Writing with someone else

[Stockholmblondie]

Does anyone else ever use google docs or similar things to write together with someone? I think it is great, since it allows both writers to write both like a chat if online at the same time and separately if you are not. I am by no means a great storyteller, but this way of writing works fine for me.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't. I collaborate with an author on the other side of the world from me. We have no trouble passing stuff back and forth or discussing it in basic e-mail exchanges, even in real time. Don't need any fancy technological bells and whistles, although I have nothing against using them if you want to.

 

[AwkwardMD]

I do. I've collaborated with two different authors on different projects, and done beta reading and editing real-time.

I love it. I think it's a powerful tool, and that it's incredibly useful.

 

[Handley_Page]

Does anyone else ever use google docs or similar things to write together with someone? I think it is great, since it allows both writers to write both like a chat if online at the same time and separately if you are not. I am by no means a great storyteller, but this way of writing works fine for me.

I've managed it a time or two, in the past.
And it seems to work.

 

[_Hogster]

Does anyone else ever use google docs or similar things to write together with someone? I think it is great, since it allows both writers to write both like a chat if online at the same time and separately if you are not. I am by no means a great storyteller, but this way of writing works fine for me.

My collaboration tends to be by email or chat but I have no objection to google docs

 

[HeyAll]

I have before. With Google Docs, it worked out great. Its especially easy for editing.

 

[sr71plt]

I might add that when your collaborator is on the other side of the world from you, there isn't much opportunity of real-time collaboration.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[sr71plt]

TIL: Google Docs=Fancy Technology

It certainly is to me. I don't adopt jazzy technology when it doesn't work any better than what is basically available. For one thing, my impression is that restricted point-to-point contact is more secure from observation than anything going up to a shared site.

And I might add that of all those discussing the issue, I may have the most extensive experience and output in collaboration with another author for publication (in erotica via the author name Shabbu).

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't know if there are settings that make it otherwise, but using google docs in the cloud means it can be plucked out of it. Not to mention the fine print hiding in the fine print that technically could give Google ownership of your material.

Keep convenience. I'd rather keep my material.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[sr71plt]

You're so serious, Pilot. Whenever I reply to you with a joke, in the back of my mind, I'm always thinking, "He's totally gonna think I'm just being an asshole." But then I do it anyway, which I guess does actually make me an asshole, lol. But in all honestly, you're obviously well accomplished and your stuff (that I've read) is solid; I hope you know I mean no ill-will, I just like to jab on occasion.

I'm not naturally that serious--and if you look around, you'll see me making light of this and that myself. And I haven't been analyzing your posts for hidden meanings and such. Maybe I should start doing that.

I get serious with some things on the forum because I have the experience in publishing--been there, done that, got burned myself and learned from it--and there is so much disinformation and author arrogance about reality that goes on here that I tend to try to be serious and realistic in the hope that folks will wake up and stop shooting themselves in the ego and their ignorance. Sometimes it works; not all that often, though.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Does anyone else ever use google docs or similar things to write together with someone? I think it is great, since it allows both writers to write both like a chat if online at the same time and separately if you are not. I am by no means a great storyteller, but this way of writing works fine for me.

My daughter does this with one of her friends.

I don't really write with anyone, a friend will sometimes give me ideas, but that's about it.
We do have one shared story but it's not really a story. It's more like our fantasy life and if we have an idea for a chapter she can log into my blogger account and write. But I trust her to have my password for that.

 

[sr71plt]

If you look hard enough, you'll find the coordinates of my buried treasure; it's mostly $1 scratch-offs I never cashed, but there's some pretty decent tequila, too.

We probably have different definitions of what constitutes buried treasure.

 

[MindsMirror]

We share a LibreOffice Writer document passed back and forth via e-mail or on a shared drive.

We don't trust cloud providers despite their insistance that they won't take ownership. Even if they don't, there doesn't seem to be any end to the hacking of everything web.

We have used cloud to share something with numerous people where ownership isn't that important. Spreadsheet of dishes people are bringing to a party is the most recent.

-MM

 

[ElectricBlue]

We share a LibreOffice Writer document passed back and forth via e-mail or on a shared drive.

Where/what do you think email servers are? Why do you think they are any more "secure" than the cloud?

 

[jsmiam]

Does anyone else ever use google docs or similar things to write together with someone? I think it is great, since it allows both writers to write both like a chat if online at the same time and separately if you are not. I am by no means a great storyteller, but this way of writing works fine for me.

Good for you. Collaborative software has hyped itself as being the next big thing for a while now, but when people really use it, it's full of problems and "Well, no, it doesn't do THAT". It's already a lot better than it was, but it'll take real people really using it (like you) to make it worthwhile for everyone to use. Current improvements make it good for co-authors working on different sections at the same time as long as they stay off the other person's work.

To me, it's still not quite there yet, and I'm not sure how they could make it work perfectly for an author/editor working on the same sentence at the same time. But hey, Track Changes eventually became usable, maybe there's hope!

 

[NOIRTRASH]

People are unreliable.

 

[lovecraft68]

Where/what do you think email servers are? Why do you think they are any more "secure" than the cloud?

You at least have record of you sending the document back and forth and who you sent it to along with notes proving ownership.

Nothing is foolproof in the age of Big Brother, but e-mail takes more effort on behalf of the thieves then just leaving it hung out in space.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Where/what do you think email servers are? Why do you think they are any more "secure" than the cloud?

^^this. Unless you're encrypting your emails, sharing via email is vastly less secure than Google shared docs.

And there's not much reason for anybody to go to the trouble of hacking Google to steal our smutty stories when they can just pinch them from the website.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[NOIRTRASH]

If you look hard enough, you'll find the coordinates of my buried treasure; it's mostly $1 scratch-offs I never cashed, but there's some pretty decent tequila, too.

McPILOTS quests for holy grails always begin and end in his underpants.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Google docs is much easier than anything involving anyone's email. You're editing a document, and if other people edit it at the same time, it just works. You can leave comments on text for others to read. You're not fussing with copy/paste. I'd probably edit all my stories there if I was collaborating.

It's also at least equal in security to emailing text, and Google does a better job of managing their backups than you probably do. If they have disks fail while you're editing, you'll never notice. Your google documents will survive the loss of whole data centers. Your local docs are likely toast if your laptop's cheap seagate disk gets bumped, your laptop crashes during editing, or you get ransomware'd.

I'm not really a fan of cloud anything, but this is a case where it's trouble free, multi-user and safer. If it were critical personal information I'd avoid it, but this is erotica you'll give away or sell cheap.

 

[sr71plt]

Google docs is much easier than anything involving anyone's email. You're editing a document, and if other people edit it at the same time, it just works. You can leave comments on text for others to read. You're not fussing with copy/paste. I'd probably edit all my stories there if I was collaborating.

In the world of publishing, it definitely does NOT work to have multiple people editing in a document at the same time. There are times when technology runs ahead of functionality just because folks like to have new gadgets.