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Written by Simon Groth | #NoOneSucceedsAlone

Infinite Blue is a collaboration between me and my brother, Darren. We are separated by an ocean: he lives in Vancouver; I live in Brisbane. Maybe that’s why we can work together. People often ask us how it’s possible to write collaboratively, especially with a sibling. The rules we settled on go something like this:

·      One of us has the story at any given time.

·      We agree on who has the final say over any creative decisions.

·      We step back from it between drafts and chat about how it’s going.

·      We’re not afraid to dive in and really mess things up.

When I suggested, really quite late in the editing, that we should switch the genders of our two main characters, it led to a series of skype calls and emails debating the merits of the change. Then it was up to me to actually make it happen. This was a significant moment for me with Infinite Blue. With that one draft, I had a hand in changing every single sentence. With this draft, I began to feel greater ownership over Ashley and Clayton’s relationship: to ground them in reality, to give them their own private world that the story allows you to glimpse.

Collaborative writing is not about who wrote what and how much each of us are responsible for. With Infinite Blue, Darren and I are both responsible for 100%, which is why we’re words-guys, not numbers-guys.

 

See Simon at the 2018 Whistler Writers Festival