A Swing and a Miss!

Last week I wrote about differences I have with Becky about the story—you might call them disagreements. I often give in, because the disagreements usually settle themselves in time.

At one point Becky introduced a character and warned me not to kill him off, because she liked him. Immediately, I could see many ways kill him and many reasons to kill him, aside from just to piss her off. Within one month Becky killed him off herself. When I asked her about it she simply said, “He had to die.”

If you plan to write with a partner, plan on having disagreements. It’s gonna happen—like steppin’ in dog crap, it’s gonna happen! Now if both writers are open minded and listen to the other, the dispute can be settled easily.

But, if you have one level-headed guy and one bull-headed female, then compromise is the best resolution. (I’m not necessarily talking about Becky and me here…wink, wink.)

Sometimes there is no good resolution. Recently Becky introduced a new character in the very last chapter of our novel. I objected.

“I don’t care. He’s staying,” she told me.

I don’t have time to kill him off before the end, so I’m still hoping for a mutually favorable resolution. At times like these, I think it would be good to have some sort of a tie breaker. We didn’t, but I think that writing partners should agree on a way to settle things before they even start writing, like a coin toss or rock-paper-scissors.

Now it might sound odd, but I think that the best way is for the two to go into an empty room, each with a ball bat, and the one to come out alive gets to write the scene his/her way.

I bet with that tie breaker in mind, a compromise would be easier to reach.