It’s all well and good to write on your own, but there are some projects that benefit from having a group of writers. Whether it’s an episodic TV series, a set of comic books, or a ton of serial novels, you’ll sometimes get further when you’re working on a team. But there’s a catch: When you’re not a lone writer, there’s a new dynamic. Suddenly, you have to keep everyone else happy while making sure the stories your team produces are up to snuff.

I’ve had a fair amount of experience leading a team of writers from producing and directing two seasons of the YouTube web series Month of the Novel. In the process, I discovered four things to keep in mind.

Assemble Diverse Writers

This is one of the biggest keys to getting some great output. Remember that writing teams often work on episodic material, bringing back the same characters in each installment. When you let other people play with your characters, you’re opening the doors to all sorts of ideas you’ll never have on your own.

For example, I could never have come up with the episode from Month of the Novel called The Chat Room. It uses a brand of humor that I love but can’t really imitate. However, Sarah Shafer, who wrote the episode, is great at that type of writing, and that episode shone wonderfully in her capable hands.

Or take the finale from the first season, The Ending, where J. Grace Pennington wrote so much hilarious descriptive dialogue. I have a very minimalistic style, making it difficult for me to pull that off, but she ran with the idea and made it work.

Neither of those two episodes, or the eleven others for the show that I didn’t write, would have been nearly as good without a diverse writing team.

Keep Your Vision Clear

You have a brilliant idea and you’ve made a great choice in letting some other talented writers come play in your sandbox, but now the inevitable is going to happen and somebody will want to go a direction that’s not true to the concept. This is where things get tough. But first we need to rewind to before you brought the writers on board.

See, you hang onto your vision in this situation because you know what your vision is. Way back at the beginning while you were dreaming up this idea, you sat down and figured out what it actually was so that when writers asked for something that wouldn’t work, you could tell them why you were turning the idea down.

In my case on Month of the Novel, I actually did this with a team. The initial idea took shape between Rebekah Shafer (the show’s production designer) and myself, then went on to be hammered out under the supervision of me and Aubrey Hansen (the show’s story supervisor). During those meetings, we made rules for the world and characters to give boundaries to where the stories could and could not go. And then when somebody wanted to break a rule, we held tight to our show’s “bible” (as they call it in the biz) so we wouldn’t get sidetracked.

Know Your Own Weaknesses

The previous tip sounds great on paper, but that’s my particular weakness in practice. See, I’m a nice guy (if I do say so myself), and when a writer gives me an idea that I dislike, my soft side comes out and I’m inclined to just let them run with it. Even if it means making a subpar episode, I don’t want to hurt somebody’s feelings.

But I know I need to hold to my vision and make sure the show is excellent. And that’s why I brought in a story supervisor for Month of the Novel. Aubrey Hansen was essentially my story enforcer. I could tell her when something wasn’t sitting right with me (and because she’s a good story supervisor, she usually also knew it wasn’t working), and then count on her to explain it to the writer—all while I sat behind my desk, happily not second-guessing whether or not I was hurting a writer’s feelings.

You’ve got to do the same thing. Figure out what you’re not good at and get someone who does it well on your side.

Revise Based on Each Other’s Work

And now for the collaborative tip for working with a team. First, let me stress that you do need to revise. Plain and simple, there are no one-draft wonders. But when you’re in a group working on the same project, it’s important to look at each other’s drafts. You’ll find pieces in other team members’ work that will help you flesh out and improve your own.

On Month of the Novel, I actually made a mistake with the first season by not allowing the writers to see each other’s work. I figured that keeping each writer in a bubble would make it easier for everyone to stay focused on their particular episode. Plus, I wanted to make sure there wasn’t conflicting feedback so writers could keep track of the overall vision.

What I discovered on the second season was that both of those concerns could be easily dealt with. The first concern was simply not a problem. In fact, writers began borrowing elements and jokes from each other, making the show funnier and more cohesive. They still focused on their own stories, but now every episode felt like it belonged with the others.

We solved the second concern by making sure that all feedback went through Aubrey and myself before getting passed to the writers as notes for improving the next draft. That made sure that all the notes were coming from the official source, thereby preventing confusion. It worked great, and I’m extremely proud of what my team came up with for the second season.

Those are my top four tips for leading a writing team. Do you have any other ideas? Leave a comment with your thoughts.