All Together Now!

          Collaborating on a book is fun. Without going into a lot of personal details, let's just say that a multitude of inside jokes will arise between you and you fellow writers. However, it's also really hard: it makes the actual writing part look easy. What are some of the largest issues that may arise? Let's see:

• Communications: Texting works for shorter communications, and Zoom meetings work well for more comprehensive discussion. Email is the best way to share middling ideas, but I won't even go into the problems with that. And if the Internet is down, you're in big trouble....
• Meeting In Person: This issue gets smaller if your group is smaller, because there's less people all talking at once, and less people who can't come and have to be filled in later, and less - well, pretty much less everything, problem-wise. But the other rule is, the bigger the group, the funner the group.
• Creative license: And here we reach a problem that goes beyond logistics. Say you have eight people, each with an incredibly different writing style, and widely varying levels of experience. Or say one person enjoys using as few characters as possible, in as little time as possible, and another loves for books to cover months of time and have dozens of minor (some might say unnecessary) characters. Or say some people like description, and some enjoy a fast-paced story. Or say one person delights in dialect and bad grammar, and another is a "complete-sentences-even-when-the-teacher-doesn't-require-it" type. Or say one person loves purple for the creepy torches, and another wants green. Or say one person makes another person's character snore, and the person who actually created the character doesn't like that - AT ALL. (And no, of course I wouldn't be listing real instances here.)

          And there you have it: the three biggest obstacles that pop up when you collaborate on a book. There's more, of course. But through it all, the hassle, the hold-ups, the "just-one-more-week"-s, the thoughts popping up in your head: "What on earth will the rest of them think when they see this? This looks horrible!"; through all this, you will love every moment you spend with these kindred spirits, every new friendship forged, every old friendship grown stronger because of your shared passion for writing.