Would You Accept a Co-Writer for your Stories and Why or Why Not?

[EmilyMiller]

No.

If I post something and people like it, I want the credit. If I post something and people hate it, I don't want someone else to take the blame, however tangentially.

I've tried writing with someone else. It didn't work at all.

I don’t get this. There is something cool about creating something with another person. It’s not blame or credit, it’s collab.

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

I don’t get this. There is something cool about creating something with another person. It’s not blame or credit, it’s collab.

Emily

It's clear you've never met my parents.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It's clear you've never met my parents.

Mr and Mrs Stunned? Lovely couple. Big into swinging and BDSM. Or am I thinking of someone else?

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

Mr and Mrs Stunned? Lovely couple. Big into swinging and BDSM. Or am I thinking of someone else?

Emily

That's them. They're very disappointed in me.

 

[Djmac1031]

No.

If I post something and people like it, I want the credit. If I post something and people hate it, I don't want someone else to take the blame, however tangentially.

I've tried writing with someone else. It didn't work at all.

The trick to it is having a united front in the end. If the story receives praise, both authors get credit.

If it recieves criticism, both authors should own that as well and not try to throw the other under the bus. "Oh, hey, I didn't write THAT part."

And in the end, if you tried with someone and it didn't work, that's okay. If everyone could work with anyone on anything, we'd all be doing it more.

As I said in an earlier comment, you can't force it. It needs to be organic, or not at all.

 

[SimonDoom]

I like the idea of doing it in principle, but I haven't done so yet.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I like the idea of doing it in principle, but I haven't done so yet.

So many ways to fill in the blank…

 

[8letters]

I'd be very happy to co-author a story with someone. I'd provide them a list of I/T story premises, and they could pick out the one they wanted to write. I might have some written material to help them get started. I'd help them with the plotting, and they'd do the actual writing. It'd be published under their name with attribution to me.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The trick to it is having a united front in the end. If the story receives praise, both authors get credit.

If it recieves criticism, both authors should own that as well and not try to throw the other under the bus. "Oh, hey, I didn't write THAT part."

And in the end, if you tried with someone and it didn't work, that's okay. If everyone could work with anyone on anything, we'd all be doing it more.

As I said in an earlier comment, you can't force it. It needs to be organic, or not at all.

Yeah - you need trust, but also to not be an anal control freak (oh, wait… )

Emily

 

[SimonDoom]

So many ways to fill in the blank…

That's what she said.

 

[Djmac1031]

Okay so @EmilyMiller have talked about our collaborations before. Hopefully not ad nauseum.

But for those curious as to how at least one potential way of collaborating with another author can happen, I'll try and break down our experience with it.

Em and I had already been helping each other out for awhile; beta reading each other's work, offering advice, suggestions, criticism etc.

One day we were simply chatting. I was complaining about the traffic jam I'd been stuck in while driving for work.

I honestly forget which one of us made the joke about how it was a shame I didn't have my GF with me to give me a blowjob or something.

Either way, Emily was inspired and ran with the scenario. Soon enough, she sent me several paragraphs of what would eventually become "Traffic."

This time, instead of simply asking my thoughts on what happens next, Emily suggested I just go ahead and write it.

So I did.

I thought that might end it right there, and frankly neither of us had committed to the idea of publishing a joint story yet. We were just having fun with it.

But then Emily wrote the closing scenes, and we both agreed we had a fun and hot story on our hands.

I gladly let Emily publish it. She really did write the bulk of it. And added some heart and depth to the characters that I didn't really touch on. My stuff was pretty much pure sex scene.

So we edited and published and publicly acknowledged coauthorship.

Flash forward several months; we'd talked off and on about a part 2. But we were both busy with other stories.

Then one day I finally sat down to write the opener. The trick of course was setting up another traffic scenario while not just repeating the first story.

And then it hit me, my obvious solution, at least to me: a Clothed Male, Naked Female / Embarrassed Nude Female scenario.

So I wrote the opening, set the stage, then sent it to Em to continue.

It took her awhile, again she was busy with other stories.

Eventually she got to it. And damn if the scene she wrote wasn't smoking hot lol.

From there I was supposed to take the baton. But now I was busy, while Emily had the itch to keep going.

So instead of writing, I simply sent her several ideas for where to go next. And she absolutely ran with them.

I did write one more section myself, as well as adding some flourishes during the editing process.

When it was done, we both agreed she should again publish it to keep it together with part 1. And again our coauthorship was acknowledged in the credits.

So... That's how we did it. Certainly not the only way, of course

But I hope those curious about working with other writers find it helpful.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Okay so @EmilyMiller have talked about our collaborations before. Hopefully not ad nauseum.

But for those curious as to how at least one potential way of collaborating with another author can happen, I'll try and break down our experience with it.

Em and I had already been helping each other out for awhile; beta reading each other's work, offering advice, suggestions, criticism etc.

One day we were simply chatting. I was complaining about the traffic jam I'd been stuck in while driving for work.

I honestly forget which one of us made the joke about how it was a shame I didn't have my GF with me to give me a blowjob or something.

Either way, Emily was inspired and ran with the scenario. Soon enough, she sent me several paragraphs of what would eventually become "Traffic."

This time, instead of simply asking my thoughts on what happens next, Emily suggested I just go ahead and write it.

So I did.

I thought that might end it right there, and frankly neither of us had committed to the idea of publishing a joint story yet. We were just having fun with it.

But then Emily wrote the closing scenes, and we both agreed we had a fun and hot story on our hands.

I gladly let Emily publish it. She really did write the bulk of it. And added some heart and depth to the characters that I didn't really touch on. My stuff was pretty much pure sex scene.

So we edited and published and publicly acknowledged coauthorship.

Flash forward several months; we'd talked off and on about a part 2. But we were both busy with other stories.

Then one day I finally sat down and write the opener. The trick of course was both setting up another traffic scenario while not just repeating the first story.

And then it hit me, my obvious solution, at least to me: a Clothed Male, Naked Female / Embarrassed Nude Female scenario.

So I wrote the opening, set the stage, then sent it to EM to continue.

It took her awhile, again she was busy with other stories.

Eventually she got to it. And damn if the scene she wrote wasn't smoking hot lol.

From there I was supposed to take the baton. But now I was busy, while Emily had the itch to keep going.

So instead of writing, I simply sent her several ideas for where to go next. And she absolutely ran with them.

I did write one more section myself, as well as adding some flourishes during the editing process.

When it was done, we both agreed she should again publish it to keep it together with part 1. And again our coauthorship was acknowledged in the credits.

So... That's how we did it. Certainly not the only way, of course

But I hope those curious about working with other writers find it helpful.

What @Djmac1031 said about ad nauseum again, of course…

Another example. A different type of collab. @Djmac1031 let me borrow three of his Angels & Demons Saga characters for The Undoing of Emma. This included his central (and compelling) character of Cozbi.

As he said, we typically share stuff as we write. But here, given these were his characters, we worked more closely. I didn't want to write any of them doing or saying anything inconsistent with his cannon.

Of course it helped me that I knew these characters pretty well already. But it was a different level of collab to what we normally do.

Emily

 

[Djmac1031]

What @Djmac1031 said about ad nauseum again, of course…

Another example. A different type of collab. @Djmac1031 let me borrow three of his Angels & Demons Saga characters for The Undoing of Emma. This included his central (and compelling) character of Cozbi.

As he said, we typically share stuff as we write. But here, given these were his characters, we worked more closely. I didn't want to write any of them doing or saying anything inconsistent with his cannon.

Of course it helped me that I knew these characters pretty well already. But it was a different level of collab to what we normally do.

Emily

We could probably write several more pages on our collaborative efforts with our mutual, shared Angels & Demons universe. Especially since my character Sister Emily is a direct homage to your "Emily" character persona you created and have used in multiple stories.

As well as you now also letting me use Lucy, the Queen Of Hell, for my next chapter.

Instead of taking over the thread though, I I'll just say this: we are both generous with our characters and stories, while also being appreciative, mindful and respectful of each other's characters and stories.

And that's why it works.

 

[EmilyMiller]

We could probably write several more pages on our collaborative efforts with our mutual, shared Angels & Demons universe. Especially since my character Sister Emily is a direct homage to your "Emily" character persona you created and have used in multiple stories.

As well as you now also letting me use Lucy, the Queen Of Hell, for my next chapter.

Instead of taking over the thread though, I I'll just say this: we are both generous with our characters and stories, while also being appreciative, mindful and respectful of each other's characters and stories.

And that's why it works.

Yup - that and he puts up with me being a flaky prima donna of course

 

[CalebZhass]

Short answer: Would like to, but likely not going to happen any time soon.

Long answer:
I would like to at least give it a chance once, however that's in theory only

But then, I also have to be realistic.

I tend to be quite strong willed and a project like this would require me to set my mind with specific expectations that I'd not be in full control. This means that I'd not be able to really collaborate on any of the stories I really have fleshed out in my head already. I like to be in full control I'm a control freak.

Maybe when I collaborate to create something from scratch with an open mind and no preset expectations... On a thought experiment level, it sounds intriguing and something that's worth giving a shot if the opportunity presents itself.

The main difficulty would be, putting up with me due to how wildly fluctuating my interests are. This is much harder to control as it comes from the core of my personality. I burn at 110% all the time, but my interests change extremely often and on a whim. One day I might be churning out several thousands words of story, the next day I might be focused with the same intensity on another of my several DOZEN hobbies/interests and not even think about writing for weeks. There's really no guarantee I get back to writing soon simply from the sheer number of topics that I'm interested in and how easy it is for something shiny to pull me in a different direction.

Life is too short to really be bogged down doing just one thing. Damn, life is too damn short.. period
I would need at least 3-4 full lifetimes to properly explore all the stuff I'm interested in, and that's just the top dozen or so topics, not even considering the fringe areas.

This is not that big of a problem for me when I work alone, as I've learned to accept my reality and I'm not bothered too much by projects falling behind or never getting completed due to my ever shifting priorities. For me, it's as much about the journey, as it is about the destination.

Yet, it can be hard to stomach in a collaboration. Due to the intensity at which I focus on whatever it is that I do, I can be extremely inpatient. Even more so, as I'm painfully aware, I only have so long to finish something before my focus shifts. Once lose interest, however, I'd probably drive the other author(s) crazy, as I simply cannot make myself do things, which I'm not in the mood for.

So maybe, one day... when I finally grow up (apparently 40+ years wasn't enough) to not live life like an overly excitable kid with too many toys to play with. Thing is... I work damn hard to never stop being that kid, so...

Sharing someone else's world, creating something in the same fictional setting with the same characters, or having someone else create a story of their own with my characters in my world, that's more of a collaboration I can imagine could work for me, as it doesn't require direct collab or put any sort of time pressure on any parties, but then that's also not 'co-writing' in my vocabulary

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'm yet to discover if I'm capable of collaborating in whatever writing setup. No one here writes the themes that I write (as far as I know) so this is all quite theoretical. Within some clearly defined rules... maybe.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I'd be open to sharing characters or universes with other authors, or taking turns doing an installment and seeing where the other leads the story (but then again I'm so temperamental with my writing that it might just annoy them that I'm taking so long).

But as far as true co-authoring I don't think I'd manage.

 

[Voboy]

I don’t get this. There is something cool about creating something with another person. It’s not blame or credit, it’s collab.

Emily

Yes, it's "cool" in concept. The execution was not something I found cool.

I don't think very many people write like I do. I start with a one-phrase idea and a couple of characters, write on a wing and a prayer, and change almost nothing afterward... because, when I read it back, I generally like what I've written. So I don't see a need to mess with it. That style of writing is easy for me; it flows, and I find it fun.

Throw another person into the mix and it stops being fun. It becomes an obligation, both to the other person's skills and their views. I don't want that. I wrote commercially for a few years and sold a lot of words, but in the end I stopped doing it because it felt like that: an obligation. It felt like that because there was a publisher relying on me to make money, so I thought it was fair to give her a say in how the piece turned out.

It worked for awhile, mostly because she was unobtrusive and because I gave her very little she needed to edit. We had trust and confidence. But still, there was always the looming overhanging cliff of obligation, with the constant threat of an avalanche in the form of a story that wouldn't sell. So? I throttled way back.

I've also tried other forms of collaboration, and I can't say it was anywhere near as satisfying as merely writing my own stuff. What can I say? Different strokes, different folks. But generally, if something gets posted above my name, I want to be the one responsible for it. Solely.

 

[samhasstories]

In theory I like the idea of collaboration, and would be open to the idea if it were ever floated. But I think maybe in practice it's not for me. Writing is a very personal thing for me. I like to share what I've written once I've written it, but the writing process itself is different. Particularly for erotica. That process is... especially personal.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yes, it's "cool" in concept. The execution was not something I found cool.

I don't think very many people write like I do. I start with a one-phrase idea and a couple of characters, write on a wing and a prayer, and change almost nothing afterward... because, when I read it back, I generally like what I've written. So I don't see a need to mess with it. That style of writing is easy for me; it flows, and I find it fun.

Throw another person into the mix and it stops being fun. It becomes an obligation, both to the other person's skills and their views. I don't want that. I wrote commercially for a few years and sold a lot of words, but in the end I stopped doing it because it felt like that: an obligation. It felt like that because there was a publisher relying on me to make money, so I thought it was fair to give her a say in how the piece turned out.

It worked for awhile, mostly because she was unobtrusive and because I gave her very little she needed to edit. We had trust and confidence. But still, there was always the looming overhanging cliff of obligation, with the constant threat of an avalanche in the form of a story that wouldn't sell. So? I throttled way back.

I've also tried other forms of collaboration, and I can't say it was anywhere near as satisfying as merely writing my own stuff. What can I say? Different strokes, different folks. But generally, if something gets posted above my name, I want to be the one responsible for it. Solely.

People are different. I find collaboration rewarding and fun.

YMMV

Emily

 

[AchtungNight]

Probably depends on the collaborator a bit too. There are some writers with whom I would never collaborate willingly. Not naming names.

 

[Voboy]

People are different. I find collaboration rewarding and fun.

YMMV

Emily

It would be a very, very boring world if everyone did everything the same way.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Been reading a lot of what people have posted here. Some thoughts, not very deep ones:

I like to be in charge. Which you could also express as hating being told what to do. I’m an anal control freak [insert butt-sex joke here]. I’m meticulous and painstaking IRL.

Which is why I think my writing is sometimes quite loose. I perhaps crave doing something different. As I’ve said before, it’s probably the same with my sexual sub tendencies. It’s like you hear about CEOs who like to dress up as babies and suckle. It’s different from their everyday.

There are two reasons I like collab. The first is the same as above, it’s fun to not be so inwardly focused. The other is that two heads are often better than one. I don’t have any IRL experience of E/V, but @Djmac1031 writes about it a lot. Between us, he stretches me into an unfamiliar area and I bring a fresh sensibility to it. It’s the same the other way round in different areas, BDSM for example. We extend each other’s range.

Plus, I come up with and idea, and Dj builds on it. Or tells me why it won’t work. I do the same for him. One or other of us goes and expands and then brings back what we did to discuss and improve.

Sure sometimes we have differences of opinion. I think we both sometimes let things go. If we are really passionate about something, then we don’t, we talk about it.

There really isn’t a consistently dominant voice. Might be me in one area, him in another, neither of us in a third. I think our strength is we listen and we respect each other’ point of view. And if it gets too tense we can just go back to swapping Star Wars quotes.

Reading this thread, I feel like we are this weird outlier.

Emily

 

[Paul_Chance]

Ego is the principle enemy of any collaboration effort. I've never done a collaboration as a work of fiction. I've done dozens of them as non-fiction.

If the two (or more) authors collaborating are capable of setting their egos aside and writing their relevant sections, it's a piece of cake, however you divide the work up.

If one of the writers is able to set their ego aside and let the other take the lead, again, it's a piece of cake.

In the technical world, it's usually pretty straight-forward because crossing the ego-gateway is the first step, the audition, for further collaborative projects.

The way the ego-gateway works is this: A writer is assigned to collaborative writing project. The project is written and assembled.

If the auditioning writer's ego gets in the way and makes the project more difficult, well, that's it for them. They never get another collaborative project.

If the writer's ego is flexible enough that they both finish their assigned section in a timely manner AND increase the value of the project with their feedback, then they get another one...and another one...and another one.

It works exactly the same way in fiction.

 

[Djmac1031]

I like to be in charge. Which you could also express as hating being told what to do.

I was a wedding DJ for almost 20 years. On a few, thankfully rare occasions, I was put in a position where I was hired to work in tandem with a second DJ.

And I absolutely hated it.

To me, deejaying wasn't just playing songs and making announcements. It was an art form, a performance piece. Every song I chose had a rhyme and reason, a rhythm and flow to what I picked and when I played it.

I was an absolute control freak and hated sharing those choices with someone else. Especially because in most cases, the second DJ assigned to work with me I felt was inferior.

Yes, I had an ego. You have to to be a DJ. If you can't sell yourself as better than the other guy, you don't get the gig.

The only reason I bring it up is; I understand how, for many of you, ego and control applies to writing.

So I get it, I do.

Writing is VERY different from deejaying for me.

1st; writing isn't my profession. I don't make money from it

2nd: unlike deejaying, I'm strictly an amateur when it comes to writing. I know my limitations. And my weaknesses. Oh sure, I work to improve my skills regularly, just as I did with deejaying.

But this is also JUST a hobby for me, and at the end of the day it's supposed to be fun.

Part of that fun was becoming part of this community; talking, learning, making a few friends.

One of those friends I happened to hit it off with enough to write a few stories with. It happened quite organically, as I detailed earlier

I'm not against the idea of working with others as well. But to date that simply hasn't happened. Never say never, who knows what might come up. But I don't think it can be forced, either.