I have mixed feelings when it comes to collaboration. Sometimes it's everything you need. Sometimes it's the last thing you need. However, despite my reservations, I believe that people should do collaborative work.
If nothing else, do collaborative writing exercises. Write a story where you alternate paragraphs. If you want to get challenging, alternate sentences. If you want to get impossible, alternate words. You can also collaborate on ideas before writing them down. Come up with a whole story together, each one of you pitching ideas and keeping the ones that you both agree with.
Collaboration is difficult for two main reasons. The first is that one of you will have an idea very well-formed in your head, which you will not want to stray from (making you wonder why you're collaborating at all). The second problem is maintaining consistency.
The first problem is a matter of personal will. If you have an idea that you really want to pursue, then don't collaborate. You can ask for help or ideas, but it is not a group project in that case. If you truly want to work with somebody, side-by-side, then be willing to put aside your original ideas and at least explore the ideas of your collaborator(s).
The second problem is a matter of finding a good collaborator. This is far more difficult. A good collaborator has to have a similar writing style, a similar taste, a similar way of seeing ways unfold. They need to be your soulmate of writing. When you can get inside each other's head, you start working as one. You will be similar, but different. You can find the ideas that you wouldn't come up with by yourself, but still fit within your original idea.
One of the best parts of collaboration is that it forces you to work. You don't want to waste your partner's time, nor look like a slouch in front of somebody you respect enough to work with. Some people work best under a deadline. Some people work only under a deadline. If you are either of these people, give yourself a deadline of being accountable to your collaborator.
About Me
- Kevin Bahler
- I am a writer. A writer is one who writes. By the same logic, I am also a thinker, an observer, and a puzzle solver. I am a graduate from the State University of New York at Cortland with a degree in Professional Writing. The idea of the program is that one studies all three aspects of writing as a whole: Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and Rhetoric. The knowledge I have gained in those subjects is put to use in every aspect of my life. The worst thing a person can be is boring. I am most interested in people who can pique my interests. An example is people who can correctly use the word 'pique'.
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