Looking for someone to write a book with!

[Kyran]

I'm not sure if this is the thread to be posting this in! I'm looking for someone who wants to work with me on writing a book. I have several ideas for a book, but I'm also open to completely new ideas! I like fantasy and sci-fi, but I could work with other stuff! I'm a very novice writer, but my grammar is excellent and I've been told my event sequencing is great (not so much my character development). I haven't had the chance to write recently and would love to stretch my creative muscles. I guess this wouldn't be anything to serious, I don't have deadlines for anything! Most of my experience is writing in first person past perspective, but I've dabbled in third person as well.

(Again, apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, I'm brand new)

 

[Brian G Turner]

If you want help writing your stories, just hang around here and join in the discussions for tips and useful information. That should help build up your confidence to write your stories yourself.

 

[Droflet]

Yeah, what Brian said. Physician heal thy self.

 

[Joshua Jones]

First of all, welcome to the Chrons!

In addition to what Brian said, may I recommend the Writing Challenges? These are excellent writing practice which doesn't take extensive amounts of time, pushes you to expand your boundaries, and offers the opportunity for people to provide feedback through the "Improving" threads. I highly recommend them for anyone starting out.

Other than that, the best advice I can give is be patient with yourself, identify fairly your strengths and (more importantly, IMO) weaknesses, and focus your writing practice on those areas of weakness. It's going to take time, but if you put in the work, you'll get there. If you would like help identifying writing exercises, I'll be happy to assist as much as I'm able and I'm sure others here could provide some excellent suggestions. But to co-author a story with you... I don't think that would be doing you any favors, either in the sense of helping you develop as a writer or in the sense of making something marketable. And, honestly, while others may help in making something more marketable, and indeed there are vastly better writers on this forum than me, I doubt it would help you as much as you may think. I think practicing yourself and with the challenges will do much more to develop you as a writer.

Again, welcome to the Chrons, and please don't hesitate to ask if I may be of assistance!

 

[The Judge]

Hello and Welcome to the Chrons!

First of all, Writing Discussion is exactly the right place for this kind of question, so no worries on that score!

Second, why are you looking to write a book with someone else? That's not a rhetorical question, but an attempt to understand what you think might be the benefits of working with another person who is a total stranger. Obviously, there are successful writing partnerships, and not just of the Famous Author having ideas and getting Unknown Author to do all the leg work kind, or ghost writers for social media nonentities who can barely spell. However, I'm willing to bet that those successes arise from people who have proven themselves to each other, are at more or less the same level of attainment and recognition and there's equality of effort and inspiration, and where there's a real spark between them personally.

If you simply want to stretch your creative muscles, I really think you're best writing your own work on your own. You have ideas, which is the first hurdle out of the way, so after that it's just a question of honing your craft!

Aside from artistic matters if you're working with someone -- how do you organise who writes what and when, and who decides on the plot if you can't agree? -- there are legal issues to consider. Who owns the copyright in the work if one thinks up the plot but the other does all the writing? Who "owns" the characters? If it's published, who gets what share of any profits? Who decides if it is published? Are you going to have a written contact or just a handshake? (Either way you'll make a lot of lawyers a lot of money if it goes pear-shaped.)

It is indeed possible to write with someone else, but I'd suggest you leave that until you meet the someone whose skill-set complements your own and who feels as energised by your writing as you feel about his/hers -- think of it as a writing marriage, requiring the same forethought and consideration. At that point you can look at the potential issues with a glad heart, but until then, I'd recommend you remain writingly-single and scribble away in your own garret!

 

[Kyran]

[[(quote)Second, why are you looking to write a book with someone else? That's not a rhetorical question, but an attempt to understand what you think might be the benefits of working with another person who is a total stranger. Obviously, there are successful writing partnerships, and not just of the Famous Author having ideas and getting Unknown Author to do all the leg work kind, or ghost writers for social media nonentities who can barely spell. However, I'm willing to bet that those successes arise from people who have proven themselves to each other, are at more or less the same level of attainment and recognition and there's equality of effort and inspiration, and where there's a real spark between them personally.(quote)]]

I definitely hadn't thought of the legal problems, I guess because I hadn't thought about making money from the book if that would even ever happen, but I guess I should think about stuff like that.

In my experience, I have thoroughly enjoyed brainstorming ideas with people on books, as well as working out even the tiny details of each situation in the book. I was hoping to find someone who I could communicate with, brainstorm with, and eventually co-write. When it comes to who would write what, I had a couple ideas. My first idea, and what I'm doing on my first book right now, is taking turns writing each chapter. That's only really possible because the book is first person and from two different people's perspectives, so it rotates each chapter. We go over each other's chapter and critique and fine tune them before we move on. I guess it would be more difficult to do that if the book isn't from two people's perspective, but that was one way I was thinking of doing it. I understand that mostly works best when two people's skills compliment eachother, like one is good with characters, and the other is good with situations, so I 100% agree with you there.

I feel relatively confident enough to work on a book on my own, and I am for one book idea I have, but I'm a hugely outgoing person (which I've heard isn't super common for an author?) so that and my experience in the past with working with others on books make me want to work with someone! I understand it seems like I'm trying to lean on someone else though sadly

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I’m outgoing too two author extroverts!
Writing partnerships can work but they normally build over time as you get to know each other, and your approach might well work with the right person.

 

[Joshua Jones]

I'll bring it to three extrovert writers!

If the goal is collaboration during the writing process, perhaps a writing group will give you the best of both worlds? You'll be able to collaborate with others and get that energy boost, but also write your own work so the legal issues @The Judge described aren't a factor... just a point of consideration.

 

[Kyran]

I'll bring it to three extrovert writers!

If the goal is collaboration during the writing process, perhaps a writing group will give you the best of both worlds? You'll be able to collaborate with others and get that energy boost, but also write your own work so the legal issues @The Judge described aren't a factor... just a point of consideration.

As in a legitimate 'writing group,' or more like ask some people I know to brainstorm idea with me?

Thanks for the advice btw!

 

[Joshua Jones]

As in a legitimate 'writing group,' or more like ask some people I know to brainstorm idea with me?

Thanks for the advice btw!

Either could help. It sounds to me that collaborating with people is something that motivates you to write. The sort of collaboration which avoids legal issues is the sort where you write your own work, and therefore retain all rights on the work. What I suggest is, if you can find a group of writers which are willing to meet regularly to discuss their ongoing work and provide feedback, you may be able to have the collaboration which helps you be energized to write while retaining all rights.

If you're looking for ideas, my recommendation is to look at past and present writing challenges and write within those parameters, or modify to your tastes if nothing comes from it. Many of us have published works or WiPs based on challenge entries. Another thing you could consider is writing scenes from your favorite shows, movies, video games, etc. as though they were scenes from novels as a way to practice without having to worry about ideas. From there, you could experiment with perspectives, moods, etc.

Either way, I look forward to seeing your work in the challenges and critiques! And you're quite welcome; advice is merely applied opinion, and we all know what they say about opinions...

 

[The Judge]

I agree with Joshua that a writing group may well be a way forward for you to improve your writing while retaining control and ownership of your characters and plot while you're waiting for Mr/Ms Writing-Collaboration-Right to come along -- have a look in your local area and see if there is a group that you can physically attend as and when it's safe to do so.

Meanwhile, if you'd like to brainstorm your own story ideas, it's perfectly OK for you to start a thread here in Writing Discussion where you set out what you've got so far and ask for help/advice on where to take it. We regularly have members ask for help in this way, and if you'd like to assist someone else brainstorm, here's a recent thread stuck in a alien world

But if you're looking to collaborate, you'll need to be able to impress someone with both your own writing and your critiquing ability. I second Joshua's comments about the Writing Challenges here, as those will help you hone your craft. We're between Challenges at the moment, but another 75 worder will be along in a week, and meantime it's open to you to have a go at old Challenges and if you'd like feedback you can put your attempts in the relevant Improving thread. As for your ability to critique others' work, go over to Critiques itself, read the entries there and the comments already given and perhaps offer your own.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

We're between Challenges at the moment

Apart from the August / September 100 Word Anonymous Challenge that is, which is in full swing