Part Two: Finding Your Writing Community
Writers are always being asked the question where do you get your ideas? The simple answer to that is anywhere and everywhere, but that’s not much to go on when you’re starting out as a writer.
Later in Writing for Pleasure, Profit, and Posterity I’ll be looking at capturing inspiration and the best way to organise your notes, but today I want to focus on the importance of finding your writing community. That’s your support group of cheerleaders, mentors, and others you’ll need in your quest to become a writer. They’ll help you formulate your ideas, brainstorm your projects, and provide you with inspiration.
Don’t worry if you don’t know any writers yet. I didn’t know anybody when I started out, but once I made the commitment to become a full-time writer, I was soon getting advice from all quarters. The writing community is supportive of newbies, and is keen to pass on the tips and wrinkles they’ve learned over the years.
You need people who will support you, but won’t be shy about offering constructive criticism when needed. While it’s lovely to have the backing of your immediate family (my career as a successful writer relies on tons of support from my husband and our children, for which I’m very grateful) don’t be tempted to show them your first efforts. If your family is like my tribe, they won’t want to hurt your feelings. Should your relations be less than supportive of your dreams, you might not like what they have to say.
The obvious first place to start is with a writing professional, such as the tutor of a good local (or online) creative writing course. You should expect to pay for their advice by enrolling, which is how I found my first writing mentor, the award-winning poet Paul Groves. Paul was running classes in creative writing at a local college. We became friends after I joined the course, and he has been giving me advice and support ever since.
In a future edition of Writing for Pleasure, Profit, and Posterity I’ll be covering courses in detail and how to choose a good one, so make sure you subscribe by putting your email address in the box below. Don’t worry, I won’t ever pass on your details, or send out spam.
Courses and workshops are vital to help you improve your writing, and they are a great source of inspiration. Students can bounce ideas off each other, and a good tutor will provide details of opportunities for writers such as competitions. Most writing competitions specify a theme. Like mortal danger, the idea of finishing a piece before the closing date is a great cure for writers’ block!
If you are serious about becoming a professional author, the Society of Authors offers loads of benefits such as workshops, training, and a contract vetting service. They also have an extensive branch network with lots of social events in non-Covid times, and plenty of online meet-ups during lockdowns.
If you already know what you want to write, it’s worth joining a specialist association. I belong to the Romantic Novelists’ Association. The RNA and its members have helped me every step of the way. I was a published author before I discovered them, and wish I’d known about their New Writers’ Scheme when I was first starting out. It gives unpublished writers the chance to have their work critiqued by professionals (including me), and each year the RNA presents the Joan Hessayon Award to the best debut novel. In 2020, this was won by Melissa Oliver’s historical novel, The Rebel Heiress and the Knight.
It was through my links with the Romantic Novelists’ Association that I came to write my first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol. You can find out more about Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol here. Pen and Sword Books were planning a series about women’s lives during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in major towns and cities around the United Kingdom. They had authors for all of the intended books except for Plymouth, Bristol, and Bath. The news was posted on the RNA site, and as I was born only a few miles from Bristol, I submitted a proposal for the book and won the contract.
Writing Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol introduced me to the delights of researching in an archive. I had never done anything like that before, but the staff at the Bristol Archives and the Bristol and Avon Family History Society were all so helpful, I really felt part of their community while I was working there.
There’ll be more about research for writers, and how to write proposals in future editions of Writing for Pleasure, Profit, and Posterity, so subscribe to my blog by using the form below to make sure you don’t miss anything!