What's a Group of Writers Called?
The longstanding image of a writer is someone alone in a room- maybe a little attic with a window where they can write at a tiny desk by candlelight or something equally grim/romantic/your solitary descriptor here.
And in one sense, it’s true. You’re the only one who sits down and gets the words out on the page to your story so “writing is a solitary endeavor.”
But that doesn’t mean writing should be done alone and writers are always better off in groups.
The best place I see this is at the Women In Publishing Summit. Writers, editors, book designers, women from all aspects of the publishing industry come together to support each other, learn new things, and develop and deepen their community. This was the second year I attended the Summit and I was once again blown away by how friendly and helpful everyone was.
Especially for new writers, the idea of coming together not just once for a conference like this, but to encourage coming together year round and supporting each other was clearly a breakthrough. People were talking about forming groups based on location if they wanted to meet in person, or by genre if they were ok talking online. Getting feedback from fellow writers (both the good and the critical) is essential for us- not only to help us improve as writers but just to build up our confidence. How will we know our writing is any good if we keep it to ourselves in a drawer? I went from thinking no one would be interested in my ideas to having a whole group of women asking me when I was publishing because they thought my idea sounded really interesting. Talk about positive feedback!
So let me encourage you- especially my fellow new writers out there- to start building your communities. Find other writers to talk to. Maybe you don’t even need to share your writing but you share problems you’re having and someone else has already had that same problem and has a suggestion on a solution. We just aren’t meant to go on this journey alone-especially if you plan on publishing your book.
*In case you were wondering: one Collective Noun List says a group of writers says a group of authors can be called “a quill, a cloud, a grid, a bind, a gathering, a panel, a host, an ancestry, and an arguement.” None of those sound very “community” to me, although I never say no to a good quill.
Do you have a writer’s group? What do you call yourselves?