The Wretched Scribbler

The Wretched Scribbler blog features posts about writing, research, publishing, books, media, communications, idea platforms, idea entrepreneurs, and the people, projects, clients, and original concepts of Idea Platforms, Inc. Comments welcome.

We Hold These Collaborations to Be Self-Evident

Posted Mon, 06/14/2010 - 10:04am by Janine L

As Anna pointed out in her post “Collaboration Proclamation,” the myth of the Wretched Scribbler persists because it makes the art of writing seem sacred, important, and mysterious. By the same logic, collaboration seems to cheapen the experience of writing, and to diminish the worth of the final product. But history tells us different! If you look behind many of the most important written works over the centuries, you’ll see not one impassioned, enlightened writer, but many. 

Consider one of the great pieces of writing in modern history, the Declaration of Independence. Famously authored by Thomas Jefferson, this pithy document is actually a great example of the benefits of collaboration.

It is true that Jefferson was the sole author of the Declaration... in a sense. He even had a genuine Wretched Scribbler episode: for seventeen days, he labored over the draft in a hot, cramped room on the top floor of an isolated house on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Surely he’s the textbook definition of the tortured author, alone in the garret, scribbling away on a sacred text?!

Well, yes, kind of. But augment that mental image with these facts:

     -     Jefferson was one member of a Committee formed to draft the Declaration. The other members elected him to write the actual draft after a series of meetings where they discussed their ideas and decided what should and should not be in the draft (sounds a lot like our own Bright Idea Process!)

     -     After Jefferson completed the draft, both John Adams and Benjamin Franklin edited and reworked it. In fact, it was Franklin who wrote the timeless opening lines — in Jefferson’s draft, it opened “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable…”

     -     The draft was then presented to the Continental Congress, who made several more major changes to both the content and the style of the Declaration.

There are dozens of other examples of collaborative writing. Ezra Pound’s collaborations with TS Eliot and  other high-profile Modernist poets are legendary; Truman Capote and Harper Lee famously wrote and rewrote significant portions of one another’s’ work. The Jewish Talmud was written by large groups of rabbis collaborating together over the course of several centuries!

Collaborative writing has taken many different forms over the years, and yielded some pretty impressive results. I, for one, am glad not everybody is attached to that myth of the solitary author.

Collaboration Proclamation

Posted Tue, 06/01/2010 - 10:21am by Anna

Readers love to think that every author is secretly a wretched scribbler, tucked away in the garret, scrawling his masterpiece in longhand on a fresh piece of parchment. And authors love to think that all editors contemplate the phrasing of each line of every manuscript. The idea that writing might not be a sacred art makes most of us feel uncomfortable. And this is why the myth of the solitary author persists.

But the more people in publishing we talk with, the more confident we become that the era of open collaboration has arrived.

Today there exist agents who solely represent collaborative writers, author teams composed of five equally contributing partners, and publishing professionals who wheel and deal in specialized areas such as idea development, pre-launch marketing, and bestseller promotion. (Like us!)

The reality is that many of these people have played a major part in the publishing process for years. But as publishing houses streamline, bootstrap, and reorganize in response to the new realities of the industry, these partners are taking a more public role in the writing process. Publishers need them. And until the stigma of self-publishing is diminished, they still need publishers.

So we offer a vision of a future in which authors and collaborators, developers and packagers, and publishers and freelancers collectively tout the collaborative writing model.

The wretched scribbler has descended from his imagined perch and is excitedly proclaiming the benefits of collaboration. Can’t you hear him?

 

Meet the Wretched Scribbler

Posted Mon, 05/24/2010 - 11:44am by Hannah AA

This month, we will be writing a series of blog posts on a subject that is close to our hearts. The subject of the series is authorship. To start us off, I would like to introduce you to our alter-ego: The Wretched Scribbler.

Who is the wretched scribbler? The wretched scribbler lives alone in the garret of a colonial home in Concord, Massachusetts. He is permanently perched at a desk that looks out over rolling hills and the Merrimack River, perhaps the gleam of Walden Pond. The wretched scribbler rubs his furrowed brow with ink-stained hands, tortured by his thoughts as he struggles to express himself on an eternally jammed Remington typewriter.

Often, when potential clients approach us, they come looking for a wretched scribbler. This is the character they think will help them transform their great ideas into the Next Great American Business Book.

Sorry to disappoint!

As it happens, we think the wretched scribbler is an urban legend. Authors have been working with co-authors, editors, and publishers for centuries. As bestseller James Patterson, who outlines his plots before passing them off to a team of co-writers, says, “almost all TV shows… are done by teams of writers. It’s not as unusual as people think it is.”

Just look at business writing. Jim Collins, as everyone knows, works with a team. Chip and Dan Heath write collaboratively. John Kotter published a book with Dan Cohen. Tom Peters wrote one with Robert Waterman. And even those authors who appear alone on their book covers explode with names when you turn to their acknowledgement page.

What surprises us is that, in the face of this mountain of evidence, people still imagine that authorship is a tortured and lonely business. And although collaboration is a known source of creative inspiration, writers are still expected to go it alone.

We are determined to change all that. At IPI, we are staunch believers in collaborative writing. And this month on our blog, we’re going to tell you why.

IPI Goes Fair Trade

Posted Mon, 04/26/2010 - 12:18pm by Hannah AA

Here is a sample afternoon at Idea Platforms Inc.: the five of us sit around the conference table, notebooks out, while Anna animatedly dissects the qualities and weaknesses of her shakshuka-with-polenta brunch. Or John, eyes pointed upwards, tries to convey the experience of the heavenly gnocchi at one of Boston’s hottest Italian restaurants. (Then, of course, the conversation turns back to our books).

It’s true, we’re foodies. And as foodies who are also writers, we know that it is our responsibility to make ethical choices about the things we eat. While doing research for our HOT new book (still in the top-secret stage!) we met and spoke with Bryant Terry, chef and author of Vegan Soul Kitchen, who believes that food is justice. We love the work he does towards food empowerment: and his recipe for black-eyed pea fritters.

When we were working on Globality, we learned about the role of food in the newly expanding global market. We learned how new global businesses increase our access to some of our favorite exotic foods, from bananas to Palaw (basmati rice with saffron and dates). We also learned about how these foods can come at the expense of the countries they grow in, which do not always have environmental standards or labor regulations.

That’s why at IPI we have decided to switch exclusively to Fair Trade coffee in our office. Fair Trade coffee is certified by a third-party organization which monitors for several standards of ethical farm practices, including giving fair wages to farm workers, and farming in a more sustainable way. Here’s more information about TransFair USA, the primary North America fair trade certifier.

We know that buying fair trade coffee is a small step. But we already recycle our cardboard and use compact fluorescent light bulbs. We are proud to add fair trade coffee to the list of things we do to show our support for a global marketplace which upholds ethical and environmental standards while still providing access to some of the things — and especially to the foods — that we love.