Comments on: Writers Are Now Team Members

By: Graham Storrs

Graham Storrs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:19:10 +0000

Good point, J-A. In fact, as someone who’s run multi-million dollar IT projects for 20-odd years, I sometimes think that maybe I could do it better than the people in charge

Terry, I once did a children’s science book for Mamillan in the UK (‘The Science of the Senses’ it was called – which became ‘Understanding the Sences’ in the Americas – perhaps Americans don’t like science). This was done by a fairly large team; publisher, editor, graphic artist, designer, picture researcher, educational consultant, and me, the writer. It worked well but then we all got together frequently. When I was the manager of IBM’s Asia Pacific Interactive Multimedia Centre in Sydney, we built websites, made videos, and so on. My team included producers, designers, graphic artists, copy writers, project managers, programmers, HTML coders, testers, usability specialists, sales people, and others. It also worked as a way of coordinating and controlling creative input. We occupied a whole floor in a skyscraper in Crow’s Nest.

What I’m saying is, this kind of project-oriented extravaganza is quite a realistic prospect but I think it does need tight project management and a thorough understanding of everyone’s role. As e-books evolve into something more like hyperlinked movies, I imagine that this is how they will be made. There is an argument for making ‘ordinary’ print books like this too, I suppose but the work involved is very unevenly distributed – i.e. the writer does 90% of it alone and the ‘team’ does the rest of it together.

Strange that the writer doesn’t get 90% of the profits…

By: terry

terry — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:28:15 +0000

A creative process involving the collaboration of several different groups is liable to fall vicitm to a couple of assailants: One is communication, the facet you mention and the one most folk associate with a working group. But the other is the type of personell involved in a creative process – often they are control freaks and/or prima donnas.
I don’t think publishing has grappled with the entire process fully and identified roles for each member of the new team. They are still trapped in the old model where publishers know best and would the writer kindly do as they are told. This paradigm don’t work no more with modern IT and the changing role of the writer.
The theatre world has solved the problem by assigning specific roles- director, producer, writer, stage manager, actor, tech crew etc. Generally folk know where the boundaries are and who does what. Still get hissy fits and all but we take it in turns.
Conventional publishing is doomed. Let’s start a pool, I give it … ten years and then we’ll all realise we operate in a different system.
terry

By: j-a brock

j-a brock — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:25:55 +0000

the thing is, not ony are writers willing to do that now, but they have the skills to do it, too. due to the difficulty of making a living from writing, most of us have day jobs that involve a whole lot of stakeholder management, scheduling, launching, implementing, etc. we’re used to being involved in how things are done, keeping an eye out for when things need tweaking or there’s a gap and making sure it’s filled. we’re a very skilled bunch, and not just in terms of our fictional work.

By: Janette

Janette — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:13:03 +0000

Nice lyric. Brandy clearly suits you. And BTW how spooky – just wrote scene with characters drinking Armagnac. (Thought not, of course, from snifters…)

By: Graham Storrs

Graham Storrs — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:04:44 +0000

Ah, Janette, you seem to have missed the essence of control freak mentality; if you are not actively controlling the outcome, IT WILL NOT ALL BE WELL!!!

On the other hand, maybe I’m not such a control freak after all. I sit here with a snifter of brandy, and my old guitar nearby, having just played and sung ‘The Best of My Love’ (Eagles) and feeling pretty mellow. As I wrote in one of my own song lyrics, “Take away all I ever wanted; I will still be there.”

By: Janette

Janette — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:18:45 +0000

Yet another way in which publishers are struggling to rise out of the quagmire of doing things the old way. I’m seeing images of dinosaurs in mud pools…

[damn it, Ice Age movies, get out of my head]

Perhaps when those attacks of doubt happen, you should have an instant rescue remedy kit at hand. I’m thinking pen, paper (or the trusty Asus – is that still your gizmo? I’ve forgotten!), flask of scotch, sunscreen and brolly. Out the door you go, away from the internet, off to a park or cafe or just down to the bottom of the garden.

Let it go and all will be well, all will be well… and all manner of things will be well.