saurotopia

At some convention or other, Dave Creek turned to me and said, “Say, I have some thoughts for a story that we could write together. I’ve got a survey team that enters an abandoned orbital habitat and stumbles across some super-intelligent dinosaurs. You’re the one who knows about dinosaurs.” This sounded intriguing, especially when we conceived of it as a short story that we could send off to a magazine that had published bunches of our stories written separately. Ah, but like that recon team, we had very little idea what we were getting ourselves into. Little did we suspect that SAUROTOPIA would expand to become a whole novel. Or that we’d find a publisher who wanted six books.

Science fiction fans have long enjoyed collaborations. James S.A. Corey’s series, THE EXPANSE, is actually a collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. For fantasy readers, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte awards. Other writers who’ve jointly produced well-received novels include Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, as well as Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

How exactly do writers work together to make this magic? I’m sometimes asked if I wrote the dinosaurs and Dave wrote the humans. That’s a reasonable assumption, especially given that the chapters alternate between human and dinosaur viewpoints. However, for us, this isn’t how it works. Dave created my favorite character, who is an ostrich-like dinosaur best described as a fierce version of Big Bird. The first scene in which this dinosaur appears was Dave’s creation. No, this is not the only dinosaur he created. There’s also the leader of a predatory band of different dinosaurs. Basically, they are feathered velociraptors. I added the parts where they hunt in packs and stalk their prey from branches of trees. Don’t get me wrong, I did create several other characters for both these species of dinosaur as well as some peaceful herbivores.

Here’s another surprise that I learned as we worked together. It seemed natural to suppose that a book can be written by two authors in half the time it will otherwise take them to write it alone. If only this were true! Both Dave and I have a batch of other projects we were working on. I write a regular book review column and am about half way through a different series. Dave has his own series of novels and short stories clamoring to be written. This meant we both needed to find time in between our other work to write chapters of SAUROTOPIA and edit each other’s work.

Then there is the prospect of encountering “creative differences.” Part way through this project I worried about Dave hating my ideas and me hating his ideas. There were certainly times when one or the other of us would come up with something…let’s call it surprising. Looking back, what worked best was for me to sit with his unexpected plot developments. Over time, his new idea would not only grow on me, but I would become really intrigued by where it might take our characters, both the humans and the dinosaurs. Now I am looking forward to the times when he will spring something completely unexpected on me.

If you’ve read this far and are a writer who is wondering whether you might want to collaborate with another writer, I have to say, it can be tricky to figure that out in advance. Even if you have similar approaches, such as you both outline before you start, that’s no guarantee. Nor for that matter is there any assurance that a solo work will come to fruition. So, take another look at those collaborators I mentioned at the start. What the heck, give it a shot.

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Rosemary Claire Smith writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories showcasing her interests in dinosaurs, alternate history, space exploration, mythology, genetic engineering, time travel, and aliens. She draws on her background as a trowel-wielding archaeologist, reformed lawyer, and keen observer of society. Her other interests include flower arranging, abstract photography, foil fencing, and astronomy.