Oh. You’re a writer? Hello! I’m one too.
Now…what was I saying?
Writers are social beings. We thrive off literature and grow in our enthusiasm when speaking to other writers and book lovers. We recommend novels to one another and critique each other’s work when one of us wants a fresh eye or a second opinion.
We are drawn to each other because we all have something in common: a passion. It’s not a slim area of interest, either. Writing and reading can cover just about anything, yet we can all come together over it, despite differentiating tastes in genres.
There are plenty of ways writers can communicate and get together, so that it doesn’t have to be such a lonely business after all.
Blogging
A fantastic way to keep up your writing momentum is to have your own blog. It allows you to express yourself, talk about where you are with your writing, what you are reading and what are some recent developments in the literary community that have captured your attention.
There are plenty of writers and book lovers all over the blogosphere who update frequently and have plenty of interesting things to say. Following interesting blogs of fellow writers, reading up and commenting on their posts is a great way to stay informed on what other writers are doing and get their insight as well as sharing yours.
Taking the time to read other writers’ blogs and responding is a brilliant way to keep in touch with other writers.
I was very Twitter timid in the beginning. I thought ‘No, no, no – that’s not for me.’ Twitter was all about what celebrities were doing and the massive fan base that followed them, right? Not at all! Once I read the Writer's Guide To Twitter and just dove in with tweeting with other writers and readers, it was tons of fun and very informative! Not to mention easy once you get the hang of it.
On the same day I got a book out of the library, I was tweeting with the author of the book. That was awesome. People are really friendly on twitter and I have met lots of people through chats like #LitChat. We don't have our own chat on Twitter but if you ever find yourself wanting to mention us, just add the hash tag #QuillCafe!
FaceBook is more of a personal networking site than Twitter but it has several Groups which you can join and interact in, without anyone being able to access your personal information if you don’t want them to. We at Quill Café have our own FaceBook Group if you want to check it out and there are plenty more. All you have to do is search “writing” or something similar to see what Groups you can find.
GoodReads
I love networking with fellow writers on GoodReads and seeing what they are reading and what their opinions are on books I’ve read or am interested in. It doesn’t stop there, however. There are plenty of Groups on GoodReads, a lot of them devoted to writing, where writers can communicate in the forums, get feedback on their work and discuss all kinds of topics. You can also upload your own writing to GoodReads to get feedback as well as read other members' Stories.
Script Frenzy
In April, there is an event where people from all over the world set out to write 100 pages of a script in 30 days. That event is Script Frenzy! You can write a screenplay, a television script, a play script, an audio script, a comic/graphic novel script, a collection of short film scripts - anything you want as long as you can write it in script form.
There are several forums on the website where you can discuss your progress with Screnziers and get help from others. There are also local forums where you can find people who are participating in your area! So join now, before April rolls around.
Update: Script Frenzy has now, sadly, been discontinued due to low participation rates and insufficient funding.
NaNoWriMo
International novel writing month happens every November (known as NaNoWriMo) and is run by the same people who do Script Frenzy, so if you are signed up to one site, you are automatically signed up to the other.
NaNoWriMo means 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. That's right. People all over the world going for one crazy goal. Once again you have plenty of Forums, including local forums. You can check out who the Naners (also known as Wrimos) are in your region and even attend local meet-ups during the month. It's lots of fun and a great way to be productive with your novel writing.
Book Conventions
These happen all throughout the year, all over the world. From the London Book Fair to Book Expo America and many, many more, they are a great opportunity to meet up with fellow aspiring authors, bloggers, published authors, literary agents, booksellers and a great deal of people in the publishing and literary industry.
You can check online to see when and where book conventions and expos will be held. If you are already networking on Twitter, a fair amount of your literary peers should know where they are and may have even attended them in the past. Just do some research into it and see if there are any that might be held in your area!
Local Writers Meet-Ups
Networking with fellow writers online is great and meeting up with people if you attend conventions is really awesome but there is nothing like the ability to meet up with writers in your area on a regular basis, just to sit and write (or procrastinate, it happens) together, discuss various topics, exchange books on writing and get and give help on writing.
Looking into whether there is a local writers group in your area or perhaps even taking the initiative to set one up one your own is a brilliant incentive to write more and a great opportunity to meet with your writing peers.
Those are a few ways in which you can network and keep in touch with your fellow writers and literary peers. If there are any that I have missed, please let me know in the comments section below and maybe mention what are the best ways you have found to network with writers.
Just remember, you don't have to be a lone wolf. Go forth and embrace your fellow writers!
3 comments:
This is great! Very informative for the lonesome writer, or just any writer. Thanks very much!
Thank you for the link to the writer's guide to Twitter - I've never really 'got' Twitter, and it's seemed like just a waste of space to me. But I will read that guide :D
Nothing gets me going and keeps me going on my writing like my weekly writers group! We write together from prompts, and listening to the creative spark from so many talented people fuels my writing for days. Out of our years together, the group wrote a book, "Coffee and Ink: How a Writers Group Can Nourish Your Creativity".
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