Anyone Want to Collab? · 5:32am Nov 7th, 2019
Heya, folks!
This is a very different kind of blog. I'd kinda like to tag DaD on it, but it really wouldn't be fair since it has nothing to do with the story.
I'm sure most of you have seen (if not read) the two collaborative sister stories Dear Princess Sunbutt by 2Merr and To: Anon, From HRH Sunbutt by Snow that have been jumping in and out of the Featured Box's 'updated' section for the past... what, just over a week? Personally I'm a big fan; the two of them are doing a great job.
If you have been reading it, then you also noticed that (in my opinion, at least) a few of the letters have become more episodic on occasion, lasting over the course of a few days. It gave me an idea.
Now, I have no idea if 2Merr and Snow are actually speaking to each other and collaborating on these letters or if they're just winging it based on what the other is writing, but it made me think— what if we had two authors (or if we really wanted to make things complicated, possibly three or more) collaborating on a long-term ([adventure]-tagged, maybe?) story narrated by way of letters, but having no idea what the other was planning? No outline as a guide, no anticipated ending, no discussion between the authors off-scene. Of course, an ending goal could always be suggested in a letter, but then an alternate could be proposed. Depending on various ideas, this could potentially be something that could go on indefinitely. If/when one goal is met, another becomes discovered.
I realize doing something like this could cause issues if one author wants to go one way and the other wants to go another. I'm sure there are plenty of issues that could arise. This would need to be between authors that can trust the other(s) not to go completely off track and totally derail their idea just because they don't like it, or write letters that turn into debates in the narrative saying why they think what the other is doing is a bad idea (or something to that degree).
I'd really like to give this a shot, though. Of course, the collaborator would need to be someone dependable and committed to the story. Someone that signs onto the site (usually) daily and can be trusted not to delay it. There are a few people I think would be really good at this, but they're either people I already speak to somewhat frequently and am not sure if I can trust myself to not talk with them about it 'behind the scenes' (I mean, if any of you—and you know who you are—think you could pull this off, by all means tell me), or they're people that I'm not sure if they have the time or energy to commit. But if anyone wants to give this a shot, let me know.
For those of you reading DaD, no, I'm not using this as a way to stall in writing that story. I'm waiting for my editor to come back from a lengthy business trip and help me go through at least to chapter 57 before I start publishing again. I believe it's another fair point to take a publishing break if necessary. The good news is, I've written as far as chapter 66. The bad news is, I haven't written far enough to find another decent break point (if I need it), and I'll want to do that before I start publishing anything past chapter 57. I know it sounds like having written so many chapters would give me plenty of time to publish weekly chapters, but more than once there will be multiple chapters published at a time, because they can't really be broken up. It would only leave me with another month's worth.
So anyway, if anybody likes (and is willing to try) this collab idea, let me know.
Until next time, folks.
— LD
If I was more of a writer than a editor in my spare time, sure. Alas, it is not so.