So many ideas, so little time! Any authors out there want to play in my sandbox?

[TimothyEllis]

I was just talking to Elspeth Anders about book ideas.

So many ideas, so little time! Any authors out there want to play in my sandbox?

I explored the possibility of more co-authors last year, but it never eventuated to anything, as the ones interested were too busy doing their own thing. Scott Sakatch came on board for a single collaboration, and it only wet my interest further. So I'm still open to it. And a lot of successful authors are doing it now in their own universes.

I'm looking for co-authors who can write a core story in my universe, using my ideas or original ones I like, with me filling in the stories however they need extra, and doing the editing and presentation. eg. Elspeth can't write space combat, and simply wrote 'space battle here' for me to fill in later.

I'm also interested in fan-fiction writers who want to step up to writing for financial reward as co-authors in my universe. I'm not interested in fan fiction, but using the talents of good FF writers to write the core stories for so many of the ideas which at this stage, will never be written otherwise. They need to stick to pure canon, and be prepared to be heavily edited if need be, but the better the writing, the less I'll need to do to it during the editing phase.

Ditto ghostwriters who would like to be co-authors for a change.

Authors dont even need to be Sci-fi/Fantasy writers, as I believe any core story can be adapted to space. Scott wrote detective for me. All it needs is willingness to learn the canon, liking the universe enough to want to write in it, and a willingness to let go of what the final story looks like to a degree.

Ideas at the moment include several beginning stories for existing characters, secondary character stories in both galaxies, and the potential to build completely new extensions to the existing series in both galaxies.

Things like the Alpha Team need a prequel story, the Apricot Mapping Service operates in 2 galaxies, and what happened to Custer before Jon found the ship? What did the Alpha Team go through on Pompeii? Where is Thorn now? What is Burnside doing now? Duck Wars? Warspite? Owl and Bat revenge? Saurian wars? Not to mention the rogue AI.

Too many ideas, and none of them will ever get written without some help.

Private message me if you're interested, or get someone you think might be interested to drop me a line.

And as this guy never said:

[Bill Hiatt]

I hope this idea goes somewhere. I'm way behind on my own schedule at the moment, but I'd like to see a lot more coauthoring projects bear fruit. I think it opens up interesting possibilities.

[Hopscotch]

You're inviting folks to join you in co-authorship projects?!  I'd rather invite in the plague.  My one co-a effort cost me an agent, my oldest writer friend and a charge of public duelling.  None of us could agree on anything.  But best of luck to you, and I'll stand over here out of the combat zone.  

[TimothyEllis]

You're inviting folks to join you in co-authorship projects?!  I'd rather invite in the plague.  My one co-a effort cost me an agent, my oldest writer friend and a charge of public duelling.  None of us could agree on anything.  But best of luck to you, and I'll stand over here out of the combat zone.

It doesn't have to be that way.

I have 2 co-authors now, and I had discussions with some potentials last year, which went nowhere in the end, but out of which I learned a lot.

Not being able to agree is in itself a good thing. Its tells you to stop, as this isn't going to work. You either get broad agreement up front, or you don't. If you don't, there is no point in going forward.

Also, someone has to have ultimate control of the process, and if a co-author cant let go enough to give it to the primary author, they shouldn't be trying to co-author.

The process involves a lot of discussion up front to see if it is going to work. Sadly, it wont work for everyone. We just have to see.

[T. M. Bilderback]

Timothy, if only...

I don't write anything closely related to space operas.  However, I think more co-authorships should be done, and I'm always open to it, if it's a genre that I feel comfortable writing in, and if the terms are open and upfront.

The fun thing would be collaborating on combining characters from different authors.  I can't help but wonder how much better the original version of my novel The Night Chicago Died would have been if the other characters' creator had actually contributed to the story.  Instead, it would up as a Kindle Worlds novel, and I'm grateful that I've gotten it back!  It forced me to create my own characters to replace his.  {sigh}

But...I AM still open to co-authoring, should it ever arise!

[Al Stevens]

I've had four co-authored non-fiction books, all with me as primary and all traditionally published. Two of those projects were with the same co-author, and we worked together in the same office during the projects' duration. Those books turned out well. The other two were with people I never met. We collaborated via e-mail. One of the books wound up in competition with one of my sole-authored titles and the other one was a disaster. Disjointed, no continuity, some topics irrelevant. Following its publication, my co-author put out his own version of the work, using a lot of the format and content I'd authored during our collaboration. I could have claimed plagiarization and won, but he used the same publisher, and litigation would have impacted my relationship with them.

So, my results were 50-50. My conclusions are that I would probably not do it again and certainly not as secondary co-author.

[VanessaC]

I find it interesting that so many successful indies are moving to co-authoring as a way of continuing to build in their own worlds. It's absolutely not for me at this stage - I don't have time between the day job and my own writing.

It seems to me from what Tim and others have said, that the critical thing is a lot of planning.  For something that could be a long-term partnership, that would work well. A few years ago I attended a talk by Nicci French, who is a husband and wife partnership, and they talked about their writing process, which was really interesting.  If memory serves, they had lots of back-and-forth, but it was a genuine partnership where they had baked into the process that neither one of them had overall "control" - if one made a change, the other had to respect it.

[She-la-te-da]

the critical thing is a lot of planning

That right there would knock me out of the deal. I don't like planning to the level this sort of thing would require. Besides, I have too many of my own ideas to get done, and at the rate I'm going, being immortal isn't going to be long enough.

Still, good luck in finding someone, Timothy. Others have done/are doing it.

[Al Stevens]

Imagine the mess if a plotter and a pantser decided to co-author a book.

[TimothyEllis]

Imagine the mess if a plotter and a pantser decided to co-author a book.

I think that could work quite well. 

[TinkSaid]

I would read that story about a plotter and panster. Thinking rom/com? Although, could turn out to be murder.
There's certainly ready made conflict there!

As a side note, this thread brought back a faint memory of watching a documentary on the British comedy, Blackadder, co-written by Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis & Ben Elton. IIRR, they were asked how they shared the writing process, and the reply was something along the lines of who ever had least work on during that period tended to write the script's bulk. The draft script got passed around, with each writer adding or elaborating. They had only one rule. If one of them thought a line didn't work, they took it out and that line remained out. No explanation; no argument, no bad feelings.