Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012

A couple of years back, I began, what I thought was a fun idea, with my blogs.  I would begin a short story—write a paragraph or so to get the ball rolling.  Then I’d ask my blog readers to continue on with the story by adding to it through their comments.  At the end of each week, I’d edit together what had been written thus far into a more cohesive piece.  This process would continue four weeks, at the end of which time, if the readers hadn’t finished off the story, I would and then would post the finished product for all to read as a writing collaborative effort.  Folks enjoyed adding to those stories.  Taking them where they wanted them to go.  Building upon what previous readers had added and then taking the story further. 

As a writer, I was surprised by how well this process worked, for I’d considered it aloud with other writers who said they didn’t think it would work due to such varying “voices” lending themselves to the stories.  But they did work.  In fact, the voices flowed seamlessly together to create imaginative stories.  I loved the twists and turns readers would have those stories take.  How, more often than not, I was impressed with the contributors’ creative abilities. 

But then, week by week, readers stopped adding to the stories, and I found myself having to write more and more of what was meant to be the readers’ stories.  Creating them into what I envisioned rather than letting readers, which is what I craved, mold the stories into their own creations.  As a result, those collaborative story efforts ceased.  I miss them.  The fun we had together, creating works that everyone enjoyed—contributors and readers alike. 

A number of months back, I asked readers if they too missed those joint efforts and wanted me to resurrect them.  I was told they did, so I initiated another story that ended up sitting there, basically untouched by others….  I wish things had turned out different.  That folks would’ve embraced the idea of once again adding to collaborative writing efforts.  But that wasn’t to be, so I again put the project to rest. 

I’m not criticizing.  Just lamenting a time that was a lot of fun and wishing it could have been resumed.  But time passes.  People get caught up in other things.  Time becomes precious.  Folks can’t afford to spend what little time they have on such trivialities.  That’s okay.  It’s the way things are.  Not right…or wrong…just…is. 

So why did I bring this up?  I’d been thinking a lot about those past joint writing efforts and thought I’d mention them and how I felt…that’s all.