Should writers write alone?

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-08-04 17:58:36 UTC #1

Something has come up a lot in discussions of the TADC finale; a criticism I don't think I've ever seen before-- there's this insistence that (for those who were dissatisfied with it) it could/would have been better if there were more writers working on the project.

Specifically, the idea seems to be that all the (alleged) self-insert/pet character issues with the story progression are simply due to the fact that there's only one writer-- not because they were being overworked, but because a lone writer with no one to "keep them in check" simply can't help but fall into these kinds of mistakes.

And that...irks me... =_=

Now, I could make this a T/F topic, but I am not going to, because I think there's a lot of nuance to this issue. So I'll just leave the question open-ended and let everyone engage with it the way they feel.

Personally, as a lone writer who has pretty much always written alone and probably will always write alone: if you actually think a singular writer on a series with a SINGLE-DIGIT number of STANDARD-LENGTH episodes is some kind of insurmountable liability-- I'm sorry, that's called a skill issue.

Like, call me conceited, but writing a cohesive story of that length by yourself is just not that difficult. I have seen it done, I have done it; it's not hard. The only thing that makes it harder in the professional sphere is speed-- you do need to be done writing each episode within a timely manner, if you don't want the entire series to take 20 years to produce.

But keep in mind, GLITCH is an independent company-- they had complete freedom to give Gooseworx as much time as she needed to write each individual episode, let alone the entire series.
They could also have chosen to simply wait until the full series was written before adopting the show in the first place, or just generally prioritize showrunners with complete screenplays.
My point is, time should not have been an issue, if all parties were behaving professionally. So, without hard time constraints, the only factors left are organization, and raw skill.

And I repeat...it's not that hard. If you don't want your story to be a mess, it doesn't have to be; if you don't want a pet character or a self-insert, you don't have to write one. These things don't just randomly "happen" to your story; you consciously choose to build them or unbuild them, with your own hands.

Tbh, I've had discussions about this kind of thing before; I think a lot of non-writers and very inexperienced amateurs don't really understand how much meticulous decision-making goes into writing a story. They seem to think it's like when you can't draw, and someone tells you to do a portrait of them, and you kinda just flail around with your pencil because you're not sure how to put lines in places. Maybe that's legitimately how it feels when you just start writing; I dunno.

But that is not and SHOULD not be how it feels to write as a mature storyteller. Especially as you study and discuss storytelling, and become aware of these common pitfalls as things to avoid.
Whenever I feel myself forming a pet character...well, first I celebrate, because a character you feel highly attached to is actually excellent motivation to work on a story; in the right hands it's not a detriment at all. ^^; But the very next thing I do is start strategizing on how to keep the other characters relevant, and give them similar amounts of depth. If my pet has a strong dynamic with the MC, I start crafting unique dynamics for the other characters. If my pet has a cool superpower, then I start brainstorming cool powers for the other characters to have, or an equally strong weakness for the pet that will allow other characters to shine.

I guess it would be easy for me to just let the pet character take over the whole story, especially without a co-writer to stop me...but, y'know, since I take my work seriously, I feel obligated to stop myself. ._. Rather than relying on some kind of outside observer to force me to write well; I tend to just do that on my own by critically reviewing and redrafting my stories. It's not impossible at all, and I'm sure many writers do it every day.

Of course, that isn't to say that anyone who does need collaborators/co-writers is some kind of inexperienced hack; everyone has a different process and different conditions for their creativity to thrive. I'm just saying that the idea that it's "necessary" to prevent writers from ruining their own stories through sheer self-indulgence (?) is kind of an insult to the craft of writing. Just because you can't do something doesn't mean it's a mysterious magic no one understands; ask an actual writer how they avoid these problems and you'll find that it's actually very simple, with or without writing partners.

...BTW, all this ignores the glaring reality that it's still possible to make writing mistakes as a team...people accuse Helluva/Hazbin of many of the same flaws, and it has multiple writers. RWBY in particular got worse after expanding the writing team; repeating many of the same mistakes and inventing insane new ones. I think management, studio culture, and creative philosophy has a lot more to do with writing problems than something as mundane as the size of the writers' room...but anyway, what do y'all think?

kyupol 2026-08-04 18:52:01 UTC #2

Reminds me of the saying "too many cooks spoil the broth"

I could imagine having a team of writers to help me write my webtoon... 🤣 I could imagine too many conflicting ideas and disagreements and lots of plot points being settled by vote.

Then before you know it, the plot is no longer recognizable.

NickRowler 2026-08-04 19:02:08 UTC #3

I think GLITCH should have had multiple writers on TADC because that is just standard when it comes to writing for TV. Usually there is a head writer and then other people helping out. They do stuff like fleshing out scripts, editing, and punching up dialogue. These writers help take a lot of load and stress off the lead writer. Gooseworx did explain that the whole process burnt her out because she was doing all the writing by herself. And maybe this whole situation shows that GLITCH team were just not aware they could hire more people.

This might have not been an option due to funding. Networks and streaming order shows from studios which helps fund their creation. Indie shows don't have the luxury unless they get picked up up a studio, like Hazbin Hotel collaborating with A24 and airing the episodes on Amazon Prime. It could also be that Gooseworx had everything outlined from the beginning but still rewrote stuff as the show went on. But then again, maybe this goes back to may statement before, GLITCH didn't know you could do that.

I do hope with them working with Dana Terrace, someone who has worked in the industry, maybe GLITCH will learn some standards which will help make production smoother for their newer shows.

AmysGames 2026-08-04 19:52:35 UTC #4

I mean, every TV show ever has had more than one writer, and I think there's good reason for that. When you're producing a serialized show with hundreds of episodes, it's very reasonable to not make a single person write all of those episodes by themself. Similarly, there's a good reason why a lot of novelists will hire an editor. Sometimes it really does help to have multiple perspectives.

But just as easily, if the writers aren't all on the same page, it can really damage the final product. While I'm sure there are shows that flow seamlessly from beginning to end, most shows I can think of have at least one episode that feels a little off, because it was written by someone else. I'm sure the team would have loved to smooth out all the inconsistencies, but maybe they didn't have that kind of time or budget.

...But I've also seen plenty of solo-written stories that randomly veer off-course based on the writer's whims of the moment, so it's definitely more complicated than just having too many/too few writers, lol. Writing is hard, y'all.

jwabeasley 2026-08-05 00:48:32 UTC #5

Man, TADC got your goat.

I agree with you, adding more writers dilutes an author's voice. There is a benefit for very long serial stories to having a small team of writers - most writers only have a handful of stories to tell, so it can get repetitive if a writer has too write too much on their own. The diminishing quality of Hollywood writing (while union agreements inflate writer room sizes) should tell everyone that good writing is not generally improved by more writers.

My ideal writing process is one writer, one editor. I need someone to help filter out the ideas. Even if they don't pay attention, the process of saying a story idea out loud to someone else is often enough to organize my thoughts.

IndigoShirtProd 2026-08-05 02:35:49 UTC #6

I really think it comes down to the type of project it is, though my kneejerk answer is no. But I guess I'm sidestepping the question and answering instead, should writers write in a vacuum without exterior input? No to that, honestly.

When there are a lot of moving parts like in a TV series, animated or otherwise, having multiple writers just makes sense. In the sense that, the load of writing and then making edits is spread among multiple perspectives. This is especially applicable for long running media like TV series. Maybe the Stranger Things finale would have been better received if other writers aside from the creators were brought on. Maybe Game of Thrones would have ended better if HBO waited for the author to finish the septology. If media conglomerates cared more about consistent quality I think you'd see a lot more finished stories get adapted into long running series. But people in power and audiences are impatient, which is understandable to an extent.

Regardless, there are more than one set of eyes looking at published and produced media, even if they don't qualify as a writer. This also applies to things like books and graphic novels. Even if there is one author, there's usually an editor and even beta readers.

But to actually get to the question: yes and no. Some great stories are only here because more than on person poured their creative energy into it. ATLA is a great example. But on the other hand, the direction and quality of a story can easily be ruined by too many clashing ideas from some too many creative minds.

GamerPrincessXI 2026-08-05 03:25:57 UTC #7

Look at Tyler Perry. He's been the sole writer for all of his tv shows and movies. Writing takes time and stories sometimes need a second eye to get everything straight. Lol

Zhengo 2026-08-05 13:55:16 UTC #8

Tbh I think most writers would benefit from having at least one good editor if the goal is a professional work, just someone to give feedback and perspective is valuable, and can even open ideas to the writer that they end up liking better. But accessibility is an issue ofc, and if someone would prefer to produce an indulgent work I can't really blame them for just writing alone. And I'm pretty sure most seasoned writers can handle writing a shorter story or a show with TADC's length alone.

In the specific case of TADC though, I did think Goose would've benefited from having another more experienced writer(s) in the room, not just for the aforementioned burnout mentioned but a lot of the writing problems from TADC kinda felt like it stemmed from someone who was inexperienced, like not scoping correctly, not realizing you could just make your favorite character the main character from the beginning instead of making it seem like a side character is hijacking the story, thinking a traumatic backstory equates to character depth, not properly using basic literary devices such as conflict. To be honest this seems common among artist-turned-writers from my experience. So I think in this one specific case, having other professional writers would've helped if only to guide Goose at least in helping her achieve her goals with the story better.

KevinReijnders 2026-08-05 13:58:57 UTC #9

I think you are definitely underselling the difficulty of writing a good cohesive story.

Also, I think you may need to remove yourself from some of these fan spaces or something, with how TADC has gotten under your skin. Like, it was just a goofy show with some rough edges here and there that was, ultimately, a fun watch.

Not to say you can't be critical of it, but you in particular may need to take a step back ️

PeteLensing 2026-08-05 15:22:40 UTC #10

Depends on the project. Some probably can not work without teams of writers.

The Simpsons started with a team of 8 writers (Season 1), they had 16 writers
in the 90s. I stopped watching the series in 2000 when Maude Flanders died and
the writers got a bit too absurd/weird/exeggerated for my taste. I don´t think it
had to do with the amount of writers because the series was perfect for me
in the 90s.

Song writing / lyrics is better as a single writer imo, but can also work with multiple
people. I write lyrics with other bandmembers sometimes and it works.

Most of us write alone or write and draw alone but that doesn´t mean that it´s better
than writing with another person. I think some people would do a lot better if they had
someone to work with. My work would be better for sure.

nydeggerben 2026-08-05 20:02:08 UTC #11

I know absolute no one who writes or writes in sci fi. When you go online to social media people spam each other and then don't really talk or provide anything constructive. Constructive requires becoming very familiar with the work.
This usually falls into my first rule of life. If you're not willing to do it yourself then you can't ask someone else to do it. So I would say to anyone telling me or someone else that. Are YOU offering to be that person.
I have exact 0 people interested in what I do in my family or social circle. They will let me talk, but no one actually helps me.
So ignore them, they have access and assume everyone has access. Aka: support.

Ordinaryaverageguy 2026-08-06 02:46:57 UTC #12

There's probably no sure answer to the question, but just think of all the professional writers who made the big bucks and wrote alone. That seems to have been the norm for the longest time. Why should people think that these days it has become a weakness? Surely, it depends on the author.

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-08-07 00:52:24 UTC #13

...All I said was that it had a self-insert issue...the meanest thing I said was that it was a "mess"... ._.

And tbh, I only mentioned the self-insert thing because it's simply the most oft-repeated negative criticism (and the one that prompted the actual point)...I generally don't care about self-insert characters; I literally started a thread here about that. And despite it all, I still consider myself a fan of the show, so...

I dunno if I'm just jaded or what, but I don't think this is a particularly venomous TADC criticism. I am mad in the OP, but not about TADC; I'm mad about the assumption its critics are making about writing (is this a reading comprehension issue...?) If that's enough to freak you out, you'll probably want to have me committed once I finish my video essay...

IndigoShirtProd 2026-08-07 03:21:40 UTC #14

I relate, though I don't think the grip on you is that bad. It'd stay on my mind this much too including any unfairly levied criticism with how long the series took to get to this point and the fact you're a fan. Now me? Oof, just thinking of videos essays I could have written when I finished Miraculous Ladybug season 3. People would actually be asking if I needed to be committed.

delladz 2026-08-07 03:48:33 UTC #15

Lots of interesting points made from different sides! I mean ultimately its always gonna change from project to project and from team to team (whether its a team of one or a team of 10). Everyone on here's given great examples of large vs small productions and large vs small teams. It's so hard to quantify art (and why AI can't ever truly be creative but i digress....)

Regardless of the quality of one's craft, there's always gonna be that elusive "It Factor". You can write a story on paper that's perfect but I think humans have this uncanny ability to discern something that entices them. TADC had a lot of rough edges to it but I personally (and a lot of people) found something within it that spoke to them despite all the bumps in the road. And that's just one example. There's lots of media that I personally enjoy that would never really be considered a masterpiece that I hold really close to my heart!

Anyways, here's a tumblr post that I saw that made me think of this thread and similar ones (posting this in jest fyi lol)

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-08-07 12:53:44 UTC #16

Oooo...yeah, people are still complaining about that to this day...
(thankfully the show's apparently gotten better lately...Season 6 finale on the horizon; let's see if they can stick the landing...!)

Same, honestly. ^^; Sometimes I worry that I scare fellow fans when I start criticizing my favorite media-- I promise, fury =/= hatred; I have ripped a lot of series to absolute shreds with love in my heart the entire time. What can I say; I contain multitudes. =T

Or rather: 'masterpiece' is not only a subjective label, but also completely separate from 'enjoyable' in a way that I think a lot of people don't get. There's this pressure to force yourself to like 'good' media, accept blind hatred of 'bad' media, and to insist that anything you hate is bad and anything you like must be good, even among actual working creatives. And it's so unnecessary...it ruins a lot of stories and a LOT of criticism.

I have definitely come across that post once or twice, I unironically think exactly like that, and it's probably the reason why I became a critic in the first place. ^^;

Like, having that mindset, and having to listen to people constantly go "look, no one understands how this "writing" stuff works! Stop criticizing the creator; just because their story doesn't make sense and contradicts itself regularly doesn't mean you can call it bad! What matters is that they tried! If YOU try writing a story that appreciates basic cause and effect, you'll see how hard it is! It's just SOOOO hard; in fact it's practically impossible to write a 'good' story, so just stop asking for one!"

...After a while, your brain will simply superheat into plasma. It will become an as-yet unobserved state of matter only found in quasars...and all that energy has to go somewhere. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

jwabeasley 2026-08-07 19:12:26 UTC #17

Hah, I feel the same way about Dragon Prince. My soapbox lecture on what I hated about that show could go on for three hours.

Zhengo 2026-08-07 19:28:56 UTC #18

Ironically, writing more made me take on the quoted mentality more. Of course I wouldn't say to stop criticizing or not criticize specific points, I'd just simply be more understanding of the reasoning behind certain writing decisions and give critiques that I think would be more achievable and more importantly, would achieve the writer's goals. Like, I almost never go with the "x should've had more episodes" criticism because I'm not going to pretend I know what limitations were placed on the writer. Heck, the writer may have just limited themselves because they didn't want to be stuck working on the same thing for years and I think that's valid to feel.

Like, Jax is obviously Goose's favorite character and the character she wanted to focus more on. A lot of people would say to reduce Jax's role in the story but I think this would've made the writing process more arduous for her. IMO, unless you're trying to win a reward or something, it's usually best to go with the path of least resistance and make the writing process as enjoyable for the writer as possible. I would've just said to properly put the focus on Jax since episode 1 either replacing Pomni as the protagonist or be the main antagonistic force for character conflict. Let go of the idea of an "ensemble show" thing. If people say a self-indulgent story is bad, I'd say a story written by someone who clearly hates writing it usually turns out worse.

penxpanel 2026-08-07 19:51:26 UTC #19

Usually in televesion the worst episodes are the ones with the most script credits attached to them. Like you can have a dizen big names, so you think "yeah this'll be a good episode", than its over. And your sitting their wondering what that was.

Too many writers dilutes ideas, you dont have one goal one theme. You have a dozen different takes on one theme getting shoved together like sardines in a can.

As for "keeping them in check"
Thats were beta/sensitivity readers, edditirs or online communities, your friends, siblings, random guy at a coffe shop youve accoustedcand now holding his coffe hostage, ext, come in. They give you feedback, criticism, show you an outside perspective. That you as a writer can learn from, and improve on, without anyone forcing their own ideas into the already to tight can and you have no choice but to move over.

The best teacher is also experince you have to make tge mistakes.

Not to mention so many sensitive tooics are incredibly nuanced and individual you'll have written something that one group calls "problamatic" and the other calls "actually progressive"

Also as for pet characters taking over the narrative, this happens even in writers rooms, since it dosent matter how many humbke voices. In the rokm are willing to kill their darling if the head writer is the one with the ego. Ie pet cgaracters are an individual ego problem. Not an writers room vs indeoendent writer problem

Think J.J in later half of criminal minds. Or spencer in later half of pretty little liars. Characters who before were relatively balanced in their ensambke cast, but than a new writer/director steps in and all of a sudden their the star of the show.

I know theirs more examples, but these are the only 2 i can think of off the top of my head.

Also, its not just more voices its different voices. Put a hudred men in a room and they'll still not be able tobaccurately write post-partum depression. Put a cchildess woman in the room and she'll still not be able to tell you, put one with a child but one who has never experinced P.P.D and your still screwed. You need that one woman who had a child and experincec P.P.D.

But thats impossible to do for everything. Thats why listening, resarch, and empathy exist.

Sorry i think i got a bit off topic.

So i shall leave no.

"Two heads are better than one. But 10 heads without wit are as good as none"

penxpanel 2026-08-07 19:59:36 UTC #20

Also i have issues with the idea that "writers need to be kept in check" and the "killing of the darling"

But thats a discussion on the purpose of art, its place in captalisim how we interact with it.

Which brings me to rant about fanfiction, how fans engaging with media, cristopher nolans batman, 9/11, the odysee the death of whimsy and cringe vs spiderman brand new day, fan service no way home and Epic the musical and absolute batman reclaiming batman from the dark knight.

(Im just wrting this down here to act as a post it note, so i get reminded and maybe rainbow vomit an essay onto tumblr one day)