Naturist Fiction Archive

A new collaborative way to write My life so far

Letters : 2308 Words : 418

 

My daughter and I are editing her story in Google Docs, each adding new parts, but yesterday, we had a big evening together

First, don't worry, I do plenty with my son and my wife, but yesterday, was Father and Daughter evening and we ended up writing together.

And when I say together, I mean together.

Previously, we would each write on our side. Her part, my part, and then stich then together.

But not yesterday. We sat in my office, each with out laptop and pitched ideas back and forth.

For example, we wrote a pinball scene (chapter 9) to introduce 2 important characters that will help Julie mature and grow up. They are teenagers who visit (but do not stay at) the resort on weekends with their parents.

We wanted to find something of interest to both teenagers and tweens, so that Julie could shine and help get closer to the teens.

Video games were out, so we kept thinking, and my daughter recalled when she did a high score by accident at an adult friend of ours. He has a pinball machine and my kids were like iron around a magnet around it.

My child and I spent what, 90 minutes pitching ideas and writing some sentences, and then improving, adding stuff, and researching how pinballs work.

I don't think any pinball works like in the description, but who cares!

Same with the bicycle ride where we pitched ideas back and forth.

I think it makes them a lot more interesting than if only her or me wrote them.

It combines my experience as a adult with her curiosity and fresh mind.

And more important, we are slowing down the story.

Each time we are about to finish a segment (not a chapter, just a short sequence) we ask ourselves, what's missing?

In the second half of chapter 9, the four character go talk in the pool, and my daughter said: they need to fight in the water, splashing each other.

I replied, "only kids do that no?"

But Lucy and Carter are in love, so they do it to tease each other too, replied my kid, who went to a few broken hearts and missed opportunities of her own, but also two good (but short) relationships.

I think the story will benefit from it. Why not?

We'll see. I certainly like this story better than many of the bad ones I wrote over a decade ago.

Just as I am helping her make more interesting characters, she is helping me making a more interesting narrative.

Chapter 3 should be coming soon, perhaps tomorrow. We want to revise it with the new technique.

 

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