How did Goethe and Schiller collaborate on the Xenien epigrams?

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Friedrich Schiller Friedrich Schiller, painting by Anton Graff, c. 1785.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller collaborated on the Xenien (or Xenia) by jointly composing a collection of satirical epigrams modeled after the works of the Roman poet Martial.1

This collaborative effort was part of a broader, highly productive literary friendship that began in 1794 and involved extensive correspondence and discussion of their respective projects. The Xenien were published in an annual almanac and were notable for causing a significant literary furor, which resulted in both authors becoming temporarily unpopular with their contemporaries.1