Wild Oats

Writing with a partner is what we focus on here, but we do realize it’s not the only way to get things done. We realize it, but we see it a little differently.

Jen is a serial collaborator. Her extracurriculars are collaborative in nature, and the stuff of legend. This has gained her a bit of a wider perspective on writing with partners. She can operate in a completely different mode for a while, and then return to the Rune Skelley paradigm with a refreshed mind. Her appetite for doing any writing on her own: zero.

Kent collaborates only with Jen, and has no interest in trying things with another partner. He harbors, however, the occasional non-Skelleyish inspiration and likes working solo on these side projects, so far all short stories. It’s usually that they’re not the right type of science fiction for Rune, although in at least one case it wasn’t science fiction at all. (That’s certainly not the right type of science fiction, so there you go.) These stories give Kent a chance to sing a few notes in a different key. He needs that outlet once in a while, and then comes back to the collaboration with fewer distractions.

You might feel nervous about entering into a collaborative arrangement. Doing so means you’ll need to learn how to mesh your writing personality with another, and that can feel like a threat to your individual voice. These fears are natural, but all you have to remember is that you’re free to sow some writerly wild oats whenever you want to.