Gotcha. Interesting. I can see how hashing out the Bible would be easier, but OTOH I'd think you'd want to leave some room for stuff to come up in the course of writing and then be added to the world.
one of the writers comes up with a relatively detailed outline; the other writer writes the actual novel.
Bleah. Really? Props to anyone who's done this, but I think my writing a novel off someone else's outline would be a recipe for disaster, because it wouldn't be my story in any way, so it wouldn't be the kind I tell well.
I know Emma Lathen, the mystery writing team, alternates chapters, which also boggles my mind, but differently.
Some of my fanfic collaborating friends do it Method style -- each take a character, improvise the interactions, and then edit the results. (If not very firmly edited, this way produces reams of in-character interaction that doesn't advance the story at all, but people can be too attached to to cut.)
But teams of long standing -- like Sharon Lee and Steve Miller -- must work in a different way, and I have no idea what that is.
I'd be curious. Wonder if they've ever discussed it at a con.
I know that when Steve Stirling and Shirley Meier were collaborating, they practically stood over each other's shoulder, taking turns at the keyboard and going back and forth (or at least this is what was said).
*nods* That's how I've co-written in fanfic, hashing things out aloud and having one person transcribe until their wrists give out.
I don't find it easier when working in a given canon. I find it harder.
Sorry, I was using unclear pronouns. Not easier to write, necessarily; easier to deal with a communal sense of ownership when it's a given canon than when it's yours alone initially.
I can't change or break things as the story also demands.
Come and play on the darkfanfic side of the force! They don't pay you, but you can change or break as much as you like. :)
I'm one of those writers who attempts to write what I would like to read
Really? I often write things I wouldn't pick up if written by someone else. Lord knows why.
With the Luna novel, there was a lot more conscious effort to achieve a certain tone and pace, and I have no idea if that will fly.
Is your Luna novel out yet?
One good reason not to: it turns a hobby into a business. It changes the nature of the writing process. I don't think that fanfic writers are wasting their time; my perception now is that they're doing something out of love, as all hobbies are done. Some people who are writing fanfic do want to get published, and they can learn a lot just doing the writing -- but I don't think one has to lead to the other.
*nodsnodsnods* Exactly. And of course, some people are already doing both -- though many of them seem to have guilt about the fanfic.
I love to talk about the process of writing, but not so much the actual work itself -- I live in mortal terror of being derailed or losing the sense of emotional immediacy that drives to write in the first place.
I worry sometimes that I'm doing that. But I can't imagine working on something as long as a novel and not talking about it with anyone until it's done.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-10-21 07:31 am (UTC)one of the writers comes up with a relatively detailed outline; the other writer writes the actual novel.
Bleah. Really? Props to anyone who's done this, but I think my writing a novel off someone else's outline would be a recipe for disaster, because it wouldn't be my story in any way, so it wouldn't be the kind I tell well.
I know Emma Lathen, the mystery writing team, alternates chapters, which also boggles my mind, but differently.
Some of my fanfic collaborating friends do it Method style -- each take a character, improvise the interactions, and then edit the results. (If not very firmly edited, this way produces reams of in-character interaction that doesn't advance the story at all, but people can be too attached to to cut.)
But teams of long standing -- like Sharon Lee and Steve Miller -- must work in a different way, and I have no idea what that is.
I'd be curious. Wonder if they've ever discussed it at a con.
I know that when Steve Stirling and Shirley Meier were collaborating, they practically stood over each other's shoulder, taking turns at the keyboard and going back and forth (or at least this is what was said).
*nods* That's how I've co-written in fanfic, hashing things out aloud and having one person transcribe until their wrists give out.
I don't find it easier when working in a given canon. I find it harder.
Sorry, I was using unclear pronouns. Not easier to write, necessarily; easier to deal with a communal sense of ownership when it's a given canon than when it's yours alone initially.
I can't change or break things as the story also demands.
Come and play on the
darkfanfic side of the force! They don't pay you, but you can change or break as much as you like. :)I'm one of those writers who attempts to write what I would like to read
Really? I often write things I wouldn't pick up if written by someone else. Lord knows why.
With the Luna novel, there was a lot more conscious effort to achieve a certain tone and pace, and I have no idea if that will fly.
Is your Luna novel out yet?
One good reason not to: it turns a hobby into a business. It changes the nature of the writing process. I don't think that fanfic writers are wasting their time; my perception now is that they're doing something out of love, as all hobbies are done. Some people who are writing fanfic do want to get published, and they can learn a lot just doing the writing -- but I don't think one has to lead to the other.
*nodsnodsnods* Exactly. And of course, some people are already doing both -- though many of them seem to have guilt about the fanfic.
I love to talk about the process of writing, but not so much the actual work itself -- I live in mortal terror of being derailed or losing the sense of emotional immediacy that drives to write in the first place.
I worry sometimes that I'm doing that. But I can't imagine working on something as long as a novel and not talking about it with anyone until it's done.