From ‘grrr’ to ‘yay’: Creative collaboration may not be easy, but the results can be satisfying and unique.
Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplike passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving… Conflict is the sine qua non of reflection and ingenuity. John Dewey, American educator and philosopher.
Baker and Smith don’t always agree, but is this really such a bad thing? Short of stomping and screaming, a bit of disagreement can be a productive and positive force, and here’s two reasons why. See if you agree with us.
1. It forces us not to be lazy with our work
Sometimes one of us has worked hard on some particular words and the reaction from Baker or Smith is “Meh! It’s just not doing it for me”. Or “the words look good but they don’t make emotional sense”. Or “I can’t imagine that character saying that”. And the reaction is usually right. Our first choice is not always our best choice – and if it is, we’ve had to actively justify it rather than letting a hackneyed image or a cliched word slide through. We’re always reminded of the lesson of the great writing instructor Robert McKee who says (wildly paraphrasing here) that amateurs can never edit their work because they fall in love with their first draft; professionals are never satisfied.
2. Difference creates stronger work
Baker is a flitterer, Smith is a craftsman. Baker is a generalist, Smith is a specialist. Baker likes big ideas, Smith can happily work away on details for hours. Baker’s into laissez-faire (is that a fancy French word for lazy?) and Smith likes to work at it. We drive each other nuts on a regular basis.
But when it comes to building a story, Baker is inspired by the big ideas she loves to collect (teleology anyone?), Smith picks up the ball and turns a concept into a beautifully written first draft – but one that we definitely won’t fall in love with. Baker likes to refine and revise, checking the logic seeing what doesn’t fit, what’s missing, where the rhythm is out, where the grammar is wrong. Smith is never happy with the final draft and will keep pushing for improvement, even if it means junking 17 versions and starting the story from scratch. Baker likes to rescue the best parts of early drafts and meld them with the new story. And refine and revise again until eventually we have a story that hopefully children will love to read.
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