I got some great questions this last week and will try to get to them one at a time. But relating to the last few posts I have made, I want to talk about collaboration. And the question of how I do it and how do I keep my work fresh and my own when working with others.

Let me start off by saying that officially, on book covers and behind the scenes, I have written books and stories with more people than I seem to be able to count. Not kidding I’m afraid. Why? Because not only have I done the collaborations with the authors on the covers, but I have also gone in and rescued a bunch of books by other authors, which is a collaboration. In fact, I am working now on a project that the author did the first half and I need to finish the second half as a rescue. I like doing things like that because it is a challenge to try to even come close to matching another author’s voice.

On the first Spider-Man novel, it has David Michalanie’s name on the cover with mine, but he only wrote a one paragraph idea and I wrote the book. I have never met David or a dozen or more of the other collaborators I have written with, including a number of bestselling writers and a number of Hollywood movie stars.

Also, one fine weekend a long, long time ago, ten of us got together and tried an experiment. We, together, wrote two novels that weekend and one of them actually got published under a well-hidden name. Except for that weekend, never once have I ever wrote a book in collaboration with the other author in the room, or even offering feedback in the process. Not once. One way I keep my fiction my own, even when writing with another person in the mix.

So, how do I work with another author? Depends on the project, to be honest, and very few projects have been similar. I suppose the most traditional collaborations I have done have been with my wife, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Our names are on a lot of books together, and under the pen names Sandy Schofield and Kathryn Wesley.

We started off convinced we would never collaborate on anything. We come at story in very, very different ways which always seemed to lead to shouting on one side or the other. To this day we can’t brainstorm ideas together. I’m fairly certain this has more to do with us being different types of writers versus being married. Fairly certain.

But one day back in 1991, when offered the chance to do a Star Trek novel, we worked out the issues very quickly. And what we came up with was that I was more comfortable with plotting and she was more comfortable with characters and setting details. So we did what I now tell other authors to do. We went to our strengths.

I plot the book (mostly without any input from her for fear of arguing) and then write a very rough draft, about 1/3 of the length of the final book, doing all the plotting, basically setting up where everything has to be done and how. I love doing that and find it easy. Then Kris takes the draft and fills in the characters. She likes it since she doesn’t have to work on the plot. She calls it coloring between the lines and she’s fast and good at it.

So we go to our strengths and both do what we like to do. And it has worked for well over twenty novels. But warning, on some of the books, Kris did more than I did, and on some of the books, I did more than she did. Can’t tell from book to book, but not all the books are balanced. Nature of collaborations.

Now some words of warning about collaborations Unless you can find a writer at your same level, who complements you perfectly in style and likes and dislikes, there is no logical reason on the planet to collaborate. None. Write the book yourself. It is easier.

And if I can’t stop you, then for heaven’s sake, have a contract between the two of you before either of you write word one. A very good contract that states who is responsible for final drafts, who gets do the work of marketing, who gets to do the work of proofs and copy edits if the book sells, and things like that. And how to split the money exactly. You will thank me later.

Now, how do I keep others out of my work when collaborating? Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes collaborations such as the book with David that I mentioned are original novels. With Jonathan Frakes, all I had was a cover and wrote a book around the cover. Other times, it’s not possible to keep the other writer out completely, such as the book I am working on now where the other author wrote the entire first half and then had an issue so I stepped in. The key is realizing how much exactly the other author will be involved when you go into a project. And know what you are capable of doing and not capable of doing in writing situations.

I have sold over ninety novels, so I have a pretty good sense of what I can do and can’t do, where I know another person is going to be in the writing process and when they will not be. With Kris, she’s not involved in any of the writing I do, and then when I pass the book to her, I’m not involved any more at all. I don’t even look at it again. Next time I see it is in Safeway.

And that brings me to the last point. Ego. If you have an ego about your words, think everything you write doesn’t stink, and that every word is golden and no one would dare touch it, then stay the hell away from collaborating with anyone. With collaboration, you have to do the best job you can while writing, then let go completely.

And I do mean completely.

If you start caring what your collaborator is doing to the book, chances are you will lose a friend and just might end up in the police station having a mug shot taken.

Collaboration is not a thing to try, especially for any writer with ego. If you must try it some day, wait until you have a dozen or more novels published and then only do it with an enemy you hate. And have a good contract and a good lawyer.

You think I’m kidding. Nope. I have collaborated with half the planet at this point in time. I know what I am talking about. Don’t do it.

Remember the old saying about collaborating on a novel. It is twice the work for half the money.

No truer words have ever been said.

Cheers

Dean

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