Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Not Engaging With the Writing Community
Everyone makes mistakes—even writers—but that’s OK because each mistake is a great learning opportunity. The Writer’s Digest team has witnessed many mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them early in the process. Note: The mistakes in this series aren’t focused on grammar rules, though we offer help in that area as well.
Rather, we’re looking at bigger-picture mistakes and mishaps, including the error of using too much exposition, neglecting research, or researching too much. This week’s writing mistake writers make is not engaging in the writing community.
Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Not Engaging in the Writing Community
I just had the joy of moderating our fourth Flash Fiction February Challenge here on WD’s site. For the last few years, I’ve had the pleasure of watching hundreds of people gather together to write and share first drafts of flash fiction stories. But the best part of the challenge is always seeing how writers support each other in the comments section, saying what they like about each other’s work, boosting each other up when the prompts are a little difficult to find inspiration for, celebrating when the end of the month comes and they’ve all made it to the finish line together.
I’ve spoken about it before, but the fan fiction communities on Tumblr and AO3 got me through some of my most insecure moments during my MFA program. And since then, the friends I made in my program, as well as the ones I met online, have all been very influential on my writing style and frequency.
But having a community isn’t just good for your motivation—having diverse and unique perspectives can help you to build a richer, more engaging story for your audience. Whether it’s chatting about favorite reads, swapping stories to get and give feedback, or just having someone who understands the wins and woes of being a writer, having a community around you can be the difference between a writer who finds long-lived joy in their career and one who gives up on their work.
Like children, stories tend to take a whole village to grow and flourish. If you’re currently writing in a vacuum, it might be a good idea to branch out and see what participating in a writing community can do for you and your growth as a professional!
(Writer’s Digest Presents: Writing Communities (Podcast, Episode 7))
Mistake Fix: Find the Community That Addresses Your Needs
Local Libraries and Bookstores
If you’re not engaged with your local library, you absolutely should be! Beyond being an amazing resource for writers when it comes to research and keeping up with market trends, it’s also a great place for you to find community. And it’s free! I suggest finding your local branch or, if you already have a library card, asking the front desk (or looking at their website) to see if they already have meetings for writers. If they don’t, reach out and ask if it’s something they could facilitate for you!
Local bookstores are also great resources for writers in this regard. I’ve lived in places where local bookstores have hosted everything from in-person author chats to writing groups to tabletop game nights! Google will be your friend to find bookstores near you.
Local Writing Organizations
If you’re not already familiar, there are probably paid-for writing groups in your area! For example, a quick Google search (literally just “Maryland writing associations”) shows that in my area, there’s The Writer’s Center, the Maryland Writer’s Association, The Black Writer’s Guild of Maryland, Inc., and even more!
These paid-for organizations give writers an opportunity to expand their learning through in-person and online chats with authors and other industry professionals, as well as annual conferences, open mic nights, and workshops. Some also run their own literary journal, which affords authors an opportunity to have their work published!
Online
If you’re not interested in meeting in person or can’t due to financial, health, or schedule-related reasons, there’s still an opportunity for you to meet and connect with other writers online!
The May/June issue of Writer’s Digest always features our 101 Best Websites for writers, and in 2023, we featured five amazing community-based websites. You can check out a list of those sites here, find the list of websites in full here, or be on the lookout for our 2024 May/June issue of the magazine!
No matter what genre you write, what your goals are, or if you can meet in person or online, there’s a writing community out there waiting to embrace you and your work! Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there—you’ll be grateful you did!
In this workshop we’ll look at several techniques you can you use to keep yourself in the creative flow and out of the trouble and misery fear always causes.
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