Today a new collection of stories dropped
through my letterbox. I tore open the envelope and flipped through the pages
immediately. There was a story inside that caught my eye – it’s title something
a little familiar somehow. I read it without sitting down, almost without breathing.
It was familiar because it was part of a
project this writer and myself had worked on nearly ten years ago. It was all
her own part and not a bit of it mine – the published thing in my hands. But it
also felt like it would not exist if it had not been that we had worked
together on this - and we were in step then, in tune and in time with each other, synchronised. I am pleased that it is in this collection – a part of me is
pleased; but a part of me is something else.
It made me recall the project we’d shared for six months and the easy effort of that time and the enormous promise it held, and I could see from this published thing
that now it will be no more than torn scraps. The piece
that is published and which is in the collection I hold in my hands, it is tantalizing
and incomplete and – for me – a little sad… like a torn bit of cloth that holds
a snatch of pattern, all richly coloured and jeweled, but ultimately a scrap
only and something less than the full bolt of cloth.
I am old enough to have regrets - they should only be had by the old and they should be few - and I regret that this writer and I fell out and I regret that this project is confined to the darkness of history; this torn scrap is a bright and brilliant reminder of what it could be if ever it was unearthed again.
2 comments:
So - all of this got me to thinking... yes, I know, the wheels sometimes turn slowly... and I have revisited the project and rewritten it. Why? Because it would not let me go. It is not the same as it was before but has a different magic and I think it works. So, now what? I thought just the rewriting of it would be enough... but after some digging around I have concluded that even this rewritten work somehow belongs with this other writer as much as with me and reading something about the copyright rules regarding collaborations it seems the law thinks so too. Reading further into the copyright regulations on collaborations and particularly where no written agreement has been made before embarking on the collaboration, it seems we both own the whole thing (actually it means technically that I also own the story that is included in this writer's collection above - have a joint ownership of it!). It's all a bit tricky and at the same time a bit straightforward. As for what now - I am trying (tentatively) to amicably come to some sort of agreement about moving towards publication of the collaborative work. Watch this space.
I have approached the writer I once worked with and the response was a little off from what I hoped for. The collaborative writer wrote that they anticipated being hurt by this whole matter - I assumed emotionally and personally. They did not answer any questions regarding publication and whether or not they wanted their name on the work or credit or even monies that might be made from the work - no answer to any of these questions. I took some time to reflect, even after I had received legal advice that supported what I already understood to be the case: that I could publish this work independently of the collaborative writer. I spoke with a number of close people, people who care about me, and after careful consideration I decided I was not the person who would willingly hurt another person even where I considered there was a degree of injustice. So I have decided for now to put this work back into the bottom drawer. Who knows what the future will bring.
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