The Journey Here: Finding A Supportive Writing Family
I previously discussed joining writing forums and critique groups as a means to becoming a better writer. This started me on the path of training my inner editor and looking at writing critically. It had the side-effect of meeting many other writers, and most importantly, people who write things I really like.
There's a lot of trial and error with establishing critique partners. Critique Circle has "public" queues for you to meet strangers (as opposed to the private queues, where you invite your established buddies to look over specific work). In general, online resources are fantastic for this because you can look for people who write in your own genre, or with a style to your taste. A face-to-face critique group is geographically limited, and usually you're stuck with whatever tastes and genres the other handful of writers have. And boy, not every potential critique relationship works out, so it's nice not being stuck with the same group of people.
I've slowly accumulated a list of people whose writing I respect, whose critiques I value, and/or whose life experiences provide a valuable resource for questions and fact-checking. For me, this is mostly sci-fi and fantasy writers, but everyone's going to have their own circle. And not everyone I rely on knows each other, so sometimes I workshop different things with different selections of people.
For a profession that involves sitting alone at home not talking to anyone, there can be a remarkable sense of community. I really like my online friends, because I can have chat open in one window, writing open in another, and tab over any time I need extra eyes, have questions, or want a break. It's socializing without having to do any work! There's also the giant Twitter community of writers, with lots of events, contests, and conversations happening all the time. So even though I don't leave my house much, we all offer a lot of support and encouragement for each other.
Not all of my friends are active on social media, but you might want to check out some of these lovely people:
There's a lot of trial and error with establishing critique partners. Critique Circle has "public" queues for you to meet strangers (as opposed to the private queues, where you invite your established buddies to look over specific work). In general, online resources are fantastic for this because you can look for people who write in your own genre, or with a style to your taste. A face-to-face critique group is geographically limited, and usually you're stuck with whatever tastes and genres the other handful of writers have. And boy, not every potential critique relationship works out, so it's nice not being stuck with the same group of people.
I've slowly accumulated a list of people whose writing I respect, whose critiques I value, and/or whose life experiences provide a valuable resource for questions and fact-checking. For me, this is mostly sci-fi and fantasy writers, but everyone's going to have their own circle. And not everyone I rely on knows each other, so sometimes I workshop different things with different selections of people.
For a profession that involves sitting alone at home not talking to anyone, there can be a remarkable sense of community. I really like my online friends, because I can have chat open in one window, writing open in another, and tab over any time I need extra eyes, have questions, or want a break. It's socializing without having to do any work! There's also the giant Twitter community of writers, with lots of events, contests, and conversations happening all the time. So even though I don't leave my house much, we all offer a lot of support and encouragement for each other.
Not all of my friends are active on social media, but you might want to check out some of these lovely people:
- Kathleen, who recently self-published her first book, The Code: Between Fire and Pines
- Pat, who's pitching his novel, Dog Tags
- Debbi, who writes epic fantasy and has published children's books
- Keith, who self-published his novella Across the Chasm, set in the world of Hugh Howey's WOOL.
- Linnea, who's written and revised too many novels to name, but hasn't quite taken the plunge into publishing!
- Ashley, who's pitching her novel, The Fairer Sex
- Phillip, who blogs about wonderfully geeky science things.
- Jules, who's represented by the same agent as me, and writes super cool SFF.
And I thought you were going to say your mom and dad encouraged your writing from a young age
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