Advice on co-writing

thearchduke · Apr 23, 2019

Howdy folks,

I've signed on to do some collaborative short stories, each with a single co-author. I haven't done this sort of thing in years. In the past, my co-author and I would be in the same room, working in parallel or talking scenes through while one typed. That's not an option here, and at any rate it seems inefficient. So, I was wondering if the Absolute Write hive-mind had any helpful tips about this. Possible categories of advice:

Technology
Avoiding interpersonal conflicts/handling ones that do arise
Deciding order of byline
General pitfalls

Thanks a million!

pharm · Apr 23, 2019

Tech-wise, Google Docs is unparalleled for this, IMO! It’s such a seamless tool for working in the same document at the same time or in succession. It has a robust comment feature, a handy little in-doc chat window, and all the co-editing tools you would want from a word processor in the track changes style.

If you want to more closely simulate the aspect of working in the same room, I’d suggest typing in a shared Google Doc while running a voice and/or video chat through a cross-platform app like Discord. The audio quality is so much higher than a phone call.

Nerdilydone · Apr 27, 2019

Hm...for my short time co-writing, something I liked was having mainly one person be dominant -- it was her story, and I was helping it be the best it could. Having someone clearly being the inspiration source helped because it helped me keep my feelings out and not be controlling. It put boundaries on. But then again, I'm an editor-type, and you haven't stated whose idea the story primarily is. Anyway, having clear boundaries helps.

Advice on co-writing

thearchduke

pharm

profoundly de minimis

Nerdilydone