The Writing Life: reflections by a working writer.

Comments:

Well if you will be a writer, then one day you will have to show other people what you have written. The question is when ? and you can delay it so long that it will never leave your private desk. I’m not a writer – yet – but I have some ideas for stories that could turn out to be novels, theatrical plays or movies, and I have realised that I can benefit from retelling my ideas to some of my friends. The response I get from them I can take and develop my ideas further. I can hear from their reactions whether I’m on the right track or not. And there is a kind of magic about starting to tell a story to some of your friends. They might come back and ask you about this story! When you start telling about the story you have in your mind, you also have a motivation to continue writing and finishing it, so it becomes more than an idea.

What if someone steals my idea? Well some ideas are so obvious that it’s just a matter of time before someone will write a story about that subject. So you’d better hurry to be the first ! And even though I share some of my thoughts they do not have the hole vision of the story that I have. If I continually and often enough is working on my story, I will be way ahead of anybody who is trying to rip of my ideas.

And why not collaborate? The Two Noble Kinsmen was written by Shakespeare AND John Fletcher. At the time of Shakespeare it was not unusual that theatrical plays where written by several writers in collaboration. And today tv-soaps like FRIENDS are made up by a whole 12 member team of writers.

I have just started to write a novel together with one of my friends. I presented the idea for him and he could see some very interesting things in this story, so now we are teaming up. One of the benefits is that because we are two, the chance that the novel will be finished is 100 % up. We can inspire each other and easier see the flaws in our writing. We can test the ideas for each other. And it is easier to get the energy for writing – its funnier, and we get more work done !

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:21 AM

I think it's more complicated than this. In my 40+ year career I've had successful collaborations with writers and unsuccessful ones (just like marriage). There's nothing to guarantee success. As a scriptwriter, I actually prefer collaborations with actors, not with other writers.

# posted by

Charles Deemer : 10:26 AM

After October 31, 2006,
new posts are published at

The Writing Life II

After October 31, 2006, new posts are published at

The Writing Life II

After October 31, 2006,
new posts are published at