If a writer’s work is solitary, can you call it collaborating when there are two or more in the room?
I’ve never written with anyone. I think it would be a fun experience, but it would have to be someone whose style meshed with mine so that it wouldn’t be glaringly obvious there were two voices at work.
A great example of two authors who make magic when they write together is Kit Rocha. Read Mercenary Librarians and you’d never guess that it came from the brains of two people.
An anthology would be a blast, but I haven’t been part of one. Early on I was invited, but the stories needed a touch of horror. I had an idea I loved, started writing my short story…and suddenly I had a fleshed out idea for a novel with a solid start! But. I was too new, I had no idea how to write anything shorter than a 300 page book, and I regretfully bowed out.
Since then I’ve written some shorts and have a better grasp of novella story structure. It amazes me how different my writing processes are for various lengths of work, and it also surprised me at how working at both helped improve my skills.
How about you? Have you written shorts as well as novel length pieces? Do you have a favorite?
