In 2017 I participated in a collaboratively-written novel called Esyld’s Awakening.

This was the sixth book published by the Collaborative Writing Challenge and the first time I’d ever seen my name listed as an author in a novel. Here’s how it works:

• The CWC decides on a theme for the novel and then does an open call for writers.
• Everyone who answers the call is invited to submit an opening chapter.
• The editors at the CWC decide on the top four contenders, then allow participants to vote on which chapter they want to start with.
• The story coordinator divides the authors into groups of three to five. Most authors belong to more than one group.
• These groups will be assigned chapters to write. All of the CWC’s books have between thirty-two and thirty-six chapters, which means it takes about eight months for a novel to be written.
• The first group (for Chapter 2) will be given the complete previous chapter, plus all important notes on character, story arcs, twists, etc. that the story coordinator has assembled.
• Each member of the group will have five days to write and submit the next chapter. They write independently, not collaboratively.
• The story editor will then read through all submissions and choose the chapter that will continue the tale.
• All authors who have had a chapter chosen along the way are eligible to write the very last chapter, which the story coordinator will choose.

Esyld’s Awakening was a fantasy novel, which is something that I’ve read a dozen or so of, but never felt a need to write. I’m a short story writer through and through, but I dream of being a novelist one day. I thought this would be the perfect way to do both.

So here were the pluses to participating in the CWC:

• Each time I submitted a chapter for consideration, it was chosen. Nice ol’ boost to the ego.
• Mine was also the last chapter of the book. I got to decide how it ended. Ooh, satisfaction.
• It got me writing every single day for the weeks I had a deadline. I learned to write like it was my job: Consistently and quickly.
• It was both frustrating and fun (hence the Challenge of the Collaborative Writing Challenge) to have to take what other people had written — the characters, the problems, the dangling clues, the murky backstories — and make it work. It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, or trying to make something cohesive out of 1000 refrigerator word magnets.
• I was good at it. I didn’t know that I was SO GOOD at sifting through the detritus of 26 other writers and plugging their loopholes and tying up their loose ends. I discovered a skill I didn’t know I had while working on this project.

But here were the negatives:

• The end result sucked.

I was so excited when I received my copy of Esyld’s Awakening in the mail. I immediately went into my room to read it all cover-to-cover, and by the third chapter, the excitement was completely gone. I don’t know if it’s the nature of fantasy authors or if it’s the nature of two dozen humans working together yet never communicating, but no one wanted to just continue on the path the previous writers had laid down.

By the end of the novel, there were something like five villains to contend with, but none of them were related. It’s like if Frodo and Sam had to deal with Sauron and Saruman and Darth Vader and Freddy Krueger and The Shark from Jaws. People kept just creating more villains instead of focusing on the ones that had already been introduced. I don’t know if they just didn’t understand the story plot up to that point, or if it was more important that they be a creator, and not a continuer. (I’m thinking it was the latter.)

And while I’m sure the story coordinator chose the best chapters out of the ones she was given, the plot still got pretty wonky. In one chapter, the author would have the characters facing down a dragon in a cave, but then in the next, a bear would enter the cave, and then in the next, that bear would turn out to be a sorcerer, and then the author of the next chapter would barely remember there was a dragon in the cave at all.

A more specific example is that towards the end of the novel, I wrote a chapter in which all of the main characters were in a forest fighting the enemy when a fire broke out. I led all the heroes away downhill, with the assumption that when the following author picked up where I left off, the heroes would continue their path to safety and some loose ends would start to wrap up. The enemies were dead, damnit!

But when I got my hands on a copy, I discovered that my successor had pulled a dead character’s spirit out of thin air, made the spirit talk to the fleeing characters and convince them they needed to split up, and sent one of them racing back up the hill to collect a ring or something from one of the dead guys. So instead of working towards a conclusion, the author split up the pack, which meant the next couple of authors were going to have to keep track of everyone and make sure each part of the crew somehow met a satisfying conclusion. This was in, like, chapter 34 out of 36.

Well, luckily for them, I was one of those following authors and I was able to do exactly that. As far as I can tell, because I only read through Esyld’s Awakening once, all the loose ends and loopholes were eventually tied up, but it was SOLELY because of me. I was literally the only author who took the time to make things make sense instead of just inventing new characters and sending them down yet another whimsical path. I was humble while working on the project, so that’s why I get to be a nasty braggart now. ME. I DID IT. I MADE IT WORK. It was a pretty crappy novel, but it would have been a lot friggin’ worse if not for me.

After Esyld’s Awakening, the CWC did a steampunk novel, which I passed on because I’ve never read a lick of steampunk and I had no interest in it whatsoever. Then they announced they were doing a romance novel, which I did submit a chapter to. But it never went anywhere and I really haven’t given much thought to writing a novel with two dozen other writers again.

Until this month.

The CWC recently announced that after a seven-year hiatus, they’re back at it with a call for thriller writers. In the past week I written not one, but two opening chapters. I’ve never written thriller before and I admit that my submissions are probably more in the drama category, but that’s okay. I’ve done more writing this past week than I have in MONTHS. And even if neither of my submissions become the choice select, I’ve already been approved to write three subsequent chapters. So here we go again! I don’t even care if the final product once again turns out to be a bowl of cold oatmeal. It’s going to be so much fun and I cannot wait to get started!

And if you’re reading this before June 30th, 2025, there’s still time for you to get involved! Check out the website at collaborativewritingchallenge.org or go their Facebook Page. And if that deadline has come and gone, join their mailing list or just check in again at the beginning of next year, when they will hopefully start announcing their next project!