I think to some degree or another we all have the image of a writer as some lonely figure sitting in a dimly lit room with their typewriter or their fountain pen and a glass of whiskey. Maybe a cigarette. It’s a strange aesthetic for writers to attach themselves to considering that so much of what we do relies on other people. Most likely it stems from the times long before the internet when forming connections with other writers was likely a significantly more challenging feat, and made popular by well known authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway. Whether you love them or hate them they’ve had an impact on the type of image writer’s often see for themselves.
On top of which we’ve been supplied with quotes from well-known writers about what a lonely, solitary, life it is being a writer, and as so much of writing is done alone in solitude, especially in the early stages when it’s just you and the page as everyone and everything else becomes background noise it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that creative work has to be a lonely endeavor. But as writers so much of our work revolves around other people; from beta readers, to editors, agents, publishers, to our final intended audience and then some. Part of what we do involves exploring the depths of humanity, whether we’re writing human characters or not our perspective will always be human. Which means we’re constantly working - consciously or not - to understand. We people-watch, spend our free time with friends, watch movies, listen to music, watch or read the news, and all of it contributes to our understanding of people, but there’s only so much that can be learned from our own perspective. Which is why it’s important to establish a connection with other writers. Why it’s important to find community.
There are dozens of reasons to find your place in a community of writers. They can help you to improve your writing in ways you might not even realize, and you can do the same for them. It gives you the opportunity to learn what’s being done by other writers, in other genres, allows you to hear other perspectives and observations, thoughts on what troupes are are being overused or underused, thoughts on harmful stereotypes or descriptions. That’s all with only barely pausing to consider the many life experiences outside of writing - not every writer is only a writer, some work in different fields with indepth knowledge that they’re happy to share so that other people can write better too. A community of writers is an opportunity to learn, and to help others. Those types of opportunities are some of the most important we may ever receive, and we should take advantage of them
Writing help alone isn’t all that these communities are good for. Writing communities are full of people who understand. Whether you’re a young writer who’s still in school, a single parent with multiple jobs, a full time student paying off debts, married with kids and a house in the suburbs, unemployed and struggling to get your life together, there’s always going to be someone in one writing community or another who can understand your struggle through sympathy, empathy, or having been there or being there themselves. Writing is hard. Living a creative life is hard. No matter your circumstance, your mental state, your physical ability, it’s hard work and a hard life. And it’s one that’s often looked down on by people who aren’t living it and can’t understand because of that. Having people to talk to about writing itself, and life as a writer is essential. It gives us a place to turn when we feel like we’re drowning in our work, our lives, and the opinions of other people.
If friendships and learning aren’t convincing enough there’s always the chance that becoming a part of these communities can help you to establish yourself as a writer. Self marketing. They can be a place to share your work, talk technical, discuss tropes, cliches, and diversity, share your thoughts and opinions, as well as a place to give and receive feedback. Writing communities, if nothing else, can serve as another excellent tool to help build your craft and your presence as a writer. Though building that sort of a presence will always be easier if you keep yourself open to the possibility of making friends as well, support leads to support, and kindness to kindness. A creative life is easier to manage when you have people to walk beside you.
That includes any creative life, actually, and other creative communities. Art wasn’t originally a singular endeavour. It was The Arts, and it included everything; writing, music, sculpting, painting, performance and so much more. A writing community is a wonderful place to be, to feel at home and understood, but so much can be learned from contact with creatives in other fields whether you dabble in those art forms or not. Joining book communities can be a fantastic way to stay close to home while learning about what potential readers - who might not be writers - are interested in reading about, the things they liked, the ways they’d like to see the industry evolve and improve. Artist communities are wonderful for learning about ways to describe characters and settings, they’re a perfect place to draw inspiration from or even talk about potential collaborations with. Photography communities are a wealth of realism and magic, the visual imagination to the words we write. Music communities and lyricists might have insight on how to fill your worths with rhythm and feeling and how to make them flow in a way you had scarcely imagined before. Poets; well they’re poets for a reason aren't they? With how they spin webs laced with metaphor and meaning something is bound to stick.
Artists complement other artists. We often have both such similar and different views on everything. We take on the world in unique ways while managing to understand each other and with so many ways to express anything and everything through visual, literary, performance, auditory arts and more we’re offered constant opportunities to learn. By taking an interest in how people who are invested in artforms other that our own we can better improve our understanding of humanity and improve our own art. Humans are social creatures, and art is a human-based experience. Through community with creatives and artists of all types we have the larges opportunity to thrive.
How do we do it though? How do we find these communities and get involved? Where do we look? Everywhere. We look everywhere. We live in a period of time where the internet thrives as a hub of information and communities. The world, both off- and online, is a treasure trove of communities that are often more than willing to welcome new people into the fold. Social media is a magical resource for communities, and each one will have its own personality combined of every individual who participates, there’s guaranteed to be a place for you somewhere. There are so many options that I’d never be able to list them all. I’ve personally had the most success with the writing community here on Tumblr using the tags #writeblr or #writelr as well as the community of book-lovers here who often use the tag #booklr. Twitter has a great community of readers which isn’t hard to find and a writing community that often posts with the tag #amwriting. Everywhere is worth checking though - The Nanowrimo website is a great place to connect, especially during the month of madness, Facebook surely has writing groups worth checking out, and Instagram is a perfect chance to combine any interest with photography while finding others who share those interests. Every social media platform is likely to have a community or two worth exploring. And offline? Schools, libraries, and community centers are perfect places to find information on meetups. Maybe even ask around at your church or local coffee shop.
Most importantly; don’t be afraid to dive right in. Once you’ve found a community that you think you might be comfortable in start talking and posting, ask questions, give feedback. Express yourself and share your thoughts and opinions on different subjects, answer questions when you have an answer. My anxiety made it hard for me to start to join the conversations over and over again. Sometimes it still does. What if I say something wrong? What if someone disagrees with me? What if I sound stupid or accidentally offend someone? Thoughts like those held me back for a long time at first, but as I began to open up and reach out I found it easier and easier to relax because more often than not the people in these communities were kind, and helpful, and welcoming. Other times I stumbled and felt awkward or embarrassed and uncomfortable. Mistakes were made, but they were also overcome. My place in these communities, with the friends I’ve made so far and the ones I have yet to make, is a reminder to my anxiety that sometimes I get to be the one who wins. As my connection to these people grows every mistake I’ve made so far feels a little more worthwhile. Every mistake you make along the way will be worthwhile as you start to get somewhere. Beginnings are scary, whether they’re a new adventure or a new conversation with a stranger, but in all our favourite books where the protagonist takes up their adventure - whatever it may be - it always includes some wonderful people along the way.
We’re long past the days of dark and dreary writer aesthetics seeping into our reality. In order to understand, grow, and contribute to improvement, we need to be willing to connect and communicate with other people. We have to listen and hear the thoughts of others, share our own, and decide that growth - in ourselves, our communities, our cultures, our crafts, our world - is worthwhile. Humanity is not a solitary existence and a craft hell bent on exploring it like writing shouldn’t be either.
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