In case you were unaware and sat there wondering, “I wonder if this Michael Raven chap is up for a bit of collaborative something or another…” — let it be known that I generally am up for combining energies to make something bigger than I can do on my own, provided the chemistry is there.
There are a ton of possibilities:
- Distance song writing
- Collaborative poetry (with the exception of call-response poems)
- Collaborative short fiction (standard short story, flash fiction)
- Episodic longer fiction (including exploring epistolary literature)
- You write/read and I make music to your stuff
- You write while I brainstorm skeletal plotlines for you to flesh out.
- And etc.
Essentially, if you have an idea that you might like to explore working together on, all you have to do is reach out. It doesn’t have to be one of the above suggestions. Perhaps you would just like me to explore the idea of everyone suddenly growing yams from their heads? I’ll consider that, although that is plain silly and not apt to be very serious as a final product.
Just drop me a line below (I’ll nab your email with your permission from the comment record) or leave your information on my contact page.
Looking forward to hearing ideas.
37 responses to “Collaborative yaks”
there was a forum i frequented back in the early 2000s where me and friend and an online friend wrote a story together. I would be one character and my online buddies would the other characters.
For example: I would write “Hey Billy nice car” and maybe add some description. An Billy (the other buddy would reply and add description as well). We did a zombie story and a star wars story.
That sounds awesome. I’ve done some poetry along those lines with masked previous lines but not fiction. You probably had a blast writing it. 🙂
We did. Much like a dungeons and dragons thing.
Yeah, I was thinking World of Darkness (Vampire the Masquerade), so similar.
Are our styles too different?
The challenge of meshing different styles can sometimes be part of the fun. Sometimes it can come out a jumbled mess; other times, it can make a piece more interesting. People who are more interested in a bit of give and take, with a heavy dose of compromise usually don’t have issues with making it work.
I guess it depends: What did you have in mind? 🙂
As long as I don’t have to sing, I’m game for about anything. Can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
In spite of only really being able to pull off something called “singing” when I’m drinking or smoking (and I do neither anymore), my daughters are the only ones who have to put up with my sad attempts. But I can get away with it because they are mostly shanties and doggerel. 🤣
Think about it and float a few ideas. Probably shorter or smaller efforts to see if the creative chemistry meshes. Sometimes the personalities clash on creative efforts… 🙂
You got it.
Sing on. Sing on. 🎶
Creating poetry with someone else has always seemed to me a difficult task- my best poems are bouts of emotion driven inspiration that are to be capitalized on in the moment, which is generally hard to share. That being said, I have made a couple “trading lines” poems with a friend, though they never were very good imo. I’m always up for trying something, any creative human interaction at this point is valuable, though I’m not sure where it will go (and isn’t that the point 😂). I’m curious though- why the no call and response poems? What goes under that umbrella?
If you have something you’d like to explore, I’m within to try it if it sounds like it will work and/or send like something interesting to explore.
Traded lines fits into my definition of call and response. My disinterest in that “here’s my lines/stanza” stems from the fact that the result is almost always lacking in integration. They often seem like two poems mashed together, not a single, cohesive piece.
Can they be done well? Certainly.
Are they OFTEN done well? 🤣🤣🤣
I prefer it if the reader has a hard time telling who wrote what in a collaborative poem. That often means that no single line is entirely written by one person. It requires a bit of back and forth.
I’m up to try anything. This me a few ideas here or use my contact form.
We’ll figure something out. 🙂
Don’t have much experience in collaboration. But I’m up for something new.
I’m all ears (or eyes, you know what I mean). Gimme your ideas.
Hmm…I could email a few lines of poetry. Take it from there?
Sure, shoot me some lines and a general feel of what you would like and we’ll see if we can make something of it.
Sounds good. Let me look and see what I’m working on.
Are you still drawing?
I haven’t had much time lately. The kids have kept my nominal free time booked up this whole month. What little I have remaining has gone to writing or playing video games (and I’m going to get a severe backlog of games at this current rate). Things will start to calm down by the time school ends, so I’ll probably give it another go then.
On a different level, I understand about not have a lot of free time.
It’s always something, isn’t it?
That could be what we write about? The ‘always somethings’ in our lives.
Here’s an idea riffing on that concept:
I young woman goes down to the newly-minted wise woman/cunning woman on the outskirts of town. She rumored to be less expensive than the esblished one on the other side of town. She heard that some potion (love, beautifying, whatever) is pretty good for budget potions.
Only problem, the cunning woman is inexperienced and give the young woman a bad batch and, I don’t know… it turns her nose into a pig nose or something. And the cunning woman is all out of ingredients to make the counter potion, sending the young lady out (because she can’t leave her hut unmanaged during operating hours).
There ends up always being another hurdle to get the required ingredients, which leads to another and another. Three “trials” perhaps?
To make it interesting, maybe set it in modern small-town America instead of a Grimm Bros. milieu?
Let me know what you think.
Heck yeah
How’s this for a start?
Judy sat in her car looking at the address her gps sent her to with disgust. Not only at the appearance of the rundown structure; at herself. Now she knew how Sarai or Elizabeth felt in the Bible. That feeling of crying out to God for help but feeling like God had forgotten her. The years of being able to bear children were drawing to a close with rapid speed.
Women who already had families or that flat didn’t want them called her desperate. Cringe worthy. Or less than a person because she wouldn’t just buck her ass up and deal with the cards life dealt her. Pathetic! Looking down on her with the same attitude she was using to look at this dilapidated shop. Pathetic! What she was thinking about doing made glp1 shots look like child’s play.
Every picture, every story about new love and romance was about men her age or older dating 25 year olds. Starting new families. It was like once women became a certain age, they became invisible. Useless. Less than the already second class citizens status they already bore.
She could change that. Inside this scary hut was the answer to anger. It was her turn to show society that she was not less of anything.
The moment her resolve was set, the heavens opened up with a downpour. This wasn’t God telling her not to do this. It was God testing her dedication!
If this is not the direction you had in mind, no worries.
Cool. At first read it looks like something I can work with. I’ll see if I can get add something today.
Do I have your permission to email to you (using the email associated with your comments) a link to a working document on Google Drive once I get it set up?
Of course.
Please be patient with the less tech savvy me. 🤭
Not a problem!
I figure it might be better for editing and revisions to have it in an online word processor.
Sounds good.
If you sent me an e-mail, I didn’t get it. No hurry. Just making sure you have the correct information.
What e-mail address is associated with my account?
XXXXXXXX
I can resend an invite to edit the doc if it didn’t go through.
No, it didn’t come through. 🤭 I wasn’t being a rude person.
Sent it outside of “Docs” as a regular email. Let me know if you don’t receive it. It shouldn’t go to your spam folder, but check there just in case.
I got the e-mail. I’m having to reset my Google password to get in. I’ll let you know when I’m made it. 🤗
I’m in. 💪🏻
🥳 Whoo-hoo!