Avoiding Co-Author Catastrophe

Many issues can crop up during the course of a group-written story. From authors butting heads on plot lines to the dreaded writer’s block, a co-write can go awfully wrong very quickly or, even worse, go absolutely nowhere at a glacial pace. While some of these problems frequently plague multi-authored stories and, as such, have a multitude of workable solutions, there is one important issue, though rare, that seems to have been overlooked: What do we do if an author leaves the group?

How Multi-Authored Stories Work

On Mibba, there is a built in multi-author function for stories. This allows multiple users to share to a story. When authors are added, all authors can edit and work on all portions of the story - including, but not limited to: all information on the story info page, all chapters and author’s notes, story layouts, and adding/removing authors. Authors can even change who gets credited for any specific chapter.

Once a person is added to a story, their username will come up under the authors tab (like here). It’ll remain there, adequately giving them credit for their contribution, until the user is removed as an author. Unfortunately, once that’s done, any credit given to past authors has to be added manually. This is why it’s so important to enter group-writes with people you trust.

Making a (Respectable) Exit

There are many reasons why a person may leave (or be asked to leave) a group story. No matter the reason, it’s important for group story participants to come up with a contingency plan for how a story will continue on.

Some things to consider when a member is leaving a group-written story are...

• if the author will allow the work they’ve submitted (or characters they’ve created) to remain in the story.

• how the author will be credited for the work they’ve done so far.

• what will happen if the author doesn’t feel comfortable leaving their work up.

When you first start your group-write, no matter how grim it may seem, be sure to tackle these issues first, so there’s no confusion or bad feelings later on.

Also be sure to clearly map out how and when it would be appropriate for the group’s members to respectfully ask an author to step down. No one likes being asked to leave a project, but if the need arises, you should all agree on what would constitute a fair warning. Hopefully, with those things squarely mapped out at the start, hard feelings and outcries of unfairness can be prevented.

Can You Vote Her Off the Island?

Writing a story is hard work and sometimes not everyone is up to finishing it. If, for some reason, a member of your group-write isn’t living up to their expectations, it might be necessary to ask them to step down from the group. This, obviously, can be a hard but necessary topic to approach and should always be handled with tact and sensitivity. But, before you give your co-author the boot, there’s a few things you should know.

When you decide to start and work on a group story, it becomes shared property. This means that all members of the group are equal owners of the story. Because of this, you cannot remove an author without their permission. The work belongs to them just as much as it does any other member and you cannot take their work away from them. If you and your group members would like an author to stop working with you, you need to ask and that member needs to agree.

Understandably, you might wonder if this is still necessary if the group agrees to take out the chapter(s) that user wrote or remove the character(s) they created. Even if you do this, you would still need to get permission from the author before you remove it. As anyone who’s worked on a group-written story knows, there’s much more work that goes into a story than submitting a chapter or character. Most likely, the user put work into other parts of the story that cannot easily be removed, like plot development and other planning. Because of this, it’s imperative that an agreement is met before anyone is ‘forcibly’ removed. It’s a tough thing to deal with, but it’s only fair. You wouldn’t want to be the one forcibly removed from a piece you worked hard on, so please refrain from doing that to others. More often than not, an agreement can be reached between the group members that allows the story to continue on.

Giving Credit

If an author is ultimately removed from a multi-authored story, they will no longer be automatically credited on the story’s authors list, so the group must figure out a way to credit the author for the work they contributed. This can be done in a few ways.

Long summary: If the author helped with creating the story, the plot, the summary, the layout, etc. you should always leave a note crediting them in the long summary. Something as simple as: Many thanks to one of our former writers, Mibba McMibberson, for writing with us throughout our first 10 chapters.

Author’s note: If your group-write is shared chapter by chapter, be sure to credit them for each chapter they’ve written or contributed to. You can do this by adding a quick author’s note to the end of the chapters. Something like: Written by Mibba McMibberson in the chapter’s author’s note would be suffice.

Just try to keep in mind that no matter how things may have ended between you and your co-authors, everyone deserves credit for the work they put in.

If All Else Fails

If a member of your group-write is leaving (or you feel like you’re being unfairly pushed out), remember that you can come to an admin for help. We’ll do our best to help the whole group come to a solution that works for everyone.

Also, feel free to message an admin if your co-writer disappears, becomes inactive on the site, or cannot be reached. We'll help you come to a solution that's fair for everyone.

Some Final Advice

Here’s a few final tips on creating a co-write situation that’s safe for everyone.

• Always work with users you trust and respect.

• Settle important crediting and ownership issues before starting your story.

• If you have participation requirements or timelines you’d like the group to stick close to, get it sorted out at the start and revisit and tinker with it often. Remember that Mibbians often have lives and changing commitments outside of the site and it might be necessary to adjust your expectations to fit new schedules.

• Communicate as much as possible. Communicating frequently about your group’s needs (whether it’s related to the story’s plot or the time members have to devote to the story) is very important to keeping everyone happy and the story functioning. Don’t keep your fellow authors in the dark about issues you may be having with the story and don’t disappear without keeping the other authors informed.

• Be forgiving and flexible...to both the other authors and yourself. Sometimes a co-author won’t be able to make deadlines. Sometimes you’ll hit the dreaded writer’s block. Be understanding of times like these and give each other some wiggle room when needed. Don’t be afraid to pass on your turn to someone else or ask for help if you need it. Sometimes this is better than stressing over a chapter or indefinitely holding up the story’s progression.

• Save your work off-site! This cannot be stressed enough. Stuff happens. Sometimes the site glitches and sometimes a malicious co-author might go on a deleting rampage. When things like this happen, it’s always a huge relief if all the story’s chapters have been saved somewhere off-site. This will make it much easier to rebuild your story. Always try to encourage (if not demand) that all authors of the story, at least, save their own chapters off-site. If it can be agreed upon, you should make sure a full copy of the story is also saved somewhere off-site, just in case the unthinkable happens.

Important Links

• Group Written Stories forum
• Group Written Stories Forum Guidelines - if you have more tips or concerns, you can post them here.
• Knowledge Base: Multiple Author Stories

If you have any concerns about co-authoring a story,
feel free to post in the comments section or send an admin a private message.
We’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible.

_{Thanks to Katie Mosing and milo.angel for help with putting this together
and Goddess_Of_Muse and elixir for editing.}