Seek a co-author, or fly solo?

[RotGtIE]

Well, here I am seeking yet more advice. My question is this; is it better to completely write your story from start to finish on your own, or with the assistance of a co-author?

In my particular case, I am about twenty-five thousand words into a story which seems like it might easily reach a six-digit word count by the end. Each day, I am able to churn out anywhere from one to five thousand words of prose which, with editing, I can be satisfied enough not to scrap. Trouble is, I'm only this comfortable with writing prose for an idea or an outline which already exists; as for coming up with new material to write about, I have incredible difficulty creating entirely new material out of the void. Individual scenes are something I find natural to craft, but the plots from which they spring don't come to me with anything like the same sort of ease. Worse yet, I only have roughly one-fifth of the entire story I'm planning to write properly outlined ahead of me, with the rest being only vague story arcs, in some cases consisting of nothing more than working titles. I'm afraid I'm going to hit a wall when I run out of template to work from, and I'd like to avoid any delays given the intended size and scope of the project at hand.

So I'd like to know what your experiences are in writing alone and writing with a co-author. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? What should I expect of a partnership if I decide to seek one out? How can I improve my ability to plan a plot and outline a story in the larger picture, if I decide to go it alone? I would greatly appreciate any recommendations.

[SimonLayton]

I'm a fly solo type of person, but almost always I share my ideas to someone and we end up tossing around more ideas for the work I'm doing. You can't come up with new materials out of the void. Original ideas are just recycled ideas combined together. Even an overused idea that's approached differently can become one. But because I write alone, I tend to work on small projects rather than large ones when working with people (be it a visual novel or anything collaborative) because I can't handle the scope and the stress. I know my limits and I know my pace, and the first thing I do is to get comfortable with what I'm going to write and how I'm going to write before writing at all, much less find a co-author who will be okay with my pace.

I've worked with someone who think and write similarly like me but still have a distinct style. We didn't have a problem with clashing ideas, but if we did, we found compromise. The work we did was a chapter-by-chapter thing (not exactly a novel), so we took turns writing the chapters. Our style is so similar, but from my perspective I can see what makes us stand out from each other. With a co-author half my burden was shouldered by them and it was a huge relief, but I became stressful because it was like having a deadline. My partner was working while I put it off to get some rest, and when they were done with their part of their work, I wasn't. They were patient, but I imagined they were tapping their foot on the floor waiting for me to finish up. Unlike writing alone where I can put away the project to get the amount of rest I needed (that is, if there's no deadline in the project at all), I felt like there was no vacation. That's my story at least, I'm not sure if it's the same for everyone else.

As for outlining and planning, just read and observe. Notice the common tropes and ideas in works other than yours, and maybe try to apply them to your own. Make charts, use flashcards, write character profiles if there are plenty of characters you're afraid that you can't keep track of all of them. If you're going solo and stuck, it's not a sin to seek out people who will bounce ideas with you. If you're in a team, approach your lead writer or director and say, "I'm stuck, a little help here?" If you have a vague idea that you like but think that's as far as you can go, either you keep it to yourself and wait for it to grow, or throw it out and have people help you. Writing alone doesn't mean you're going to shoulder all the work.

[Lexer]

Fly solo but get an editor. Someone you trust to give you good feedback. Someone you can bounce ideas off of.

The difficulty with having a co-author is having to seek compromises between two people working in the same narrative space. Unless that's the entire point of the work, best avoid it.

[Godline]

I've sought co-authors before, and I work really well as part of a writing team. HOWEVER, so far all the co-authors I've worked with (and there's been a bunch) have deserted me after 2 weeks, and usually earlier than that.

Except one. She was pretty good.

But yeah, I might like co-authoring again one day, but I don't trust half the people who post up saying they want to write, because they usually don't stick around long enough to actually do anything.

[LinovaA]

I am the fly solo kinda guy, but I always always always bounce my ideas off my other writer buddies that I talk with all the time. I like to get their feedback and they always have a few cool suggestions here and there that help me out a bunch in the writing process. Of course, they know I will be there for them when they need someone to bounce ideas with, so it works out rather nicely for both parties.