Happy Sunday!! This week's topic at the SFF Seven is Do you ever collaborate with other writers or do you work alone? In a perfect world, which writer would you most like to collaborate with, living or dead?
I haven't had the best of luck with writerly collaborations. I'm a pretty determined individual, and when someone says LET'S DO THIS THING, I'm in 200% and ready to DO THE THING NOW. Not everyone is like that, and that's fine. I'm fully aware that my mode of LET'S GET SHIT DONE isn't for everyone. But, I'm the person who--when assigned to a team project in school/college--ended up doing the entire project because no one else showed up with their part of the work on time. I'm the nice team member who says "It's okay! I got this!" It's a horrible response from some part of my childhood, I'm sure, but I'm that person. For people like me, team projects are a heap of work, and that's what co-writing has felt like.
Brainstorming with other authors is fun, but writing a novel or series with someone hasn't proven to work for me. I've tried twice and only ended up with half-written stories I can't use because they aren't solely mine, even if most of the words are mine. I can't say that I'd ever try a co-writing project again for that reason. When it's just me, I know the level of effort I can expect. I know that the only person who can let me down is me. That isn't to say that co-writing projects don't work. They totally can. I have authorly friends who've done it. It just isn't my jam, but perhaps I haven't met the right person to collaborate with.
For the second part of this week's topic, if I could sit down and talk with someone who has made writing their career and collaborate with them?? It's actually two people, and they write screenplays, not books. Christopher and Johnathan Nolan. Years ago, I watched The Prestige, a film by these two brilliant brothers, and it changed my way of thinking when it comes to planning novels. They've written and directed some mind-bending movies, so I would LOVE to see how that process unfolds.
What about you? Do you work better in duos/groups or alone?
~ Charissa
