Collaboration Station

How many of us have group project trauma from school? I know I do. I was ready to come in here, shrug, and say 'of course I don't do collaboration'. Then I got to thinking. Of course I DO collaboration.

Collab Lite:
I have a critique group. I talk with other authors. We just naturally toss ideas around. We consult with one another or with the group when we're stuck on a plot point. I realize this amounts to talking out sticking points in our work. I submit, however, that it is a form of collaboration. None of us is working in an idea vacuum. That author's idea over there sparks three more in me which hopefully spark five more in someone else. It's a positive feedback loop and I'll claim it as a form of collaboration.

Collaboration fer realz:
Okay. The kind of collaboration you really came for today is the kind with coauthor credits. Again, I was ready to come in today, laugh uproariously at the notion that I'd ever consent to do any such thing. And then. And then I realized I had done a coauthored thing.

That aforementioned critique group. Four of the members came up with an idea for a cozy mystery series involving past lives in ancient Rome colliding with present day lives in Seattle. The notion was that each of us in the group came up with a character in the story. In ancient Rome, we'd all been together until a murder got us all charged and executed. In present day Seattle, the group are scattered and have no memory, of course, of that shared past until one of the present day women is suspected of murdering her husband. We all come together to solve that murder while resolving the murder in the past at the same time through a slow reveal series of flashbacks. The construct was that each of us would write a chapter and the others would edit for character voice and such. The grand vision was a 9 book series.

We hit the ground running with a plot map and a plan. We got six or seven chapters into the story. Then everything fell apart. The thing about any group project is that it is only as strong as its weakest link and in this case, our weakest link was a lymphoma diagnosis for one of our members. She's fine. Finally. But the project was mortally wounded and never recovered.

I'm not sad. Y'all, it was HARD. No joke. Everyone comes to the page with different strengths and different ways of executing story. This was never more evident when trying to corral five very different writers into some kind of homogeneity. It pressed every old group project button I have. Having that project slip quietly in the rear view, especially given the reason, was sad, but freeing. Writing to a story that isn't solely yours and where you need to tone match someone else feels (to me) a bit confining. I wanted to go dark with parts of the story because I felt like it called for that. My coauthors vehemently disagreed. So yeah. GROUP PROJECTS. O_o

 

Who would I write with if I could? Andre Norton. That would have been fun. She might have hired assassins to come for me, but I would have enjoyed the shared world and writing as long as I could. As to why - I guess because her stories were the first ones when I was a kid that lit me up and made me want to do exactly what she had done with a set of characters. I suppose I started learning how to construct a tall tale from her books. There have been many, many more worthy teachers along the way, but I've heard you never forget your first. I don't care if this isn't supposed to mean that, quite. It works.

Hiking, unlike writing, is Always a Collaboration

Hiking, unlike writing, is always a collaboration...

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? 

Jeffe's Collaborations - Real and Imagined

 I'm just loving these autumn/Halloween collages of the Czech translation of the Chronicles of Dasnaria books!

This week at the SFF Seven, we're discussing collaborations - if we've done them and what our dream collabs would be. 

I've never (quite) collaborated with another writer on actually composing a story. I added in that "quite" because my friend, Jim Sorenson, and I did start writing a book together. However, even though we wrote several chapters, our mutual agent (Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency) didn't ever love what we came up with. Getting our voices to gel together was a challenge. We've talked about going back to the project, which I'd love to do someday. It's definitely a different way of working though!

The collaborations I do regularly are anthologies! My bestie Grace Draven and I love to put together anthologies, either of stories from just the two of us, or with more writers. Our next project is THE WATERS AND THE WILD, an anthology that will include fae novellas from Grace, Dana Marton, Maria Vale, and myself. It will be out in late April, with a special print edition available for Apollycon attendees, and then available in ebook and regular print form after that. I'm very much looking forward to what everyone comes up with!

If I could collaborate with any writer, living or dead, it would've been Anne McCaffrey. I was too late to meet her and too slow in coming to writing fantasy to be one of the several writers privileged to write in her worlds. I would've LOVED to do that and, in one of the sliding doors versions of my life, I believe it totally happened. 

3 Questions: Collaboration

This Week's Topic: Do I ever collaborate with other authors or do I work alone? In a perfect world, with which writer would I most like to collaborate, living or dead? 

Q: Do, Have, Will I ever collaborate(d) with other authors?
A: Not yet. 

Q: Do I work strictly alone?
A: Ayup, so far. 

Q: With whom would I most like to collaborate?
A: Ya know, there are plenty of authors whose works I love, but I don't know that our creative processes would be compatible. Every author has their own weird, so it's less about end-product styles and more about the stuff that happens before/during/after the finished product. I've been a fan of Poe's works since I was wee, but I don't think my liver nor my sanity could support his process of genius. I'm a slow writer, and that's not a typically desirable trait in a collaborative relationship. Also, I have a low threshold for drama that's not part of the plot. OTOH, yes, I'm a recluse, but that doesn't mean I'm opposed to finding the Steven Tyler to my Joe Perry, or the Björn Ulvaeus to my Benny Andersson. I'm in awe of partnerships like Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (aka James Corey of The Expanse) and Illona Gordon and Andrew Gordon (aka Ilona Andrews of Kate Daniels and the Innkeeper Chronicles). 

So, uh, the short answer is dunno, haven't found them yet. 

The Death of the Team Project

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

Collaborators & Contractors: Setting Expectations Upfront

Contractor Best Practices: When working with a 3rd party in support of my book (artist, formatter, editor, PR, PA, etc.) what's one thing I do to make my life and theirs easier/make the project more successful?

Set expectations upfront--on both sides. 

It amazes me how many folks enter into a business arrangement while operating on a host of assumptions that are never shared with the other party(ies). There is no way that ends well for anyone. 

Ask questions at the get-go. Get the answers you need to be a good partner. Even if you think you know the answer, ask anyway. Confirmation will save you heartburn. This is one part due diligence and another part documenting commitments between two parties. Don't be afraid to not know an answer. Don't fear looking like a newb or unprofessional. Setting and receiving clear expectations is a foundational element of professionalism. 

A Sample of Questions: What do I need from them? What do they need from me? When? In what format? What are the deliverables? What are the milestones? What happens if dates need to change--on my end or theirs? How much lead time is needed? What is a reasonable turnaround time? Payments: invoices sent at the end of the project, at intervals, portion upfront and another on completion? What method of payment is preferred? When is payment due/when will I be paid? Who is my point of contact and what are their contact details? Etc.

Whether dealing with a freelancer, small business, or corporation--regardless of industry--take the time to set expectations upfront. If the party with whom you're planning on working doesn't agree to do this, bitches about doing it, or doesn't answer your questions to your satisfaction that is a HUGE red flag. Do not proceed. 

If someone asks to set expectations with you, take the time to do it. Yeah, yeah, not everyone will say "Hey, I'd like to set expectations with you."  It might be as casual as "Hey, yeah, your project sounds interesting. Let's chat about details." If you use new contractors frequently, you might even create an expectations worksheet/FAQ in advance with the questions you need them to answer and the answers to questions you anticipated being asked/info you want them to have. 

If shit goes south during the course of business, you're going to be on much better footing if you have the details documented. Especially if things go so badly that lawyers get involved. 

A Bonus for Setting Expectations: As creatives, we know dates for deliverables are the first casualty of...well, life. Many of us dread telling our partner that we're not going to make the agreed-upon date. The longer we take to inform our partner, the worse the consequences for everyone. However, because we set expectations at the beginning and because date-slippage is so common that we included the "what-if" in our initial conversation, we've spared ourselves the anxiety-inducing, panic-attack spiraling, shame levying distress of telling our partner that we're not making the deadline. We know what to expect by missing the date and we know how to get the project back on track. Similarly, when we're told that a date is being missed, we've covered our ass by informing our partner of the consequences of slippage. (Hopefully, we've added a slippage cushion to our overall project schedule so a missed date isn't catastrophic to the entire project. Right? RIGHT?).

Good business communication starts with setting expectations. 

May your partnerships be fruitful and your projects successful!