Successful writing collaborations can be beneficial to all involved and result in unique pieces of work. Award-winning author Ken Liu enjoys collaborating with other creators and has partnered on projects with artists, filmmakers, game designers, theater troupes and more. The key to a good collaboration for him is to put his ego aside and let the medium drive the direction. For example, when working with a filmmaker, Liu knows that visual language is quite different from written language and is not his area of expertise, so he trusts the filmmaker to drive the direction. His job is to offer the written story and let the expert in the final, desired medium develop the best way to express the concept or core idea. For Liu, these collaborations are ultimately about telling the story in an entirely new language.
I love your message when working with other artists and collaborating with them that you put your ego aside also seeking to work with artists who also put the ego aside working together as a team and letting those take the lead in their areas of expertise in their medium.