Co-authoring

[EmilyMiller]

I’m guessing there is an FAQ entry, but I’m lazy .

Is the concept of co-authoring supported here, or does a single author need to own a story and acknowledge their co-author?

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

Top entry in the hall of fame for Romance is a co-authored piece, As you wish.

I guess one author posts it, though.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Top entry in the hall of fame for Romance is a co-authored piece, As you wish.

I guess one author posts it, though.

Seems so. It would seem to be a reasonable feature.

Em

 

[TxRad]

Or you can make a new ID using both your names or a mix like SR does. I did it with my co-author on a story.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Or you can make a new ID using both your names or a mix like SR does. I did it with my co-author on a story.

Thought of that as well. Not exactly what I was looking for.

Em

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Thought of that as well. Not exactly what I was looking for.

Em

Yes. We shall not co-author with ourselves.

We shalls take the story from ourselves and post it.

Our precious.

Em (Gollum)

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yes. We shall not co-author with ourselves.

We shalls take the story from ourselves and post it.

Our precious.

Em (Gollum)

That was actually fucking hilarious

 

[Djmac1031]

I would think that if two authors cowrote a story, it should be pretty much up to them how to publicly present it.

Perhaps one author wrote most of it, came up with the ideas etc. While the other merely contributed a small section.

I'd think they could easily agree that the main writer publishes it and gets the bulk of credit for it, while the other writer gets a mention of contributing.

Or just remains anonymous, depending.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Anonymous or Anon, what a concept. Much mischief hath been wrought by Anon, and he must be captured, publicly humiliated, and hung by his balls until dead. Or something to that effect.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Long answer short, yes, you can have the story in two author lists, having done it several times myself.

My collabs and I have done it by deciding which author will run the complete story, the "second" author then has a short intro (say the first 500 - 1000 words), with a link at the end to the complete story in the "first" author's listing.

The submissions need to be coordinated with Laurel, who will do the joining up links.

See this intro, for an example: Transgendence, a collaboration with StickyGirl.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've co-written several stories with different authors.

After consulting with Laurel, we did it as follows:

- decide between you whose account the whole story goes up in;

- the other writer prepares a shorter intro version for their account - the first 500 - 1000 words or so (length doesn't matter, but enough to get hooks in);

- the shorter version gets a link to the complete story;

- submission from both authors is coordinated with the same Note to Laurel, who will tidy up the link. Author A submits the complete version first, Author B submits the short intro immediately after (don't wait, they need to be close together in the queue).

Here's an example of the "other writer's" version:
Transgendence: a collaborative story with Stickygirl

Edit: Bramble reposted an earlier version...

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've co-written several stories with different authors.

After consulting with Laurel, we did it as follows:

- decide between you whose account the whole story goes up in;

- the other writer prepares a shorter intro version for their account - the first 500 - 1000 words or so (length doesn't matter, but enough to get hooks in);

- the shorter version gets a link to the complete story;

- submission from both authors is coordinated with the same Note to Laurel, who will tidy up the link. Author A submits the complete version first, Author B submits the short intro immediately after (don't wait, they need to be close together in the queue).

Here's an example of the "other writer's" version:
Transgendence: a collaborative story with Stickygirl

Edit: Bramble reposted an earlier version...

That seems very straightforward

 

[EmilyMiller]

I would think that if two authors cowrote a story, it should be pretty much up to them how to publicly present it.

Perhaps one author wrote most of it, came up with the ideas etc. While the other merely contributed a small section.

I'd think they could easily agree that the main writer publishes it and gets the bulk of credit for it, while the other writer gets a mention of contributing.

Or just remains anonymous, depending.

This seems to cover all the bases, hypothetically at least.

Em

 

[Omenainen]

We made a shared account for our collaborations, but then we plan on doing more of them. For a one off I probably wouldn’t bother with a whole new account.

 

[Seadog777]

I don't really play well with others anymore.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Seadog, did you ever?

I don't really play well with others anymore.

 

[Seadog777]

Seadog, did you ever?

I truly did at one point.
I used to be really outgoing and friendly.
I am legitimately trying to get somewhat get back to being that guy again, but it's just so hard to do after everything I've seen in my life. That and the fact that I can't really travel anymore. LOL.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Went with a brief preamble explaining it was co-written. Publishing over the weekend I guess.

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

I've only co-written with my dad and one other person. The other person and I didn't mesh well. I rewrote some of her stories and expanded them, and that worked better. But we only credited the two of us on one story.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've only co-written with my dad and one other person. The other person and I didn't mesh well. I rewrote some of her stories and expanded them, and that worked better. But we only credited the two of us on one story.

I can’t imagine doing it with just anyone. I think you need to have two relatively (for authors) low ego people, who are willing to adopt a give and take approach.

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

I can’t imagine doing it with just anyone. I think you need to have two relatively (for authors) low ego people, who are willing to adopt a give and take approach.

Em

With my father, the writing was simple. With Kitten, so much. There were questions about direction, how we exchanged the writing points, and notes about what we perceived was next. We had left turns out of nowhere by her, which took us off in directions that I couldn't wrap my tiny brain around. In the end, she had to write quick stories from beginning to end, and I expanded them. We wrote three together, and I have a bunch from her she wants me to expand. I haven't done any more of them, her well dried up, and she stopped writing. I may go back and expand them later. I've been asked by another writer here to work with her, but so far, I've resisted the temptation fearing it could hurt our friendship.

 

[EmilyMiller]

With my father, the writing was simple. With Kitten, so much. There were questions about direction, how we exchanged the writing points, and notes about what we perceived was next. We had left turns out of nowhere by her, which took us off in directions that I couldn't wrap my tiny brain around. In the end, she had to write quick stories from beginning to end, and I expanded them. We wrote three together, and I have a bunch from her she wants me to expand. I haven't done any more of them, her well dried up, and she stopped writing. I may go back and expand them later. I've been asked by another writer here to work with her, but so far, I've resisted the temptation fearing it could hurt our friendship.

Depending on the people, I could see it being super stressful.

Em

 

[Djmac1031]

Depending on the people, I could see it being super stressful.

Em

I think the biggest obstacle would be both writers being on the same page as to exactly what the story is about; whether there's a message or theme or emotion to get across.

Or if they're willing to compromise if one doesn't agree with the other.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I think the biggest obstacle would be both writers being on the same page as to exactly what the story is about; whether there's a message or theme or emotion to get across.

Or if they're willing to compromise if one doesn't agree with the other.

B * I * N * G * O and BINGO is the word! An outline helps, but stories take on their own life when I'm writing. And sometimes, I need to stray off the outline. But Kitten would break the outline, stomp the shit out of it, and then want me to get us back on track. Sometimes I could, and sometimes I couldn't. Writing with her that way just didn't work.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think the biggest obstacle would be both writers being on the same page as to exactly what the story is about; whether there's a message or theme or emotion to get across.

Or if they're willing to compromise if one doesn't agree with the other.

You have to set your egos aside completely and be super flexible. I've done collaborations with three different writers, with no plans, no outlines, no handover notes. We each wrote off the other's content, then handed it back, till both writers agreed it was finished.

I read some of those stories now, several year's later, and can't always remember what is my content, what's theirs. It's not easy, but it's not hard, either. I suspect it lends itself more to pantsers though, I'd die tomorrow trying to cope with some of you plotters, and there's no way some of you lot could ever put up with my approach to writing.