On co-writing
The diagnosis of osteoporosis released me from the fiery dungeons of a kitchen, where I worked in the catering business full time, to a life of relaxation, which some call retirement. But life goes on, and people need to occupy themselves.
Continuing a hobby, I created wonderful cross-stitch pictures. My house couldn't fit any more. Always looking for something new, I began composing songs and gave the go-ahead for several of the best to be made into demo's. After songwriting, I turned to poetry and once I'd exhausted every topic I could think of, a novel came to mind, loosely based on my life. Of course, I longed to have the novel published, but the road to writing a good story stretched ahead.
In 2007, I began to write my first novel, Still Rock Water. By the end of a year, I'd joined the Internet Writing Workshop .
My first attempts at writing were poor, to say the least. But the generosity of members at the workshop coached my efforts along, chapter by chapter, until the end.
Also, by reading other people's writing, I gradually saw things I'd like to emulate, and what to avoid in my own writing.
Edith Parzefall <http://www.edith-parzefall.de> and I met online in the Internet Writers Workshop, where we critiqued each others work. When I finished submitting one book, chapter by chapter every week, inspiration hit me to write a novel set in the future. I approached Edith to see if she'd like to join me in writing the action scenes–she's good at that.
At the start, we picked characters. Later, we ran a competition to see if anyone could guess which person write which character. We tried to keep them distinctive, although we went over each others work constantly. Here are the answers:
Cerridwen – Francene
Sasha – Francene
Raymond and Hugo – Francene
Trevly – Edith
Aron – Edith
Boris – Edith
I’d made a start on the first book and Edith jumped in and continued. She knew my style because she edited my first book Still Rock Water. She’s much better at writing about adventure and outdoor activities than I am, so I was glad she chose the men. All the characters get another chance to redeem themselves and of course experience karma. Chuckle!
I did all the character profiles, but Edith chucked them out the window as their characters grew. Still, it was good to have something to disregard.
Edith lives in Germany and I’m close to London. 1 hour apart. We work well together, gave respect and patience and sometimes sent more than 20 emails a day while we wrote scene following scene. I feel very privileged to be associated with Edith.
Edith wrote: Just one thing to add to Francene's explanations. It's very inspiring to write with someone else. Sometimes Francene might write a paragraph only to weave in a little back story or even setting and it might fire off a new idea, sometimes a complete subplot. And the other way round of course.
Francene wrote that she isn't good with action scenes, but we did rub off on each other. She wrote the fantastic girl fight scene at the party after the mudfights.
It's a very creative and inspiring process that also requires a lot of discipline and consideration for and from your writing partner. I would never have believed I could work with someone else in such a productive and fun way. And of course it was very rewarding.
We worked very fast and sent each scene to the other before she wrote the next one. Each of us responsible for certain characters. We discussed the overall plot but in chapter we could play, get the others character in trouble and see how she'd get out again. :-) Francene's original rough plot outline and character profiles quickly changed as we bounced scenes off each other. Most important is respect and tolerance while at the same time you feel you can address issues openly. Francene and I are very disciplined in that regard.
I think we never really stepped on each others toes and just in case we're both wearing steel-capped boots. ;-)
Here's what we eventually produced:
Continuing a hobby, I created wonderful cross-stitch pictures. My house couldn't fit any more. Always looking for something new, I began composing songs and gave the go-ahead for several of the best to be made into demo's. After songwriting, I turned to poetry and once I'd exhausted every topic I could think of, a novel came to mind, loosely based on my life. Of course, I longed to have the novel published, but the road to writing a good story stretched ahead.
In 2007, I began to write my first novel, Still Rock Water. By the end of a year, I'd joined the Internet Writing Workshop .
My first attempts at writing were poor, to say the least. But the generosity of members at the workshop coached my efforts along, chapter by chapter, until the end.
Also, by reading other people's writing, I gradually saw things I'd like to emulate, and what to avoid in my own writing.
Edith Parzefall <http://www.edith-parzefall.de> and I met online in the Internet Writers Workshop, where we critiqued each others work. When I finished submitting one book, chapter by chapter every week, inspiration hit me to write a novel set in the future. I approached Edith to see if she'd like to join me in writing the action scenes–she's good at that.
At the start, we picked characters. Later, we ran a competition to see if anyone could guess which person write which character. We tried to keep them distinctive, although we went over each others work constantly. Here are the answers:
Cerridwen – Francene
Sasha – Francene
Raymond and Hugo – Francene
Trevly – Edith
Aron – Edith
Boris – Edith
I’d made a start on the first book and Edith jumped in and continued. She knew my style because she edited my first book Still Rock Water. She’s much better at writing about adventure and outdoor activities than I am, so I was glad she chose the men. All the characters get another chance to redeem themselves and of course experience karma. Chuckle!
I did all the character profiles, but Edith chucked them out the window as their characters grew. Still, it was good to have something to disregard.
Edith lives in Germany and I’m close to London. 1 hour apart. We work well together, gave respect and patience and sometimes sent more than 20 emails a day while we wrote scene following scene. I feel very privileged to be associated with Edith.
Edith wrote: Just one thing to add to Francene's explanations. It's very inspiring to write with someone else. Sometimes Francene might write a paragraph only to weave in a little back story or even setting and it might fire off a new idea, sometimes a complete subplot. And the other way round of course.
Francene wrote that she isn't good with action scenes, but we did rub off on each other. She wrote the fantastic girl fight scene at the party after the mudfights.
It's a very creative and inspiring process that also requires a lot of discipline and consideration for and from your writing partner. I would never have believed I could work with someone else in such a productive and fun way. And of course it was very rewarding.
We worked very fast and sent each scene to the other before she wrote the next one. Each of us responsible for certain characters. We discussed the overall plot but in chapter we could play, get the others character in trouble and see how she'd get out again. :-) Francene's original rough plot outline and character profiles quickly changed as we bounced scenes off each other. Most important is respect and tolerance while at the same time you feel you can address issues openly. Francene and I are very disciplined in that regard.
I think we never really stepped on each others toes and just in case we're both wearing steel-capped boots. ;-)
Here's what we eventually produced:
My tip for writing comes from Desiderata: "If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time."