Live collaboration

Live collaboration lets you co-write a novel online. Two or more people open the same chapter and type in it at the same time: edits appear as they are typed, each person's cursor is visible to the others, and nobody takes turns or copies text back and forth.

How do I co-write a novel online with someone? #

Invite them to your project and give them a role that can write chapters (see roles and permissions). Then both of you open the same chapter and start typing. You see each other's words and cursors as they happen.

The page shows who else has it open, and a field someone is working in is highlighted with their name, for example Maria is editing this.

Which fields are shared live? #

Rich-text fields become shared while they are open:

a chapter's text and synopsis
a book's description
a character's biography
the descriptions of creatures, entries, events, languages, locations, organizations and places
a plotline's synopsis

Changes merge rather than overwrite. Two people typing in different paragraphs both keep their work, and two people typing in the same paragraph both keep their words.

On a chapter, the save indicator says saving live while the text is shared. There is nothing to save: your edits reach everyone who has the chapter open as you type.

Other fields #

Names, dates, tags and other fields are not typed together, but other people's changes still reach you. If someone changes a field while you are editing it, the field shows who did it, for example Changed by Maria, with Reload to take their version. If someone deletes the page you have open, you are told.

What happens if my connection drops? #

Your editor keeps working. On a chapter the indicator shows Offline — not synced. The edits you make while disconnected merge with everyone else's when the connection returns.

Who can take part #

Access follows the role you already have in the project. A member who can read a record sees its text change live and sees other people's cursors. A member without write access cannot change it. If you lose access to the project, the page you had open closes.

Availability #

Live collaboration is being switched on gradually, project by project. Where it is not on yet, rich-text fields save the usual way rather than live.

There is no Request access button for it in the builder. To ask for it in your project, write to us through Contact support, linked at the foot of the Story Builder home page, and include the project's name.

Tips #

Give a beta reader a role that can only read chapters. They watch the draft change as you write and cannot edit it.
Split the work by scene. Merging handles overlap, but two people rewriting the same sentence still makes for a confusing draft.
If a shared edit goes wrong, open the chapter's Version history and choose Restore this version. The text it replaces is kept as a version too.
Tell co-authors who owns the project before they start. Everything written in it belongs to its owner.

Roles and permissions — invite people and decide what each of them can change.
Chapters — the editor, version history and chapter details.
Plotlines — plan the story together before you write it.
Characters — biographies are shared live too.