My blog post today consists of my personal interest in writing as a collaborative process and how together 9 authors delivered something out of the ordinary with outstanding professional conduct under a 24 hour time limit. You would have read previously from blog posts below about the 24 hour process and what came about it – the book ‘Willow Patterns’. I have a very big interest in books, and to see what they have become and what they are capable of these days is so much more than I would have imagined for the future of writing. I can’t believe how technologically advanced we are these days and what endless possibilities seem to arise through simple group projects.
The 9 authors gathered at the State Library and began their work to write a book within 24 hours. The stories they were writing was posted online to allow readers to watch the story unfold and to submit ideas, suggestions, and contributions across all different media outlets. Simon Groth mentioned why a decision was made to write, edit, and publish a book in such a short time, explaining it as an ‘experiment', an exploration of how the digital process informs and influences collaborative writing and editing in a combination of face-to-face and screen-to-screen’ (Groth, 2012, p. 4). Collaboration is one of the major words that have come about from the 24-Hour project. It is because without constant collaboration between these authors, face to face and online with readers, this book would not have come about. By constantly uploading versions of their stories online, the authors allowed people within the community to make suggestions, comments, and assist in the process themselves.
Collaboration for this project went much wider when it stopped being just author to author; instead it became face-to-face and screen-to-screen, author to author, author to editor, and book to audience.
Collaboration was one of the main concepts for this project. Collaborative writing is not huge in narrative fiction, with only a few books being written by more than one writer, and barely more than three authors. To prove that writers do love working together and bouncing ideas off each other, they met physically in one place, constantly discussing their stories and the progress they were making despite the pressure of the 24 hour time frame.
It must have been quite easy for all the writers to participate in this project as they are passionate about the same thing: writing; being in that room full of knowledgeable, smart, and creative people would have been an interesting and unique encounter. According to Mclaughlin (2013) there are 7 traits associated with remarkable writers, and I must admit I am envious:
1. Diligence
2. Patience
3. Faithfulness
4. Learners
5. Givers
6. Readers
7. Purposeful story tellers
I envy the patience of writers, and how easily they read. I love reading and always have, but I haven’t picked up a book in months (excluding Willow Patterns) which leaves me a little disappointed in myself. I would blame a lack of free time or simply forgetfulness, but that just seems like a childish excuse.
Spring, M (1997) offers a really interesting site which talks about the collaborative process and what it means to authors, specifically the 9 authors - (a bit of a dated article on collaborative writing, but I am sure the concept of collaboration in writing hasn’t changed much in the past few years). It appears the collaborative process of writing face-to-face, screen to screen, etc. was a successful collaborative process experiment. From reading this article, and from the response they received from the community, it is clear to me that these 9 talented authors achieved what they set out to do. They established a goal beyond the tangible using a collaborative effort, and divided writing tasks evenly between them. All were to write 1 chapter in 24 hours relating to a various outlay of topics that were given to them which included mentioning a librarian named Sammi Bernhoff, a beautiful vase, missing children, a looming disaster and radio shock jocks.
They communicated ideas verbally but also digitally on the event and involved a vast array of people to contribute to the writers’ ideas of their chapters and what they should include, and how they were going throughout the process as well. Effective communication is imperative and I think these writers got it right! The concept of delivering a book edited published and everything else in 24 hours is mind blowing, and they did it with the collaborative effort of 9 authors writing vigorously, editors spell-checking madly, and the watchful eye of the public to assist.
So if you haven't already, read the stories that were produced in such an amazing fashion. And maybe start to think of what you could do in under 24 hours that couldn't normally be done. What would you try and do?
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