You know the rub, you see the posts, you hear from them, the 'writers' from afar who want to - ahem - coauthor with you...One tends to avoid said offers and approachments like the plague. One tends to...
I have started a secret other life as a writing mentor and talent assistant. I'm not sure how it happened but people appear to think I have talent and know things. Well, OK, if you say so! I can live with that, I suppose. Thank you! Buy some of my books then, or at least download them illegally, I know they're out there, some of those who downloaded during my freebie-fest have been very - ah - generous with my book. No, you're welcome, I'm not in this for the money! I don't even charge or ask for anything when someone comes to me for help. I could, I suppose but I see it this way. I have been given a talent; let's say that, for the sake of argument, from God. I have the ability and the opportunity to exercise and use my talent to spread what I consider to be a good message across the world....you see there is no better a hope for a frustrated writer than that; that somebody, somewhere will completely understand your message and that it will change them, maybe even through them change the whole world! That's what we want right? Remember M. Night Shyamalan? He is a frustrated author you know. Watch Lady in the Water again, look at the role he gave himself (yes that is him)...
"Story: Do you want to know your future?
Vick: [yes]
Story: A boy, in the Midwest of this land, will grow up in a home where your book will be on the shelf and spoken of often. He will grow up with these ideas in his head. He will grow into a great orator. He will speak, and his words will be heard throughout this land and throughout the world. This boy will become leader of this country and begin a movement of great change. He will speak of you and your words, and your book will be the seeds of many of his great thoughts. They will be the seeds of change.
Anna Ran: [incredulous] The cookbook?"
That scene, as I watch it, makes a tingle wind it's way up and down my spine, I get a shiver in my blood. Isn't that our dream? Isn't THAT why we write, in the hope that this will one day happen. Not that Bryce Dallas Howard will come visit us in the guise of some weird mermaid and tell us our future but that we will one day write something which will have that sort of an impact. Say you don't and I will call you a liar. If you didn't have the ambition to influence people, you would be keep it your ideas to yourself right? You wouldn't be here. To quote one of my characters "It's ok for you to lust after and WANT power but at least be honest about it!" Right? OK, glad we cleared that up!
So back on track. I have this talent, I have this desire to do things with it and I have others who encounter me and believe I can help them arrive where I have or help them along the way. I have a responsibility to help as much as i can then. I did not pay for my talent so I cannot charge to assist others, make sense? OK I am selling my books but I've got a family, bills so forth...give me a break ok? I often make a joke in groups or email; "this is your One!" in mockery of a certain arachnid superhero represented when rescuing a certain robust adult comedy cartoon character..
It's not entirely true of course, but I am a fellow who likes to jape!
Well I am finally getting to my point at long last, sorry I usually take this long, it's normal...I try not to do it in my writing and am currently exercising very concertive efforts not to wander too much in my writing. I am having mixed results, as you can see!
So, a great member of our group and a very talented writer asked me to look over his work a few weeks ago and I, of course, agreed. His story, or the beginnings of it was very good and I enjoyed it. A few corrections in case and grammar here and there but that was it. He's a very talented writer; he just lacks both confidence and practise but he's good and he's keen. He sent me his ideas and we discussed them, I liked the freshness of his ideas and his enthusiasm. One day, he asked me to help him with Show not Tell exercises and I was glad to. I gave him some wickedly complicated ones because I am me. Now, I am not one to follow The Rules as many of you will know. I have the odd clash or two with those who seem to be slavishly devoted to them; that your story must be structured in this way, your book covers must follow a certain pattern, you must be inside of a certain genre or thing. I really don't like that, art must be dynamic and we create as we see fit and wish. We cannot all become sterile copies of the same now can we? OK one must know the rules of the language in which one writes, this is normal and logical. Follow the laws of grammar yes indeed you must; unless you're writing poetry, or certain types of dialogue, trying to be emphatic or in one of those situations where the rules of grammar appear to have been suspended. I teach folks the philosophy of "know the rules so you know which ones you are breaking".
OK, I did it again! So my new friend joked that it was my turn after a particularly hard exercise I gave him and I decided "what the hey! I can't ask people to do something that I, myself, will not do. That's hypocrisy, I hear and I hate that stuff!" So I just went with the flow and came up with something, I threw him a curveball to see what he was made of and let him continue. The end result with a two part dialogue, two scenes - first one of an internal dialogue from the MC, the second of some other characters discussing his internal dialogue (more on that later) as well as revealing some of their backstory. The scenes were lovely, shiny and very neat plus we stayed on pretty much the same page. Nice to see someone as twisted in their imagination as I am (see, that is NOT correct grammar but it is an archaic artefice for emphasis - love alliteration!), this is very refreshing. He later asks whether I would like to collaborate on completing the story with him and I agree. We flesh out the background and come up with some convincing mythology and character placing. I go away, with the intention of sleeping but end up writing two thirds of the prologue/opening background of the story and it's excellent. All this when I have a poetry collection in the pipeline and a novel to get started on next month. Hey ho I love the world we're creating and may well have a go at this. It's amazing how the teams works sometimes eh?
I was always of the impression that a writer was a loner; I've always been one but then I formed a very successful partnership with my wife and produced some excellent little results! Them I thought about all the successful collaborations;
Just a couple of examples but very good ones all the same. I am of the opinion that Sir Terry (Om rest him) and Neil's created together one of the best books which ever was. In the realm of delightful and twisted wicked creativity, Sir Terry and Neil created a work of underappreciated brilliance. Why? Several reasons.
Of course two heads work better than one. This is obvious and clear, there are many examples and proofs in world of this. Here is the rub though, when it comes to writers this is very RARELY true. We are solitary creatures, jealous of our secrets and mistrustful of our contemporaries. We tend not to get on, it's in our nature. We are often outcasts and misfits who used writing as an escape or a channel for our negative feelings and thoughts. We got through some seriously tough doo-doo and decied that we needed to share our experience with others to save them the suffering we had had. That made us a little bit disfunctional on the social scale. So it is rare that something incredible happens; two writers become friends, and get on to start with. That the twisted imagination they have cultivated over the years is actually compatible with another writer for two and, finally, that they have a shared vision which can translate into a story they both can write.
This is what has happened so far. I have a feeling that we have, between us, created quite the potentially great piece of writing. With my love of the mythic and ancient lost knowledge and his snappy contemporary dialogue and insightful ideas. We work well as a partnership (except that I have ridiculously low amounts of free time and an odd schedule!) and I think we have a good title in the pipeline; once our title has an actual Title of course!
So, can collaborations work or are the few which have the tiny proportion of exceptions to the hard and fast rule that writers should really avoid the company of each other? Can they work every or is it a myth? Is my love of exaggeration getting annoying yet? When will I realise that I'm not funny? Am I a talentless hack with a very high opinion of himself? Find out the answers to these questions and more more next week! Or whenever I get round to it....
The solitary hunter hunts always alone?
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