Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Collaboration

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. This month, as you know, we’re talking about the many ways to get outside your comfort zone as a writer, and hone those amazing writing skills along the way. We all have that little box we’ve built around our writing career, that list of things we know, things we’re good at, and things we’re comfortable doing—and this month we’re breaking down those walls, so we can grow in our writing experience and expertise, and become even better writers than we already were. We all know you’re already a pretty amazing writer, don’t we?

So far in our series, we’ve talked about things like switching from your favorite POV, changing up your genre, and even writing something completely different from what you’re used to… and today, I have a doozy for you.

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Collaboration

For most writers, this is something you wouldn’t even dream of doing. Why? Because we tend toward being introverted and mild control freaks, and sharing creative control means that we have to let someone else in on everything. We have to share. We have to work with someone, to be social when we’d rather sit in our jammies and write.

But you know what? Collaboration is one of the best ways I know, to make you think in an all new way, as a writer.

I am actually collaborating on a novel, as I write this. It’s on my list of things to do today, to write a couple scenes in the novel I’m working on with a friend of mine. So I know a bit of what it’s like, working with someone to write a story. I also know, at this point, that it’s extremely helpful having someone to work with, especially when you’re creating a world map and need opinions along the way.

Don’t worry though; I’m not saying you should write a novel with someone. Not unless you really, really want to. I’m saying that you should try it, that you should try working with someone to write something you’ve always wanted to write. Maybe there’s a story inside you that you need to get out, but you feel like it’s missing something. Find someone you think might be able to fill that gap, and work with them to get your vision down on paper. Whatever it is, whether it’s a poem, a short story, or a full-fledged novel. Just collaborate. Work with someone. Share thoughts and ideas and goals for your characters.

There are, of course, a few ways to go about finding someone to collaborate with. Hopefully, you know a few writers, or have a few friends who also write, maybe not as extensively as you do. I’m sure you know their work, and you know what they’re good at writing. That should give you an idea of who might be a good fit, for the story you want to write. You could also go to your friends, people who aren’t writers, but who you know have a story inside them. In that case, in many ways, you get to take the lead on the writing process, and show a bit about how it’s done. Whatever the case, you’d be working with someone, to write a story with a vision from both of you.

For me, it means working with a friend of mine, who actually knows a lot more about the genre than I do. He’s a close friend of mine though, so I already knew we got along and guessed that we would work well together. So far, it’s going well. I’m very far ahead of him in my writing, but since he’s not a writer by trade, that’s to be expected. In any case, we’re having a lot of fun, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I feel like I’ve learned more about myself as a writer since starting this collaboration, than I learned in the entire year prior.

That’s how powerful it can be, to start working with someone else. And that’s why I challenge you to try it.

[love]

{Rani Divine}