An Interview with CWC’s Laura Callender

More than project updates, more than new genres and upcoming publications, the greatest life force behind the huge community of inspiration and creativity that is Collaborative Writing Challenge comes from its owner and founder, Laura Callender. While she oftentimes takes the background in keeping the schedules moving, organizing and monitoring the lists of new writers, CWC veterans, and potential collaborators, she runs a tight ship from her laptop in New York. I’ve repeatedly been astounded by the amount of work and dedication this woman has freely given, from what I’ve seen in the last six months of working closely every day with her, and in the last year of CWC’s existence. We constantly discuss ways to move the Challenge forward, constructing campaigns and additions like the Author’s Spotlight page and the newly released CWC Short Story Competitions. However, I realized that the information revolving around CWC’s origins, not to mention the brilliant mind in which they incubated, have not been given nearly enough value in what makes CWC such an amazing challenge, and community, for writers literally across the globe. And I felt it was my duty to share with you a little glimpse into what CWC was created to be and why, not to mention how closely the organization has remained to its original vision.

Here is my interview with Laura Callender on what brought Collaborative Writing Challenge in creation.

When did you start writing, and on what topics did your work focus?

I actually started writing erotic fiction when I was in my late teens. I couldn’t tell you what propelled me to write that, but I would advise all writers to have a go. It was a challenge to try writing sex scenes in different ways and keep it fresh. I can’t say for sure I achieved it, but I definitely paid more attention to avoiding repetition, which is very important in a novel. I went on to write heaps of poetry, and I found that quite easy. A friend once asked me to help him with a film script he had started. That was very interesting, and I really enjoyed focusing on the dialogue and screen descriptions. I really would love to see something come of that one day. My current projects are children’s books, because I wanted something fun to read to my daughter. So my writing history has been pretty varied, and I love every aspect of writing and being creative.

 

What gave you the idea to start Collaborative Writing Challenge?

I joined a writing website about ten years ago, and a few of us used to give each other writing challenges. I found that some of my best short stories and poems came from those prompts. I was struggling to get past one or two chapters of my own stories, and started to think about how it could work if you were continuously prompted throughout a novel-length story. The idea took many years before it fermented into CWC, but I’m so glad it did. The process works better than even I had imagined, and I truly believe the process removes the predictability and monotonous issues you find with some novels. My husband will attest to the fact that I almost always guess what’s going to happen next in a film, or guess the end of a book, but I can honestly say that I am never able to predict the chapters I receive from CWC writers. Now that’s refreshing!

 

Sometimes projects like these can be a “chicken or the egg” scenario. So what came first, writers who needed a collaborative project, or the collaborative project that needed writers?

Most definitely the collaborative project that needed writers. It was a case of the idea making sense in my head, but there really was zero demand for it. Traditionally, collaborating on a full-length novel requires finding a writing partner and going for it. That is done, and easy to find, but I wanted to show writers a different way, a new way of collaborating that allowed writers to retain their creative freedom yet still become part of a published novel. Our process not only has a beginning, middle and an end, but it has a schedule that so far has proven the test of time. Just knowing that the project will complete is very exciting, and something to look forward to. Traditional collaborations risk conflict and dwindling away when people become busy or find the story taxing. We take away the sluggish aspect of writing and keep our writers engaged and ready to explode with ideas!

What is your favorite aspect of CWC?

Wow, that must be the hardest question, as each week I find something new to love about what we are doing. I have made some wonderful friends through starting this project, and now I have set up a dedicated Facebook group for CWC authors. I love seeing their personal interactions. I think bringing people with similar interests together is a very humbling feeling. I’ve written references for some writers, I’ve been told that I helped someone find more writing work, etc., and I’m blown away by that. I’m very big on promoting our participants and giving everyone a great platform on which to build their own writing careers. I know I love CWC and the books we produce; it’s branded on my heart and I don’t think I’ve ever been so passionate about something. But when others tell me how excited they are by participating, it just makes me feel incredible. I also love the uniqueness of CWC. I think we really are reinventing the wheel, so to speak. Our books will be controversial, and I don’t doubt they will receive some harsh criticism within the industry, but as long as they are an enjoyable read, we’re doing something right. I’ve always been a rule breaker!

What are you most excited about a) in CWC’s current process, and b) for CWC’s future?

I really am excited about promoting the books we produce and getting them out there. I’m always looking for ways to refine what I already do. I’m learning more about how to make great book covers, different programs, etc., and different tools for book formatting. While it would be great to be able to delegate these tasks to professionals one day, it’s been fun for me to learn new things that I never even thought about when I first started CWC. If I’m totally honest, I guess something I look forward to is having a well-known author involved in a project who really enjoys the challenge. That would really make my day!

 

 Writers are often told to edit, edit, and re-edit before publishing. How do you manage to get the books published so soon after the project finishes?

Each project takes roughly 8 months to complete. Each week we receive chapters and once one is chosen, it gets a thorough consistency edit there and then. As the story builds, I go back and tweak chapters to consolidate any new information. This is often done with a simple line or added conversation, and never impacts the integrity of the writer’s chapter. Once the entire project is finished, I conduct a thorough consistency edit, tying up any loose ends and checking that each plot line flows to completion. This is essentially what a writer does with a first draft of their own manuscript. This can be a very long process for a writers, as often they haven’t reviewed their early chapters for a considerable length of time. For CWC novels, that process is ongoing, and having an objective Story Coordinator allows the writer their freedom to create while the coordinator monitors the story. It’s very harmonious. Once the consistency edit is done, the story is sent off to an editor, who tidies up the spelling and grammar issues, and acts as that final filter. We seemed to have created a wonderful process, and the term ‘collaborating’ doesn’t just encompass what the writers do. Our projects are a very big team effort from start to finish.

 

What is the greatest obstacle you’ve had to overcome in maintaining CWC as a successful group project for almost an entire year?

Without generalizing, which is something I loath to do, I find writers can be very flakey at times. But it is understandable. Some writers commit to a project months in advance, then when it’s their time to write, ‘life happens’. When I started ‘The Concierge’, I only had two writers submitting chapters each week. I had the odd week no one submitted, but I had some very enthusiastic writers I could turn to to complete a chapter within 48 hours. That’s when I realized three or four participants per chapter would make more sense, and was also reminded how quickly you can write 1500 – 2000 words. I now have faith that if I sent out a request to all the writers, someone would stick their hand up. I think one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that I started something that has required people to rely on me. I can’t be flakey, or have a bad week; I have to remain focused on moving the story forward no matter what. Believe me, I have had some ups and downs, but as long as you have a committed Coordinator involved with each project, most obstacles can be overcome.

 

How does organizing CWC and working with other writers affect your own motivation and love of writing?

The honest answer to this is it has annihilated my own writing, and reading. I spend every spare moment I have, when not chasing around after my toddler, doing work to keep on top on everything. Working on a computer all day can be very mentally draining, so when I do step away, I like to go for walks, or cook, or do something that gets me moving. When I do start writing something, usually late at night, I find my writing has greatly improved. I have learned so much from all our CWC participants and editors, I feel like a sponge. I hope that when life settles down a bit for me, after baby number two arrives later this year and I leave the story coordinating aspect of CWC to my colleagues, I will pick up some of my old scribblings and get back to business. It is still my dream to see my own novel published, but I’m not in a hurry. I believe things happen the way they are meant to.

 

Where do you hope to see this collaborative community in the upcoming year?

At the moment, the demand is steadily growing. It’s a tricky situation. I don’t want to start too many projects, as I think it would be unwise to publish too many books within a year. But at the same time, I want everyone to experience the fun of participating in a CWC challenge. The likely scenario will see an increase in writers per chapter. Not only will this accommodate the interest, but it will actually increase the integrity of the story. The more options we have per chapter, the more likely it is the story will be the best it can be. I would also really like to see CWC enter NaNoWriMo at some point. Perhaps in the next year or two. I have a very nice plan laid out; it just requires a bit more time to prepare for it. But it’s something I’m really looking forward to.

 

If you could have absolutely anything given to you today for CWC, what would it be?

The obvious answer here is money, then I could do so much! However, it would be a marketing expert that is as passionate about CWC as I am. When authors get signed by a big publishing house, they not only get to see their masterpiece become a physical entity, something they can read and proudly show off, but they get access to the best possible marketing of that book, which is what makes it accessible to readers. I would love to see a CWC poster in an underground station, advertising our latest book, or plastered across a billboard. Those things cost more than money; they require connections and people who can make it happen. I’m always on the lookout for great people to work with to drive CWC into the spotlight.

You Don’t Have To Be A Hermit to Be A Writer

Last week I read a large handful of comments from various people on social networking groups, on a few different blogs, and from a journalist, referring to the “independent nature” of writing as an activity. The phrase I saw repeated, more than once, was that “writing is an ego-driven activity”. Honestly, I was pretty shocked to see this theme so prevalent in the communication and updates I saw. And it struck something in me that I had to let sit over the weekend.

I’m sure these various people did not mean anything negative by what they shared, and I very easily see where they’re coming from in drawing these conclusions. But I wanted to make my own clarifications here, just to stop the domino effect of this outlook on writers.

It’s true that any type of writing, from fiction to memoirs, short stories to novels, is a vastly independent way to showcase one’s skills with the written word. It’s awfully hard to really work on your writing when you’re surrounded by lots of people or lots of noise, when you don’t have the “right conditions” that allow both creativity and focus. There are people out there who co-author novels and projects, but most novels are written by only one person. It’s also true that a good number of writers naturally isolate themselves to hone their craft, and may be a bit more introverted than the next guy. These are only observations of the majority, mind you – not blanket statements about writers.

However, “ego” and “writing” are not synonymous. Personally, I have never met a writer who thought more of themselves, was more “egocentric” and “ego-driven”, the more they wrote. And I have never met an author, published or unpublished, who did not jump at the opportunity to talk about writing (not just their own, but others’ works too), or share tips and experiences, or offer advice. I’ve even met those who will write free reviews of others’ books, who will recommend writers to agents, publishers, editors, and other writing service professionals, who will lift up and encourage budding writers for nothing other than the reward of helping another person who understands the all-consuming passion of creating new worlds through words.

And I’ve never met a writer who didn’t at least sound phenomenally grateful and excited to receive valid, constructive, positive feedback from anyone – fellow writer, avid reader, or their own editor.

The drive to write, for myself and for every other author with whom I’ve spoken, is not about our “egos”. It is not, at least initially, with the intent to make lots of money and become famous. It is not to “wow” our friends and families with tales of our wordy achievements, of how many pages we’ve written and how many stories we’ve finished. That, to me, is what makes an “ego-driven” activity. And I don’t see any of that in my writing, nor in the writing of the hundreds of other authors with whom I interact, for work and for play.

Both as a freelance editor and in working with CWC as Story Coordinator and Chief Editor, I have never had a writer’s “ego” get in the way of edits to a chapter or novel, or in submissions to a collaboration project. Every single person I’ve worked with has been generous, humble, willing and eager to participate, and grateful for feedback and hard work that other writers put into the same project, or their own.

If writing were so truly “ego-driven”, Laura Callender would not have founded CWC as it is today – a miraculous gathering of over 170 international writers who come together to write a full-length novel, one chapter at a time. That is one of the hardest things I can imagine, to write only a chapter, one unfinished section, and not have any control over the story that came before it, or where the following chapters will take it.

If writing were so truly ego-driven, there wouldn’t be such amazing social media groups like An Author’s Tale, established, organized, and moderated by Cayce Berryman. Yes, this is a closed group, but all it takes to join is a love of the written word and an eagerness to network and join forces with other phenomenally talented writers. This is not a group for pure promotion – in fact self-promotion is pushed to the background. Here, writers can talk about their issues with writing, their inspirations and fears, what brought them to where they are now, and where to go in the future. Relationships bloom, people work together, and I’ve seen people edit works, give detailed critiques of query letters and excerpts, and design artwork for one another, all completely free of charge. And Cayce has stayed at the “top of my list” with the way she constantly engages the group’s members, encourages them to interact with each other and to test the boundaries of their own creative powers, as well as their comfort zones.

If writing were so truly ego-driven, there wouldn’t be places like Writing Fiction, where readers can get a free copy of an author’s published book in exchange for only an honest review posted to Amazon. There wouldn’t be complete sites like Writers Helping Writers, who encourage guest bloggers to share their knowledge on certain writing topics, who publish Encyclopedias dedicated to teaching writers how to focus on certain psychological aspects of their characters to make internal conflict more believable.

If all writers were truly “ego-driven”, no one would ask for an editor. No one would ask for a review, or an opinion, or a critique. Nobody would share their work until the finished product was published and everyone had to pay for a copy.

It makes sense that the writers who share more of their work with more people, who ask for feedback and who want constructive criticism, will be “better” writers than those who don’t. They get advice and tips from so many different writers and readers, and they take that feedback as they will and use it (or not) to improve their writing. The writers in my own community, people I work with every day, are some of the most gracious, humble, and talented individuals I’ve yet to meet – and most of them in the online sphere, where one doesn’t necessarily have to be genuine to create a presence.

Most of you already know this. Most of you reading this are writers, or know writers, or love and support writers. These people define themselves by what they create, by the act of writing itself and, more importantly, by their need to share fantastic stories with the rest of the world. Writing itself is not an “ego-driven” activity. Like any pastime, career, or form of entertainment, the “ego” comes from “ego-driven people“. Fortunately, in my experience those people are few and far between.

Writing does not have to be solitary, nor hermetic, nor solely for one’s own personal gain. And all it takes is a little bit of reaching out, of offering something of yourself and your own work, to find that out for yourself.

And for those of you who don’t write, just remember that we do this for you, to share our characters and our stories in the only way we know how. More often than not, we even forget ourselves in the process.