Writing Community

If I had to write alone in a bubble, I would undoubtably fail. In fact, I don’t know of many people who would succeed. Writing is NOT easy. It takes some serious discipline, and even if you are the most organized person in the world, talking yourself into coming back to it day in and day out is exhausting. So many people that start writing quit. Having a community to commiserate with, knowing that someone out there is experiencing the same thing you are right now, having peers that have already gone through some of the hard parts and can share some tips and tricks – all benefits of having a community to write with.

Another HUGE benefit of a writing community, is having people that will read your work. If you ever want to get better, if you ever want to publish anything, you NEED critique. It is terrifying to share your private thoughts, these dreams you translate from your head to the paper, and have others comment on them. Worse – have you change them. And while it is important to take all critique with a grain of salt, nine times out of ten, their reactions are genuine. If they don’t understand something, it likely needs clarification. If something made them feel a certain way, and this mood doesn’t match what you were going for, it likely needs to be changed. If someone is bored, pacing likely needs to be adjusted. Critique partners are an excellent first audience if you can find ones that match the expectations you have and want to genuinely see you succeed as a writer.

Finding perfect critique partners is hard. It is a lot like dating: you have to make sure you are on the same wavelength and want the same things. Test the waters with a couple of different people. Send a few sample pages and each provide critique for the other. If your styles don’t match, no love lost, try again. There are many match-making services out there for critique partners. One of the best places to start is the #writingcommunity on Twitter.

I found my writing community through Maggie Stiefvater’s Seminar. I found a community of people who love her books as much as I do, who are inspired to write because of her words. I cannot thank them enough for existing, for their encouragement when I don’t want to write, for looking at stories and finding what’s wrong, for offering opportunities and places to post writing. I am insanely inspired by all of them, and that inspiration is necessary for me to continue to write. It is really easy to see the success of others and feel discouraged by it. Knowing the skill that is out there, and comparing yourself to it, is a simple way to never want to try – because then you can’t fail. You need people to help fight this doubt. It is a lot easier to go through the trenches knowing you are not alone.

From the seminar I was able to connect with a smaller group of critique partners. I am able to send them my work and receive their work in return. My writing has become infinitely better because of them. It is hard to find the things missing or that are not working when you are intimately close to the story. It is much easier to have these things pointed out to you in a way that has your best interest at heart. And, they are all based in Australia. I get to have a global viewpoint, something that is invaluable and that makes writing today a lot different than the past. Writing with a community helps the world feel smaller, more connected, and allows you to be a part of something larger than your own local community.

Finally, I have my roommate (and one of my best friends) from college and another one of my best friends from work. Your writing community doesn’t have to be huge, but having at least one or two people to bounce ideas off of, people who can chat with you for endless hours about your work and get excited for you, people to practice sharing on can make a world of difference in the experience. They offer a safe space to share things that I might otherwise never do. I write with them, and grow with them, and rely on them to fix my grammar (I should probably make them edit this, too!). I schedule check-ins that force me to have writing done, and give me the opportunity to get feedback in the middle of writing, to fix things before I finish and have to scrap everything because of a glaring hole. Their support makes writing worth it, because even if I am never published and no one ever reads my words, I am writing a story that I believe in, and their belief makes it feel worth it!

I cannot stress this enough: find a writing community!