Collaborative Fiction: Writing Novels as a Group

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Writing is often depicted as a solitary craft. When you think of a writer, you often imagine a lone person facing their computer screen, typing away with no care of the outside world.

It’s a perfectly valid way of writing, but far from the only one. Some writers like to work with others—discussing ideas, plotting stories, and building worlds. This is called collaborative fiction.

What is Collaborative Fiction?

Collaborative fiction is when two or more writers work together to develop a single piece of literature. This involves active involvement between the writers, who may focus on different aspects of the story, such as plot development, character creation, and worldbuilding.

Authors might take turns contributing to a story or co-writing it in real time. Whatever the case, it takes a lot of brainstorming, regular feedback exchanges, and reworking to create a cohesive story that satisfies everyone involved. 

This is different from a shared universe, where multiple writers create multiple stories that exist in the same continuity. However, collaborative fiction can exist in a shared universe as the close proximity of their stories often leads to authors teaming up to write a single piece of fiction that still occurs in the same universe. 

Examples of Collaborative Fiction

Here are a few successful examples of collaborative fiction.

1. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The world is ending next Saturday and the armies of Good and Evil are amassing for one final showdown. Everything’s going according to Plan but two particular beings—one angel, one demon—would rather not have the world burn. 

Worse, someone’s misplaced the Antichrist! What do two blokes need to do to find one living nuke and avert Apocalypse?

2. The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

Two detectives investigate the bombing of a leftist magazine and the disappearance of its editor. Following a trail of memos, they dive deep into a world of secret societies, conspiracies, and violence.

3. The Expanse by James S. A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck)

Humanity has colonized the solar system and yet interstellar travel is still out of reach. Traveling through the system is debilitating without the help of special drugs.

With the planets largely isolated, tensions are rising between Earth, Mars, and the outer planets. The solar system is tipped to its breaking point when one ship stumbles on a secret that could change humanity forever.

4. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Two young boys are at opposite ends of a violent event. One is almost beaten to death while the other bears witness to it. As the whole town begins taking sides, the two boys must make decisions and face consequences they’ve never even thought about before.

5. The Floating Admiral by The Detection Club

In a sleepy seaside town, the body of an admiral is found floating adrift on the vicar’s rowboat. The victim has been stabbed in the chest, but no blood stains the floor.

It falls to Inspector Rudge to solve the mystery. But not only must he find the murderer, but he must also determine whether the victim is who he really is.

Full list of authors: Victor L. Whitechurch, G. D. H. and Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald A. Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane, Anthony Berkeley, and G.K. Chesterton.

Kinds of Collaborative Fiction

Collaborative fiction isn’t limited to books. Whether it’s a screenplay, poem, or game, as long as multiple writers worked on it, it’s collaborative fiction.

Take play-by-mail games (PBM games) for instance. Participants take on a role and send an email to the rest of the players, with a few paragraphs about their actions and reactions in the story. The others would then add to the story but from the perspective of their own characters.

Even tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons have a collaborative aspect. Though the Dungeon Master readies the general campaign, the players’ actions and decisions help write the entire story. 

Another is the experimental “wiki-novel” A Million Penguins by Penguin Books. It was supposed to be like Wikipedia, where anyone could add any content to the book. Unfortunately, no cohesive story was ever made as it was targeted by vandalism. However, it did demonstrate the possibility of something written by an entire community. 

Even fanfiction writers are known to collaborate on sites like Archive of Our Own and FanFiction.net. 

Why Do Writers Collaborate?

There’s a belief that two (or more) heads are better than one. When collaborating, writers can bounce ideas off each other, cover their weaknesses, and consider multiple viewpoints. 

Collaborating then becomes an avenue of learning as each writer benefits from the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Having an extra pair of eyes to check on your work also doesn’t hurt. 

This could result in something that is complex, well-researched, and satisfyingly detailed. Well-distributed tasks also keep the work light for each collaborator, giving them more energy and drive for the sections they’re responsible for. 

And sometimes, it’s simply fun to work with others. It opens up the opportunity to form personal and professional friendships that make the craft less lonely. 

But too many creative minds could also ruin the story. There will definitely be points of disagreement in the collaborative process, which could result in nothing ever being written. Friendships might even turn sour due to the added emotional and mental strain. 

This is why strong communication, a well-thought-out work system, and mutual respect and trust are important in collaborative fiction. Without these, things could easily turn chaotic and you’ll be left with nothing to show for it but headaches. 

What other examples of collaborative fiction do you know? Share them in the comments below!

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