Category: Writers Block
It all started when I wrote a TLM story and posted it on a fan site. Someone read it and liked it so much they e-mailed me and asked me to write a sequel with them. They didn’t want it to end. I agreed and we talked about how we would write the story.
I wrote the first part and sent it to her. She loved it and started working on the second.
The trouble didn’t start until I received the second part. Her ideas were fine. And when I heard my screen reader read it, it sounded good. But when I actually saw how she had written it, it was a visual mess. Punctuation wasn’t in the right places, she didn’t capitalize anything and sentences ran forever.
I tried to talk to her about it, but she didn’t seem to care. She even said she never cared about things like that.
I guess my thing is, I’ve never written with an author like that before. I’m used to writing with people who know basic grammar and spelling rules and use them well. I can see if she had a few typos here and there, I even had some. But not putting periods or quotes where they belong and not capitalizing things is a little much.
I want to concentrate on my next part of the story. I don’t want to have to practically rewrite her whole first part.
My question is, what do you think I should do? I don’t want to back out of it because I have great ideas for it and I don’t want to seem rude or mean. But I don’t want to have to spend time rewriting every one of her parts while trying to figure out what I want to write for my own.
I welcome any and all advice anyone can give me.
Thanks!
Hmm, Co-writing anything is difficult, because no one person is going to share an exact idea. My suggestion is, if her writing was so horrid, you could either fix it, or continue writing your own sequel, while taking care to integrate some of her ideas, that way she knows that it wasn't her ideas you didn't like, simply the manner in which they were presented is all.
Or, perhaps, you could simply write your own sequel and well .. not share it with this particular person, if you wish to spare her feelings. As for me, I am very protective of my writing, yet at the same time, I enjoy watching others turn my ideas in to products I'd never have thought of on my own. Like, allowing one's baby to be raised by people from a totally different background than you, and seeing that the finished product isn't all that bad.
Good luck.
I would just take the time to edit it, and if there is no money involved, who cares whether the other co-writer enjoys it or not? It's your work.
If you enjoy her work and ideas so much, you'll make the sacrifice to edit her work. And if her sentences had no punctuation, how did it sound fine when you read it with your screen reader?
Or maybe you can hire or obtain a volunteer editor? Just a thought.
Send me a sample of her work through pm or e-mail--a paragraph or two perhaps. I'll analyze it and see if I can help you out. Sound like a good idea?
That's a frustrating situation. Stories are however, always about the ideas first, the manner second (I find anyway.) I say keep it up. It's frustrating that she isn't willing to make the effort to punctuate properly, but then again maybe she's just not that good and doesn't want to admit it. Either way, I recommend rolling with it. Edit accordingly if you like, but keep writing - the both of you. The big thing about co-writing is having an open mind. When the story is finished, it is finished. Wiether you edit in between chapters or at the end, the writing is important, if for no other reason than to keep you writing.