Hello - Are many of you involved in non-online writing groups or clubs? I am new to this venture and thought it might be a good way to dip my toes in the water. If anyone knows of something local to western mass (amherst mass area) I would appreciate the information. thanks jeff
I was, but it wasn't my style. Where I went, you could bring in work to read if you wanted, but it mostly seemed to be word prompts and leaned towards extemporaneous poetry. If you're good at writing off the cuff and like doing that sort of thing, great (I'm best at doing comedy this way, personally), but I'm more of a story writer than a poet personally, and being told to sit down and write without thinking about the characters and plot first isn't really my thing. I like to see the end from the beginning. (Some of the word games we played were fun, though...I liked it when it had a more comedic bent, even though I don't usually write humor). A circle to share writing sounds fun, though. I've always wanted to join one of those.
Ugh, just spent my entire undergraduate education in workshops. I'm not in a rush to join a writer's group any time soon. The workload was exhausting. But I suppose that's because I had other classes to worry about. These forums are a lot more relaxed, but live groups usually expect you to turn something in every week or two, so it's good if you're the kind of person who likes deadlines.
writing is, by its very nature, a solitary occupation... to plunk oneself down in a group of similarly clueless beginning writers is counterproductive, imo...you won't find any pros there, so it's usually just a matter of the blind leading the blind... as a longtime mentor of would-be writers of all breeds, i never recommend joining a writing group, though in some cases, i do suggest taking a good writing course, if basic skills are lacking... instead, i recommend constant reading of the works of the very best writers [both contemporary and the classics, most respected of all eras], to absorb/learn what good writing looks/sounds/feels like... and, of course, constant practice...
Actually will depend on your area, some areas do have good writing groups, that run literary and book festivals etc. My local bookgroups have a number of pubished writers, couple of journalists, actors etc just by virtue of where I live.
I normally agree with you, and definitely do with the reading part, but writing groups and communities are essential in the development of writers, imo. It's actually a huge thing that's been lost in recent generations, in particular with so much formal writing instruction and online writing sites. It gives the appearance of a writing community, but usually it doesn't function as one could and should. (it's like how email and Facebook give the feeling of connectedness between people, but actually foster disconnection). Writing groups aren't to get advice. That's the major flaw in thinking these days. People join writing sites online to ask for advice, find mentors to ask for advice, take classes to get advice... and join writing groups for advice. But the best use isn't getting advice, but sharing ideas and building on each others knowledge base. This is a huge [somewhat recent] focus of research in teaching fields. They've found groups are an amazing resource for reinforcing what we know, and collectively leading to knew knowledge. Instead of the teacher or mentor or published author or even agent telling us what we should know, which often only teaches current knowledge, group/community work can lead to new insights that become future knowledge. And it's no wonder that so many great writers were attached to writing movements (which you don't really see or hear about anymore) or had other close writers they matured with. Very rarely are successful writers those that simply had a knack for stories, so secluded themselves and wrote. Almost always, even though it doesn't seem evident at first, writers are involved in sharing ideas and pooling knowledge and building on the efforts of others. Not only by reading and studying, which teaches us past knowledge, but by creating future knowledge in contemporary groups and communities. And, writers need support. One of the best benefits of a writing groups is having support, both professional and personal, and having deadlines, and expectations. There is obviously a huge benefit to having an expert at one's disposal, and writing does take a lot of personal effort, but discounting the benefits of groups and communities isn't wise. And research across the board these days, across fields and professions, is showing working with groups and being a part of a relevant community is what I would almost consider vital, even in fields that seem solitary once the person has 'made it' and has to do by themselves what they learned to do with the help of communities. The hard thing, and the reason I believe so many just go with the perspective that writers + groups aren't meant to be, is that it's HARD to get writers to join and stay involved. Partially because so many people think they can and are expected to do it all on their own, and partially because writers are a finicky lot. In the end too many writers I talk to fall into the 'groups are no good' when really they're just hard to maintain, especially these days when so many people are isolated and disconnected, especially writers. These days, we wouldn't have the Beat poets, for instance, because they'd all be trading opinions online and thinking it's such a bother to actually converse about writing and ideas, and that writing is such a solitary thing to be done on one's own, etc. We'd probably just have a couple of people forgot by history who had their own little style that nobody knew or cared about aside from a few blog entries with 2 follows, both family. Okay, maybe a little bleak, but still. I recently talked to someone who has a radio show interviewing writers. She talked to a local writer who's in his 70s I think and has done a ton for writers and writing, published double digit books, acclaim, started a literary center, extremely well respected. And when asked if he regretted anything, he said far too late in life did he realize the importance of talking to other writers. He just sat in his office writing, ending up quite successful, but then late in life realized, in his opinion, he'd been doing it all wrong the entire time and should have focused more on communities of writers a lot sooner, which is what led to the literary center and a writing guild, etc. But I dunno, it's all so subjective and personal, everyone has their own way, etc, etc.
I certainly haven't made my writing a solitary experience - I have grabbed help and advice in many areas from wherever it came. Thanks to the help of many people (my book is gonna need an acknowledgement chapter lol) I have a great story i couldn't have written solo. CS Lewis and Tolkein certainly didn't. Lewis Carroll had several close writing friends including Tennyson etc
What would be some good activities for a group of people getting together to write, get critiqued, and have fun?
You could run a workshop where one person leads with exercises for the group. There's a wide range of things you can do with those. You can also have a write-in, where the purpose of the whole session is to sit down and write for however long. In theory, the company others keeps you on the straight and narrow. There's also the more social side of things, where you can just get people together and talk about anything.
Something I have found fun is everyone keeping to the same story and writing a sentence each. As in one person starts the story off with a sentence, it's passed to the next person to write the next sentence and so on until you have an entirely group made story. It can be fun to see where it goes and to note the contrasting styles of a group within the one text.
I'm wondering if there's a directory somewhere, or even a thread in this forum, that lists local (geographical) writers groups. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great - I'd like to meet with local writers, including socially, if I can find a group near me. I'm on the mid north coast of NSW, Australia.
have you googled for 'australian writers groups'?... or more specifically, for groups in your area?... that should give you all the info you need...
Sadly it wasn't that easy. There's all manner of associations, guilds, societies... plenty of bush poetry (and other poetry)... a lot are state or national organisations; or local groups but not local to me. Doesn't seem to be anything listed on Meetup either. I did find this, which looks promising: http://www.fawnsw.org.au/countrybranches.html
That looks good -- hopefully it works out. Have you also tried asking at any local bookstores or libraries? Sometimes they know of or host writers groups, or know of other people who may have asked about them.
I have noticed some things about writers that set us apart, or rather can serve to mark us out from the general population. There are some personality traits and habits that seem more common, more prevalent, for example. It seems to me that writers tend to be at least slightly more intelligent than average. They also tend to be more reflective and have a stronger tendency to introspect. I think writers often tend to overanalyze things as well, and hesitate and doubt and rethink before taking action. I was curious to see what observations and insights that other writers may have picked up on as well, regarding ourselves. In addition, I have noticed there are some similarities with other types, such as scientists, but some quirky differences too, like in mindset and personality types and such. This is speaking in general terms of course, not that a writer must be more self-involved mentally, but traits like that do seem to be more common amongst us.
All very true about me. Except for the "slightly" part. Also: my gut says that writers are more prone to mood disorders and substance addictions than the average person.
My experience with writers in groups is that we are extremely socially-oriented, which leads groups consisting entirely of writers to be even more retrograde than groups in general. You can probably guess that I'm not a fan of groups of any kind as human groups of people who are perfectly adult and reasonable either alone or one-on-one, become like junior high lunchrooms full of 12-year-olds when the number of people in the group rises to three. In writer groups I have experienced a greater than average tendency to emphasize social things and deprecate technical and creative things, so that groups of writers almost always become exclusive cliques with extreme prejudice against outsiders and "newbies." A newcomer to a group of writers is very often forced to keep his head down and his mouth shut and serve a social apprenticeship as if he were a self-made rags-to-riches millionaire first arriving at a country club full of hereditary gentry. Moreover, if writers in a group do any socializing whatsoever, then the focus on writing totally disappears and the group becomes purely social, with elaborate rules of conduct that are never spelled out and have nothing to do with the art or craft of writing. This is especially true in my own country of Canada. Success in Canadian literature has never had any connection to how good a writer you are, but always with how well you schmooze with the right people and kiss the right butts. Canadian English literature academia is even more extreme on that point, as there are certain socially prescribed views you must express as a student, often involving unreserved praise for the required Can-Lit authors as well as Shakespeare, if you are to have any hope of graduating with your B.A. in English, let alone your M.F. A. On the positive side, in a forum such as this one, there is far less tendency toward a junior high lunchroom full of 12-year-olds than there was in the bad old days of Usenet. I still tremble in horror at my years on alt.fiction.original, which nearly permanently destroyed me as a writer because of all the socially-oriented bullcrap that completely eclipsed writing there. There was in particular one member who called herself Nativelaw, who never posted a single creative work of her own but just did tawdry and sleazy politicking in order to make sure the politically correct views were expressed. I wish her only the worst. What a molten horror and destructive force that newsgroup was!
The only similarities I have noticed among writers (and myself) is buckets of ego and narcissism. I don't mean that in a negative way, and I think a bit of each is necessary. Above average intelligence? Ha. Ha. Hahahaha. Having a well-oiled language centre in one's skull doesn't mean they're smart, it means they're good at word-based seduction. I think there are plenty of smart writers (that statement doesn't mean much coming from me), and I like to believe everyone here is smart. However, one's words alone are hardly a judge of their intellect. If that was all it took, an IQ test would solely involve an essay. I think skilled writers are good at convincing you that they are smart. That's why I like to use the word "seduction."
I guess it depends on what you call a writer, someone that writes professionally or someone who writes down their stories/ideas. I myself am not a writer in terms of professional or even serious/intermediate/novice standards, i simply write down my ideas and stuff that i would like to see, stuff that isn't available or that i cant find. I think all it takes is a creative inquisitive mind, and a certain (average) level of literacy.
I think most writers are introverts. We need the time to think and write, so it makes perfect sense. Not sure about intelligence but I think we are more sensitive in general.
One thing I noticed about writers is that we are opinionated. We have opinions on practically everything, and we usually feel like sharing them with the world. Intelligence is a tricky one. Usually, writers have high verbal intelligence, but that doesn't mean they necesserily have high IQ. Some pretty average or even below average intelligence people have high verbal intelligence . I agree though, that writers tend to be, on average, more reflective and prone to living in their heads, either fantasising or overthinking or analysing, depending on the type. But most are reasonably cerebral people. As far as sociability, some people just get on with others, as in, their friends are useful and good to them, they enjoy group activities, they solicit help of others easily, they feel rejuvenated and replenished by group activities, they thrive in teamwork situations etc. And then, you have those with quite the opposite experiences. They might be popular but find that they give much more than they get, or they need solitude to balance themselves out, or they end up exhausted doing everyone's work in a team environment etc. I don't think it's just writers though, you can see these two types in all walks of life. I know a few scientists and I associate that type with being a bit nerdy, pedantic, self-important (like they are saving the planet with their latest research into some zebra fish organelle), intellectually somewhat vain and humourless in a debate. But boy, can they party! And they tend to have wide-ranging interests.
Okay, I had to laugh when I first read this. Good heartedly. You see, I used to be a member of a social anxiety forum, and almost once a month someone made a post exactly like this! "People with social anxiety are smarter than the average person. We're more introverted. We're this and this and this and this." And when I first started out on that forum, I was totally ready to jump on that bandwagon. "Yeah, we're smarter. Woo!" But after being a member of that forum for a very long time, having read hundreds (thousands?) of threads, I realized that wasn't true. People with social anxiety have all different personalities and intelligence levels. Some of them aren't even introverts, just extroverts trapped in a fear bubble. So reading this reminded me of that. I don't know if writers are more this or that. Maybe you're right, and certain traits are more common for writers. I don't know. I just know it's not usually a good idea to generalize any group of people.
