMAN? It's kind of an interesting experiment, and I think, storywise, it reads like a coventured story. I read it a long time ago, thinking I'd try another SK novel (CARRIE, I think, was the only one of his I'd read at that point). So, I didn't even realize it had two authors till it occurred to me that the story seemed kind of schizophrenic in nature. Not necessarily in a bad way, although it did flip-flop in ways I sometimes found a little annoying. In retrospect, it seemed to me they must've purposefully built into the storyline premise their different imaginations. I think they've written another collaborative novel, too. If you can find a like-minded co-writer, give it a try and see what happens. I think it'd take a lot to mix and blend two fiction writers' imaginations into a singular compelling storyline, and I imagine there'll be all kinds of stylistic issues that arise. On the other hand, you (both) might learn a lot from just that alone.
Sometimes the best writing comes from taking a risk. Edit: Though this kind of risk, not so good for a short story contest.
You're probably right about that. Might teach you something about what it really means to be the creative drive behind a piece of fiction, especially in a short story (I'm thinking artistically and imaginatively both) where a singular focus probably is an easier challenge than a collaboration. I've heard, though, of high school projects (in NYC) where poetry is actually done this way with some very interesting outcomes. So, who knows?
"Put more than two of us in a room and we take sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another." Actually, your quote addresses exactly the risk and the grand possibilities of doing exactly what you suggest. If you ever try it, let us know how it turns out!
