How much control would you want as co-author

[Fluxx]

I was fiddling with the idea of getting a couple of co-writers to make the writing process faster, but before I even do that I kinda wanna figure out the general consensus here.


I have a theme for each route and each (True) ending needs to show what that theme is.

If you are a co-author would you like to write being limited, having to follow plot points and possible endings or would you like to write with control over what happens in the route?

[ZennyZenZen]

If I were your co-author, I don't mind my writing being limited. In fact, I think that's what I signed up for. Basically I expect you to have the story down and I just help you word it correctly, comment on the scene or event, or write down my own suggestion.

Basically, you're the boss, and I'm here to help you get what you want.

I'm actually offering writing help right now, see the link in my signature.

[Kuiper]

If you are a co-author would you like to write being limited, having to follow plot points and possible endings or would you like to write with control over what happens in the route?

It's going to vary from person to person, so I'd recommend discussing this topic in some amount of detail with the people that you're working with. "General consensus" among writers at large isn't as important as what's going to work best for you and the person that you're directly working with.

If you're the head writer overseeing the project, I want you to have a certain amount of veto power. That's what the entire point of a hierarchy is, and as much as "flat" organization is nice and romantic and admittedly quite fun at times, there's a reason that teams tend to have a single manager, companies tend to have a single CEO, and titles like "lead writer" and "creative director" exist. If I respect you as a writer enough to begin working with you on a project, then I respect your judgment to make decisions over what goes into that project.

That being said, you have to be prepared for the possibility that writers will encounter problems that you didn't expect. Sometimes you don't find out what the problem is with the roadmap until you begin to follow it. Something that seems emotionally powerful in your plot outline may come across as hamfisted when it's actually written out. When your writers encounter problems like this, you want for them to have the creative agency to come back to you and say "Look, this isn't working out, can we try something different?"

I personally like situations where we can have a bit of back and forth. When working on others' writing projects, it's very common to get a specific list of plot beats to cover, but at the same time I often retain a lot of agency regarding how the characters behave on a micro level. That, in most cases, gives me the agency I need to make sure that characters' motivations match up with the events of the story, and avoid problems of incongruity. However, sometimes I find situations where I could write the story as prescribed, but there's another direction for the story which seems more alluring. And at that point, I go to the lead writer, explain what is going on, explain what modifications I'd like to make to the outline. Sometimes, those changes get approved, and sometimes, they don't, and I have to work within the constraints I've been given. And honestly, that's a process that I describe as "fun and interesting" more often than "frustrating." It's like a puzzle that I get to solve with words, and I quite enjoy writing words. (It's why I became a writer.)


In general, I've found that it's better to have fewer hard-and-fast rules, and more important to make sure that you match up with your writers when it comes to the philosophy, theme, mood, and tone of the piece that you are trying to achieve. If you can reach a shared understanding of that, then it's very likely that when your writers do come back to you to say "I think this is a problem," you'll be able to quickly agree on a solution.

If you're truly starting from a "blank slate" (with only "themes" to guide the direction of each route), and both you and your sub-writers are working with the expectations that they will be doing most of the planning for what goes into each route, I still think it would be good for you to work with them to figure out what the content of that route will be before you turn them loose and let them get into the thick of things. If you have disagreements with your writers, discover those disagreements as early as possible so that you can address them before too much sweat, blood, and tears have been committed to them. "I don't like this portion of the outline, we try something else?" is a heck of a lot easier to stomach than "I don't like this 5000 word scene, can we try something else?" Realize that some of these moments (where you need to axe something that someone spent 2 hours writing) are likely to occur (and almost inevitable in the context of a project with the scope you are describing), so you should do everything you can to minimize their frequency.

[Mad Harlequin]

If you have disagreements with your writers, discover those disagreements as early as possible so that you can address them before too much sweat, blood, and tears have been committed to them. "I don't like this portion of the outline, we try something else?" is a heck of a lot easier to stomach than "I don't like this 5000 word scene, can we try something else?" Realize that some of these moments (where you need to axe something that someone spent 2 hours writing) are likely to occur (and almost inevitable in the context of a project with the scope you are describing), so you should do everything you can to minimize their frequency.

I'm going to add to this: don't mislead your team by sitting on your hands and telling your writers something different from what you really think. Be honest from the start.

[Ernestalice15]

Actually, I think you just need to find the right person to do that job. Personally, if I were your co-author, I would like you to be the one in control, not the other way around.

Your job -> Decide the overall story, the feel you want to make, but detail is up to you, you can decide it, too, or not; checking the progress, checking if every writing is as similar as possible to what you have imagined, give feedbacks if it's not.

My job -> Listen to you, write down the setting detail and have you to agree on it, if not write it all again; write every chapter and have you check it, rewrite if it doesn't match your taste, until it's finished.

And the most important thing in this, is a good communication and honesty, and that should be started from you.

Just sharing my experience. I had a project, where I just wanted to practice in my writing, it's not for me but for other person who wanted help in story writing, so I just decided to do it. But, basically he didn't give me deadline, rarely asked me for progress, didn't check what I wrote from beginning to the end, and when I asked if he had researched anything, he asked me to do it for him, and that just really put my motivation down. The story itself really sucks and I will rewrite it later on, but maybe it's just not for him. I don't want to work with people like that anymore. Because, if you want to gather people, and you're the boss, it doesn't mean you can sit down and let others to do work for you when you do nothing. So, be careful when you want someone to work for you.

[Shinoki]

I've done co-authoring before (for a fanfiction, which may or may not be forever in my pile of stuff that I feel awkward looking at nowadays). It's a little different from visual novels, but we worked together and discussed the outline of the scenes and found compromises that both authors liked.

It'd be difficult to discuss every single scene in a branching visual novel while writing it, so I think having plot points set out would be good. Things like--important events that affect the overarching story that will happen no matter what are important and important events that happened before the story, etc. Things that the player's actions don't really change. Otherwise, if I were to co-author, I'd like to have creative freedom.

[Fluxx]

Lot of good advice here. Well it seems most people would like to have an outline and a little creative freedom which is good because I've finished the outlines for all of my routes. The only other question would be how to set deadlines and word counts for everyone. I have no idea how to figure that out and some routes may be longer than others.

[BreakingMachines]

Lot of good advice here. Well it seems most people would like to have an outline and a little creative freedom which is good because I've finished the outlines for all of my routes. The only other question would be how to set deadlines and word counts for everyone. I have no idea how to figure that out and some routes may be longer than others.

Here's just some general advice working with deadlines as a group from my experience working as a creative director for games in my game development classes.

Communication is SUPER important. Communicating with the time, motivates you and your team, and you can get feedback right away if a problem arises early on. Be as detailed as you can from what you want exactly. With writing there can definitely be more wiggle room, but definitely here's a series of events and scenarios I want to work within.

Secondly, determine the capability and talents of each team member.

You need to know how capable each member of your team is, ask exactly what are the strengths, what they like working on, what are their weaknesses, and what they excel in. Once you know this you can determine how to flaunt that skill.

Know exactly what they can do in a certain amount of Time:

You should definitely ask each team member how much they are able to write within a certain time. Once you've determined how much people can write within a certain time limit, you should negotiate with the group to what's a reasonable amount of time to work on what for each route. Seriously don't bite off more than you can handle, sure writing a path could probably be finished in a few weeks, but if you want it polished and of the highest quality it takes time, especially if some members write slower than others. Know that there will times when you have to adjust the schedule, for a variety of reasons.

For the longer routes try splitting it into two separate deadlines.

Work in crunches and sprints, check up on your group at least once a week to check progress on the group, to brainstorm ideas, get closer with your teammates, and find out what could be improved.

[Ernestalice15]

As told above, communication is the key for working in a group. For deadlines, I usually ask my team about when they can finish the work, also about their main daily activities that can interrupt the project (such as work, school, family business, etc.). If you want it done quickly, then perhaps you should choose someone who doesn't do much works somewhere else. And if you have found that person, just make the deadline for first chapter first, and you will know how much each chapter will take your time. Not the exact amount, though, but you will know it roughly. As word count, I don't think you have to decide this, because you won't know before you try to write down the details.

[ImmaDeker]

Of the few VN projects I've tried, one was hell because someone just wouldn't fucking tell me what he wanted. I had a TV pilot I worked on with the same problem too, in that the producer didn't want to "hinder creativity" but rejected everything for not being what he wanted.

No touchy feely bullshit. Have an actual objective in mind for your co-writer to have.