Collaborate for success…
In my experience, the very best collaborator is the one in your head.
Why is the very best collaborator the one in your head, you ask?
Because the collaborator in your head is the one you can control. You, the author, get to be boss of:
- When and how fast the writing happens
- How characters behave, including the dialogue
- The scenery and how it harmonizes throughout the story
Just like any job you hire on for, there has to be a strong leader and a more malleable follower in order to complete a cohesive picture that flows from beginning to end. Without a leader, dare I say the one who had the bright idea in the first place, you get an abstract that invites the viewer to flesh out the meaning of the story. You get gibberish. You get unfinished business.
I know this because I’ve been one side of a collaboration three times. Here’s what happened:
The first time I paired up with a fellow writer that lived about a thousand miles away. We wrote through snail mail.
It went well. We had a great story going. Until life happened and it petered out. Our priorities changed and one, or both, of us left the room.
The second time I got bit by the collaboration bug, my partner was my drama queen mother. We were camped in the Wenatchee National Forest and being the home base for my daughter, the corn hauler.
The story, ‘The Corn Rots at Midnight’, was on an excellent roll as Mama the leader, and me, the typist/follower. We were into the first edit when the corn hauling job was over and mama lost interest. I didn’t have the confidence to take over and go it alone.
The third time I took it on was with a long-distance cousin. But this time we had email to communicate.
Yep, it was my idea. Over our 30-year span of genealogy penpaling, she’d not mentioned her desire to be a writer… until that one time. I glommed on and suggested we collaborate on a Vella serial. I had 20+ successful publications under my belt, including the editing, and grabbed the bull by the horns. She expressed fear and concern over spelling and grammar. I assured her that I had that bug in the jar. It’s time to flap her wings and soar.
We sprinted out of the gate into a bang-up story. Our characters were quirky and striking. The suspense captivating. With our history of genealogy, the story was aptly titled, ‘The 156-Year-Feud Between the Murphy’s and the Nobles’.
Again, we were on a roll. But my cart raced while hers was in sightseer gear. She felt rushed and ran over. We had our first misunderstanding in more than 30 years of being friends and sounding boards.
Sadly, that 156-year feud will never be settled. And, at this writing, we’ve both lost a dear friend.
Will I give collaboration another shot? If I do…
Here’s what I will do to collaborate for success before the preface gets written:
- Clearly define each of our rolls as with a job description
- Discuss and agree on goals and time expectations
- Decide the procedure for settling creative differences in a positive direction
Writing is a business. It has to be operated and respected as a business to be successful.
Choose your collaborator with cautious optimism. And don’t forget to lighten up; have fun at every switchback while you’re careening up and down that mountain.
Happy Collaborating,
Alexie Linn
For a #1 experience…
