Composite authors

[Paul DiFilippo]

Various people have with their comments prompted me to consider
books that are the efforts of "composite authors". ie, more than
two co-writers.  (The joke was that TRP was one such.)  I can
think of CAVERNS, bu "O. U. Levon", who was really Ken Kesey plus
a dozen of his writing students.  I _think_ that NAKED CAME THE
STRANGER, a 'Sixties Jackie Suzanne spoof was one such, as I 
dimly recall.  In the SF world, there was once a tradition of
"round-robin" writing, not truly joint, as each author did one
section, then passed it on (usually with a cliffhanger almost
hopefully impossible to resolve!).  HP Lovecraft participated
in one famous session with other WEIRD TALES writers.  Of course,
we have almost any modern movie script on which dozens (scores?)
of writers receive credit.
What are the defining characteristics--if any--of such work?
What do they tell us about an "author's" "individuality"?
Fascinating questions, I think....

--
DiFi&Newton/2 Poplar/Prov., RI 02906/Vox: 401-751-0139
"I have almost nothing in common with myself"--Franz Kafka
"I do the best imitation of myself."  Ben Folds Five