I just did a Google image search for the word ‘writer’, and the results were exactly what I expected: a lot of pictures of typewriters, or notebooks with fancy pens on them, some laptops, a handful of cups of tea or coffee and a dozen pairs of glasses. Most of the pictures don’t have people in them. Some have parts of people: hands on keys, an arm holding a pen. When you do get to see a whole person – or at least, enough of one to be recognizable – they’re almost always sitting alone in a room, staring either absently out into space as they plan their next bestseller, or directly at their screen or page with a look of furious concentration. The backgrounds are nondescript. The writers themselves are often nondescript as well; some of them are just silhouettes, some are blown out by filters until the models probably wouldn’t recognize themselves.
Writers are solitary folk.
That’s a commonly held belief, at any rate. When I was a kid, the image of a writer going up to a secluded cottage in the woods for a few months to get some writing done was just as iconic as Rocky Balboa settling in with his trainer and montaging his way up to a big fight. Writers were quirky people who understood the world in ways that no one else could, in ways that set them apart from the rest of society, and so they lived in strange manors or run-down Brooklyn apartments or the aforementioned rustic cottages and went quietly mad while they wrote their masterpieces.
I think in my head, I imagined that every writer was like Edgar Allan Poe who, I think, I imagined lived the way his characters did, in bleak dramatic darkness. At some point I learned that Neil Gaiman has a writing gazebo, and that many other writers had little writing huts, and that helped reinforce the idea that when one became a writer, one cut oneself off from the world – even as far as to include one’s family or one’s home.
Now, maybe that’s useful for them. I definitely know that when I was in college and I was working on essays, I needed to shut the door before I murdered all of my roommates. It’s hard to get good work done when people are trying to have a party on top of your head.
But this idea that writers are inherently solitary creatures? I think that’s actually pretty much nonsense, particularly for writers who are still trying to establish themselves.
For one thing, no matter how good you are, no matter how well-crafted your story is, I’ve got bad news for you: you’re missing something. You’re missing something big. The easiest way to catch that is to have other people with you while you’re coming up with your ideas, people who are interested in what you’re doing and who you can trust to slap you upside the head when you’re getting indulgent, or just plain stop making sense.
For another thing, nothing quite teaches you how to be a better writer than watching someone else fail in real time. It’s one thing to read a book, or watch a show, and think “well, that looks like it was written by a monkey with a blindfold, the author is clearly an idiot”. It’s quite another to sit there and see a friend go through the process of making a glaring mistake, to understand how the mistake was made, knowing that the writer isn’t an idiot, they’re just not perfect.
Writing with other writers who are on about the same skill or goal level you are is both incredibly humbling, and really enlightening.
Most importantly, at least for me, writing with other people offers positive reinforcement to counteract those days when putting words on the page seems almost impossible. There are so many variations on the idea: “Don’t want to be a writer, just write”, and to help ourselves do that we set word count quotas, or page counts, or hours per day. There are programs that will block the internet until you’ve met your word goal, or programs that will punish you if you let your wpm drop too low or reward you if you keep them up …
And those are great, and definitely work for a lot of people. But for me, I’ve found that nothing quite compares to the feeling of excitement that I get when I have something that I want to share with the rest of my writing group. We “meet up” online once a week, in addition to keeping in casual contact throughout the week, and I get excited as I get closer and closer to the meetup because I want to see how much everyone’s accomplished, and show off how I’ve done.
Since I’ve started working with this writing group, zero-word-days have stopped feeling like horrible failure days where I’m a terrible person, and started feeling more like unfortunate days where I didn’t get to do that thing I really wanted to do. The end effect is pretty much the same, but feeling positive about the experience makes it a lot less draining, making it a lot easier to keep going week after week.
I’ve also found that I just write more when I know other people are writing with me. I’ve always loved NaNoWriMo‘s word sprints – designated periods of time where everyone will just write all-out to get as many words written as possible – and found that I could write much more quickly during a sprint than I did normally. My writing group runs a couple of springs every day, and that’s made it a lot easier for me to hit my daily word counts.
Of course, some people really might work best on their own. But just because that’s the popular narrative doesn’t mean that it’s mandatory. With Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, connecting with people is easier than it’s ever been, so you don’t even have to have writer friends nearby to get a good group going! (I live in California; my writing group is based in Vermont and DC.)
And speaking of my writing group – we record our weekly get-togethers, where we talk about how our writing weeks have gone, as well as discussing other writing-related topics and heckling each other. If you’re interested in listening, check out the podcast at The First Rule of Write Club.
Has anybody had any other experiences? Tips I should know, or horror stories? Is there a fantasy writer’s group out there that’s looking for another member? I’m pretty sure it’s not against the rules to be in two groups, is it? Let me know in the comments!
Iola Goulton (@IolaGoulton) said:
I usually have a weekly meet-and-write session with a local friend, but she’s been away for the last two weeks and I’m going to be away for the next two weeks. I’m missing our meetups already, and will be happy to get back to them, because you’re right – there is something about being out of my house, surrounded by people, and with another writer that stirs my creative juices.
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Katherine Barclay said:
That reminder that we’re part of a world that’s moving and doing things can be really helpful sometimes!!
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JM Sullivan said:
Great post! I love meeting up with other writers too. Finding a good support group is a wonderful way to keep yourself on track and help to encourage others. Love it! 😀
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miladyronel said:
Part of me always loved the romance attached to having a writing hut (like all the greats like Roald Dahl had) while the rational me cringed at the idea. So I compromised: I now have a dark pink writing room (chandelier and all) on the sunny side of the house and I can close the door to shut everyone out or keep it open when I need at least the sound of company while I write. As for writing groups: I have several blogging friends and a Twitter group that is awesome when I need encouragement or advice. Great post 🙂
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Katherine Barclay said:
I have this dream, that when I get to the point that I can build my own house (or rennovate enough that it amounts to the same thing) I’m going to get a writing room that can be all mine where I can do basically the same thing. I’d love to be able to close the door and just live in a world of writing, or keep it open and let the world pour in. That sounds perfect – and a chandelier is just so wonderfully romantic! 😀
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miladyronel said:
It took years to finally get my writing room the way I want it. And the chandelier is something I’ve always dreamed of having – dreams do come true!
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LHauser27 said:
Hi! This is true! I don’t have a writers group. I write solitary. I’d be interested in finding one but I do all my novel writing in a concentrated time during the summer (I’m a teacher). So I’d need a summer-only group. haha.
My Post
Leslie
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E.M.A. Timar said:
I think the smartest decision I ever made was joining my local writer’s group. I have learned so much, and they have kept me motivated and positive about my writing. I think the best quote I heard was “Writing is solitary, but you don’t have to do it alone.”
As for a fantasy writer’s group, I would be interested in being a part of one as well. I am currently looking for genre writers myself. So maybe we can pull one together? 😉
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Katherine Barclay said:
I’m going to print that out and pin it to my cork board. No joke.
You know, maybe we should! If we can get a couple of people together and start a group on facebook or twitter or something, I can’t see why it wouldn’t work!
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Kristina Stanley said:
I don’t belong to writing groups, but I have a great community online that I interact with. By building my network, I’ve found beta readers, writers I can bounce ideas off of, editors, proofreaders, etc. I don’t think I could to this without all the great connections.
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M. C. Frye said:
An engaged and inspiring writing group sounds like heaven. I also love the camaraderie that comes with NaNoWriMo.
How did you find your writing group? Is it easier to join an existing group or to try and round up other lonely writers and start your own?
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Katherine Barclay said:
In my case, I just got lucky; a friend I knew from college messaged me out of the blue and invited me to join the group he started with a handful of his friends. They ended up being awesome people, and we clicked. Normally, though, I think I’d rather start my own than worry about joining in with an existing dynamic …?
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Louise Foerster said:
So enjoyed this — both the way that the writer thinks she or he is supposed to be and everyone thinks a writer is supposed to be followed by the way that it is. Sounds like your perspective has been forged in hard experience — have recently found the incredible support and understanding in a group of writers who are all different and solitary in our own special ways and yet the same in having this sparkling, wonderful idea that we struggle to put into words, never mind down onto paper.
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Katherine Barclay said:
I’m glad you found my perspective useful! 😀
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cherylsterling1955 said:
I’d love to be in a fantasy writer’s group. I’ve moved eight times in four years and have lost most of my support team. At one time I belonged to a fabulous critique group, but we started getting deadlines, so we couldn’t keep up with each other’s work. Plus, the woman who ran it had professional jealousy. I dropped out before the atmosphere got too toxic.
I love the idea of a writing gazebo. I now have my own writing/craft room, which I pompously call a “Studio.” It took a long time to get here.
Thanks for sharing. It’s nice to know others hear voices (and sometimes get paid to write down what they say!)
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Katherine Barclay said:
Oh god, that sounds like such an unfortunate thing to go through. I’m glad you were able to get out before it dragged you down, but I’m sorry you had to deal with losing the group! I’m serious about trying to find or make a fantasy group that works for me, though, so I’ll keep you in mind in case I find anything!
I’m longing for the day when I can have a study, so having a studio doesn’t sound particularly pompous to me. On the other hand, maybe I’m not in much of a position to judge … 😀
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cherylsterling1955 said:
Katherine, my very 1st “studio” was a desk next to the furnace in the dark basement. It faced a cement wall on which my kids helpfully wrote “Redrun”. Maybe they thought Stephen King would inspire me.
I’ll jump on an online fantasy group if you find one. The Smarter Artists have one, but it’s not active at all. They tried to make it a monthly online meetup instead of an ongoing Facebook group. I kept forgetting to attend.
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Vanessa said:
I think a writing hut can be useful in situations where you need the solitude (like JK Rowling writing the last bit of Harry Potter in a hotel room by herself.) I find that I write best when I am unbothered but not alone. As long as those around me aren’t seeking to talk to me, I am good.
Unless I am writing poetry, that is when a writing hut or being alone in the woods would work best for me.
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raimeygallant said:
The first year of my indulgence in fiction writing was solitary, and I wish I knew then what I know now. This post perfectly captures how amazing the online writing community is. It’s massive, it’s diverse, and there are so many iterations of it. Facebook groups, Twitter chats, hashtag events, the list goes on. I would never go back to those solitary days. Was Johnny Depp a cabin-writer in a movie? That’s ringing a bell for me. He’s the picture that popped up when I was reading your post. Thank you for contributing this to the #AuthorToolboxBlogHop. Will now go and pin and schedule a Facebook post for this. Cheers!
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Katherine Barclay said:
Secret Window was actually the first image I had in my head when I started writing this! But I forgot about it by the time I got to the end, so I forgot to include it. And now I want corn.
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WriterDrew said:
While I like the idea of talking and interacting with other writers (it’s my favourite part of Twitter), I have to admit I find the idea of working with a writing group a bit intimidating, That’s more to do with my self-esteem problems than anything else but it’s what has held me back.
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M.L. Keller said:
“nothing quite teaches you how to be a better writer than watching someone else fail in real time.”
I putting this on a coffee mug. So true.
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emaginette said:
Living in a small town I couldn’t find another writer, so I dove into the internet. I found all the support I could possibly need. For the first time in a long while I was with my own kind. hehehe
Anna from elements of emaginette
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Vanessa said:
There are times when I have no problem working with a writing groups, but more often than not I prefer to write alone. I might bounce some ideas off a friend or two, but when I work with other writers sometimes I lose my own voice in the piece.
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