Had an interesting phone call with a friend in the Great White North about writing in general, and the art of story telling in great detail. Turns out our styles are similar enough that we admire the other’s work, and can probably write together, and in a way that meshes both of our strengths, without producing something that reads like a Round Robin free for all. And yes, I have mentioned this before on the site.

At the same time, we approach the craft, character development and dialog very differently. I imagine this writer takes lots of notes about characters, settings and back story before starting. My habit is to map high level plot points, and do a very brief scene outline, i.e. hero finds body in a bathroom, note in killer’s hand on mirror mentions hero by name. I might spend a lot of time on the ramp up process, taking ten thousand feet snapshots. Or not. In the end, though, I let the characters reveal themselves through their actions, revise the outline on the fly with respect to plot, and avoid a commitment to character specifics until they demand to be colored in.

But the bottom line is that a natural synergy between us very possibly awaits. If we let it.

The question: will a project happen. Possibly. I hope definitely. However, he’s marrying this fall, and starting on his novel. I have mine to finish and sell.

Basically I’m at a loss as to how to get to the next step, but open to suggestions. My instinct says whip up a rough synopsis and outline for a story idea we discussed, hand it off and see where it leads. Second idea: write the first scene, planning be damned. The freedom of that approach might be so different from our usual model, it will spark the initial interest and get the project off the ground.

Thoughts?