Tandem Writing

Thanks so much to everyone who came out and wrote tonight! There was some fun and silly group writing going on. The results will be posted here soon.

How did this group writing happen? A classic tandem writing exercise. Inspired by a classic Internet myth, this exercise rarely goes quite so bad as the myth.

Find a writing buddy (anyone willing to write with you for a bit is a writing buddy) and a piece of paper to pass back and forth. Emails, Facebook wall comments, even Tweets back and forth would work as well.

Now, decide who will write first. This person should write a paragraph about something. You can agree to write about a subject, agree on a plot, or just start and see where the story takes you.

Now, switch! Give your paper to your buddy (literally or metaphorically, it doesn't matter), and have your buddy write the next part of the story. Keep going like this, back and forth, until the two of you agree that you have reached a logical conclusion.

The big trick? Don't discuss the story as you're writing it! Just write, back and forth, and find and ending. The story won't likely be long, but it will exist. You can keep it and cherish it forever, you and edit it and make it better, or your can simply bask in the opportunity the exercise gave you.

What does this exercise do, you ask? For one, it gets you writing, and that's the most important thing of all. It also shows you another style of writing, and encourages you to try something a little different. Unlike role-playing, you're not writing just one character's actions - you're writing a story. Two very different styles will start to merge into one unique one over the period of a story. You might get to try a completely different genre, or voice, or narrative style.

You might even have a little bit of fun :)