Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

--How do you feel about collaborations?

Very, very, very, very shy. I'm not good at them, to be honest, in a way that I think reflects poorly on me--the few times I've collaborated I've tended to drag stories off in my chosen direction, or worse, to forget which parts were mine and which the collaborator's and take credit for ideas that aren't my own. o_O I really admire people who are able to collaborate smoothly and well!

Not a lot of writing this week, it's been mostly spent suddenly realizing I've run into points in both long stories where I don't actually know well enough what's going to happen next and I've been scrambling to figure it out. I THINK I've got it hammered out and I'm hoping to find time this weekend to sit down and write it up and see! How about you?

Comments

[me_ya_ri]

I'm with you. I'm extremely reluctant to even consider doing one. I know how I work and it's a rare writer that I can successfully collaborate with.

That said, a friend and I RP every day, writing stories between the two of us. They're never released and are mostly smut but hey, that's fun. And I had one story that I started collaborating with another writer. It looked like it was going to be great but we differed greatly on how to handle a key character and she dropped off the internet so it died. *sighs sadly* Was still fun while it lasted (SGA/SG1 story, FYI).

Writing has gone pretty well this week. I missed one day this week so I'm behind on my goal for the month. But I finished the current novel! *cheers* It turned out about 2000 words less than I wanted but being me I know that I'll add more than that when I go back and edit it. I just can't help but add words when I revise.

Of course, that means I have four novels and something like three short stories backed up for publication. I'll probably work on submitting the short stories to magazines but that's still four novels to publish. *laughing groan* Being productive is good but sometimes it's not. *shrug*

I'm thinking of writing DCU fanfic to clear the mind before starting another novella next week. Or some more short stories. We'll see what happens. Good luck sorting out your issues--I'm looking forward to the next few chapters! :D

[prince0froses]

I have ALWAYS wanted to collaborate, and successfully. One of my most cherished creative dreams is to find a partner I mesh with and build a world together. Every time Tal and I have tried in the past, he gets possessive of his ideas...rather than being comfortable with me building on them and then him building in return, he gets frustrated with me for deviating from his original (painfully stagnant) vision. And then on the flip side I move too fast, have too many ideas, want to flesh out ALL the things, and he feels like I leave him behind in the dust. Meanwhile I want someone to push me faster because I can linger on the same scene forever but never work out what happens next.

I wouldn't mind a collaborator who forgot which parts originally belonged to whom...that's what I wish for. The 'possessiveness' I described drove me nuts because it wouldn't just be one person or the other's, it would be ours, so we share the credit. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett have often spoken about Good Omens, one of the best collaborations ever, that way.

I still really want to one day find someone I trust to collaborate with. Someone with a good 'improv brain' (I took a lot of acting classes, by that I mean someone who doesn't get slowed down by things building on themselves...the first rule of improv is that when your partner says something, your respond with "Yes, AND this too..." instead of negating whatever they said). And someone whose skills compliment mine - I'm good at character development and worldbuilding, I need someone who will give me something to DO with those characters and worlds, someone who will ask me questions that need answering and lead me to the right place. You know, they wouldn't even have to be good at plot, just once again, improv brain - two people who aren't great at it but who keep bouncing ideas off each other could built a plot way faster than one person groping in the dark. And, oh goodness, someone who will actually communicate with me if we're having a problem rather than let resentment build - at the time of Tal and mine's last failed collaboration, it took him weeks to admit to me he was upset about the direction I wanted to take the story...meaning in that time he'd allowed me to take it even further in the direction he didn't want. It could have been salvaged if he'd just spoken up.

Sorry to wall of text, but I've wanted this so badly, have tried it with Tal and a few other friends before him, and it never ever worked and it's always made me sad, so I have a lot of feelings. I don't think I'll ever stop wanting it. And that said, he and I still RP sometimes, but that's not even remotely the same.

To answer how my week has gone, not well, but being physically incapacitated is behind it for the most part. I'm so wrecked that even thinking about the work is a challenge. But I'm healing. Slowly. Toooooo slowly.

[mithen]

Collaborating is really hard! Just...syncing up is really difficult sometimes.

Writing has gone pretty well this week. I missed one day this week so I'm behind on my goal for the month. But I finished the current novel! *cheers* It turned out about 2000 words less than I wanted but being me I know that I'll add more than that when I go back and edit it. I just can't help but add words when I revise.

Yay! *throws confetti* I'm pretty sure you'll make up those paltry 2000 words, yes. :)

Ooooh, I approve of some fanfic as a palate-cleanser! Yes!

[mithen]

And, oh goodness, someone who will actually communicate with me if we're having a problem rather than let resentment build - at the time of Tal and mine's last failed collaboration, it took him weeks to admit to me he was upset about the direction I wanted to take the story...meaning in that time he'd allowed me to take it even further in the direction he didn't want.

Oh, that's such a shame! That happened with Rai and I a few times too, but there at least we could (sadly) blame the language and culture differences. And with Dan sometimes I'll emerge from a reverie and we'll realize I've taken off in an unexpected direction, but unless he thinks there are real ethical/logical problems with that direction, he generally is willing to shrug and let me gallop off with the idea. :) "The House of the Earth" is one of the only times we really, truly clashed, because I kept writing basically romantic-slavery (you know, fantasy slavery, which I kind of love with my id) but the world was structured on a pretty close metaphor to actual historical slavery, so eroticising it was really ethically dubious at times. (I think I wrote "Vaster than Empires," the one where they switch off being that kind of fantasy pleasure-slave, at around that time to get it out of my system)...

I'll be thinking healing thoughts! *hugs from afar*