So, where do you find other writers to connect with? One way is to join an online writing community. This could be in the form of a chat group, message board, online forum, an email group through a service such as Yahoo Groups or membership of a social networking site such as Facebook, where you can link into interest groups. There are, for example, forums at websites write4kids and Verla Kay, as well as numerous writing groups at Yahoogroups (put writer into the search box and you’ll find hundreds of results).
Belonging to one or more of these groups has lots of benefits.
You’ll meet other writers and be able to swap stories – sharing highs and lows. Being able to vent frustrations is wonderful – but being able to celebrate a success (yours or a colleague’s) is even better. A non-writer may not understand your need to celebrate a completed manuscript, when you haven’t yet found a publisher, but a fellow writer will want to share cyber-bubbles with you.
You can exchange information. Calls for manuscripts, movement of editors, contact details for publishers and editors, contract advice and more can be exchanged. Exchange of such information can save hours of searching all over the internet.
You can make connections – with illustrators, editors, critique groups and more. My membership of an MSN Group led to my connecting with a critique group. All the other members are based in the US and I’ve never met them – but three of my manuscripts have been accepted after my critique group’s input.
You can learn from others. From how to find ideas, to how to give a character life, through to how to write a cover letter and more. There are always people who have tried things you may not have thought of, and who will willingly give you some advice.
Last, but certainly not least, you can make friends. Many of the people I’ve met through online writing communities have become real life friends. Some I have still to meet, but others I have met up with at conferences, or for coffee when we’ve happened to be in the same city. Some I have chatted to on the phone, and others by email or in chat rooms. We’ve celebrated the births of babies, weddings, anniversaries, and we’ve shared sad times such as deaths, cyclones, thefts. Not writing-related but a very real, very wonderful benefit.
There are, of course, some risks to consider in joining a community. Keeping up with hundreds of emails or logging in to chat rooms, or checking message boards can be time consuming. That is why it is best to find one or just a couple of communities rather than trying to join them all.
Sharing work online in public forums is another risk – as well as the risk that someone might appropriate your work, you also run the risk of losing first rights – because online publication means your work has been published. Any critiquing or manuscript exchange should be done privately and with a limited number of participants.
Remember, too, that not every group will suit your needs. Some may expect a particular level of experience or a particular time commitment. Others may be too chatty for you – or not chatty enough. If a community doesn’t meet your needs move on and try another.
Lastly, consider what you are prepared to give. A community relies on active participation. You should be prepared to give as much as you get. This active exchange of information, advice, experience, and compassion is what makes a community work.
Some starting points to find a writers group for you:
http://groups.yahoo.com/
http://groups.msn.com/
http://groups.google.com/?pli=1
http://www.write4kids.com/cgibin/discus/discus.cgi
http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php
Sally Murphy says
Thanks for the recommendation, Lauren. I will check it out.
Lauren Baratz-Logsted says
I’d like to recommend Backspace: http://www.bksp.org/
With literally hundreds of writers, both published and unpublished, it’s the greatest general community for writers I know of on the Internet.