So, I came up with an idea for a series, which I think might be worthwhile to write. It mixes concepts from several of my favorite types of stories and I think it will turn out to be a good tale overall.
I mentioned it to my wife while riding in the car. We are both writers and met twenty-seven years ago at the local writing guild. We’ve been friends ever since. I value her opinion on things as she understands writing and what it takes to get an idea out of your brain and onto the page.
She likes the idea and is willing to help out. It can be good to have someone else who understands the creative process that you can bounce ideas off of and force the creative churn that is needed to birth a new story.
The problem comes when two creative minds are working on the problem but coming at it from different directions. She started asking me questions about the plot and characters, most of which I don’t have answers for yet. The questions need to be answered, I just don’t have the answers right now. I’m still percolating on the idea.
Today she started naming things – the world that the story takes place, the name of the protagonist, the name of a secondary character. While I appreciate the input, I’m not a the stage of story development that I want to start naming things. The name she wants to call the protagonist I think fits better with the secondary character, and she thinks the same but vice-versa. She is so insistent about the naming she wants to make a bet that she is right and when the story gets sent out to beta readers she is certain they will agree with her.
We’ll see how things develop. Maybe she’s right. I don’t think so, but I’m willing to be open to the possibility.
Generally, though, this is why writers don’t collaborate.
(Yes, I know there have been multitudes of writing collaborations throughout the years.)
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum