Nancy Allen et al conducted a study about collaborative writing, very fittingly in a collaborative group setting. The writers’ goal was to discover unstudied aspects, issues and successes of collaborative writing for a singular document. Given that the research conducted was small and divided into groups, the researchers would not be able to find definite answers for a general discovery within the groups they interviewed. One interesting finding was that all of the groups found the beginning of their writing process to be the most thrilling before dividing the work among themselves. None of the groups wanted to discuss any of their failed works, but rather the ones they succeeded on, whether it be books, proposals, articles, reports or legal briefs. All of the groups reported having conflicts, with some main conflicts resolving around self-doubt or doubt about other members. Ultimately, the researchers were left with information that would help them for future research on shared-document collaborative writing. How the groups function, the creative ideas between each member, and other such aspects of working on a single project as a unit of multiple minds.
Collaborative writing, or group writing, is usually something I personally fear, because there are a lot of things that go into it. A lot of doubts run through my own head, whether it be disagreement about a certain point between members, how the work will be divided evenly, and the quality of the overall work compared to the individual pieces. It depends on what exactly I am working on and with whom I am collaborating with. Usually I get too nervous and let other, more brave or experienced writers take the lead and I do my share of the work. Outside of scholarly situations, collaborative writing sounds great to me, especially as a more creative writer. Something like writing songs with someone – as I have done before – is so thrilling because both minds have the same goal and creative drive that make the process all the more exciting. It is very much different from collaborative writing for an academic assignment, and it boggles me that this is the case.
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