New era of collaborative writing dawns with 34 authors teaming up on Margaret Atwood-edited novel
• A new novel edited by Margaret Atwood has 34 authors collaborating to tell interconnected stories, reflecting a trend toward more collaborative writing.
• There is a long history of literary collaborations, like the Bible and Renaissance plays, but single-author works dominated after the printing press.
• New digital tools are enabling more ambitious collaborative writing projects, like an upcoming book on digital democracy by Audrey Tang and Glen Weyl.
• AI writing assistants like ChatGPT are being used in "cyborg authorship," though most writers still want individual credit.
• Collectively written books rarely achieve great literature, given the challenges of blending styles and egos, but collaborative writing is likely to keep increasing.