Teamwork

[RobertScorpio]

I found most of them very interesting to read because, on a few, you could get see the styles both brough...bravo to all who did this!!!

Rob

[PSGarak]

Thanks, Rob!

[Gibraltar]

I've discovered that using the shared document function on Googledocs is a huge benefit to working collaboratively. It allows you to work on a document simultaneously, and using it in conjunction with an instant messenger program allows you brainstorm in real time.

[RobertScorpio]

Gibraltar wrote:

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I've discovered that using the shared document function on Googledocs is a huge benefit to working collaboratively. It allows you to work on a document simultaneously, and using it in conjunction with an instant messenger program allows you brainstorm in real time.

Huh, I didn't know they had something like that. Thanks for the tip...

Rob

[JustKate]

PSGarak wrote:

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Just Kate, your and Thor Damar's story had such amazing scope for the word limit and conveyed a great deal of what I like to call "painting around the edges". There was much more implied than was said, and I loved that. I found the interview with Spock dead on to Spock's voice and the illusion that there were all these different documents and interviews out there really compelling.

Thanks so much - that's exactly what we were hoping for, really, and we are talking about doing more along those lines. It was Thor's idea entirely - it's one of the things that lured me into this little project, although that it was Thor doing the asking didn't hurt any either - but it immediately made me think of one of my favorite mystery books, The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers and Robert Eustace. It isn't one of Sayers' most popular books - I expect because there's no Lord Peter Wimsey in it - but I've always loved it, so when Thor proposed something similar...well, I just fell for it.

Hmmm, I've heard of Googledocs - never used it, though, and I never thought of using it for this. I shall ponder this further. Thanks, Gibraltar.

And thanks for the kind words, Rob.

Which does bring up something else - PS and Nerys as well as Count Zero and _r_ tried (or so it seems to me) for a seamless construction where you couldn't tell, stylistically, who had written what. I couldn't, anyway, although in the case of PS and Nerys I could make a reasonable guess at some parts based on the themes and characters. Thor and I deliberately decided not to do that - which turned out to be a good thing since he is so good at speechwriting, whereas I most certainly am not (sounding like the precise and logical Spock comes a lot more naturally to me than rousing oration, alas ), and of course there are few things that feel more natural to me than a journalism-style interview.

But how did the rest of you divvy up the writing?

[Count Zero]

We used Google Docs, too, although it's a pain in the ass that the section for presentations and spreadsheets has a chat function, but not the one for documents... We had to share a spreadsheet so we could talk to each other.

Although we originally planned otherwise, due to various circumstances I ended up writing the story with _r_ providing the storyline. Originally we wanted to write in parts, then edit it to smooth over the differences in style. But we ran out of time.

[PSGarak]

I don't think it was so much that Nerys and I tried to make it seamless, as that was a discussion we never had. It just turned out that way, with each of us handling our respective characters for the most part and a little filling in the blanks in each separate part for small things.

[Nerys Ghemor]

Yeah...I think we just kinda knew we were going to be able to blend our work together.

We stayed in the minds of our own characters, though, rather than writing for other characters. This did mean PSGarak had more words, from a numbers perspective, than I did, but I think it worked fine.

[PSGarak]

I wouldn't have felt at all comfortable even trying to write for your AU characters, Nerys. There have been times in the past I've written for other author's characters (non fanfic situation), but that was only after a couple of years of writing together and having a real feel and familiarity not just for their characters but their "voice" and of course having permission.

As it was, it felt like getting to know AU Skrain and Ziyal a little better through the interaction and experiencing their world in a more interactive way than just reading about it. That was a lot of fun and made the whole endeavor worthwhile. Thanks for the chance!

[Nerys Ghemor]

You are so welcome!

I really enjoyed it, too--even though I've known of Garak's character for a long time, something really remarkable happened as we wrote, to feel him start to come out of his shell and almost feeling like I was about to get a glimpse of what Garak could've been in another universe. It felt a LOT like how it feels to work with AU Dukat himself and see what could have--and should have--been.

The other remarkable thing was to feel AU Dukat's reaction...there's almost an outpouring of sorts. He's much quieter than his canon counterpart, of course, but I could REALLY feel myself getting caught up in his generosity. I even found myself wanting to almost..."heal" Garak in some way.