Writing Doesn't Have to Be So Lonely
All writing is conversation, right? It's a dialogue that we have with each other and with the greater culture. When I write a story, it's in response to something I've read or watched or experienced.
Language itself is a collaborative tool, one that we've created and continue to create together. Words only work because we agree on their meanings (at least we mostly agree).
Not only that, when we write stories, we expect that readers will react to our words. They might respond in their heads by thinking back at us. They might respond in the world by changing their understanding, actions, and behaviors. If they're a writer, they might answer with their own story inspired by ours. But even if it's only inside their own brains, through listening, through an engaged imagination, the audience collaborates in storytelling.
And that's on top of the way we collaborate on stories as they're being written–when we workshop or get feedback or pass a draft to an editor. Conversations surround all of that.
And yet.
Here I am, alone in my basement, going type-type-type.
Writing can feel so lonely. We're in this conversation with imagined listeners. Or with distant listeners. Or future listeners.
Sometimes we need community that's a bit more solid.
That's what we're working to create in Lit!Commons. Ten teaching artists, of various backgrounds and expertise, along with Loft staff members, are making a space for writers to come together and have these conversations in a more tangible way.
There will be lessons about craft and publishing and creativity, but there will also be community.
I'm most excited about the conversations. Some of them will happen asynchronously. But most meaningful to me, each teaching artist will host weekly live sessions through zoom. This is where we will have real and consequential conversations about writing and–through our writing–about the world.
My role is "The Networker," and so I will be building a path that is about connection and real community. Sure, we'll make the kind of relationships that will help our careers, but we can also connect in ways that will inspire our art and support us as human beings.
As part of this, I'm thrilled to run a Lit!Commons series on collaborative storytelling. I'm making a space in which writers are invited to collaborate on an ongoing book-length project. Together, we're going to build a world, populate it with characters, and make those characters interact. Each completed piece of the story will serve as a prompt for what comes next. Once we have generated enough material, we'll collaborate to build the pieces into a cohesive structure. There will be live conversations about the project, as well as asynchronous components, including prompts, craft tools and strategies, shared writing, and discussion board activity. Sign up here.
Collaboration can be such an antidote to the loneliness of writing. It builds community. But it also builds real skills.
Taking inspiration from each other, our imaginations can reach further than they might get on their own. We can create something more wondrous than any one of us could do individually. And the ideas we generate won't be confined to the group project–you can also take them back to your lonely basement and type-type-type.
Perhaps more importantly, collaborative writing helps us to externalize our personal creative processes, so that we can better understand how our own brains work, be purposeful in our strategies, and get ideas to improve the writing process from others who are doing the same.
A project like this builds connections between writers, generates new and exciting work, and improves our creative processes through giving us better understanding of our own imaginations.
And those other nine teaching artists of Lit!Commons? They're starting other amazing conversations–around craft, publishing, creativity, and other aspects of this weird thing we do alone in our basements, but also in community with other writers.
Do you need a writing mentor? With the Lit!Commons, you’ll be able to carry 10 literary luminaries in your pocket. This virtual community debuts April 2nd, 2024. To get a special discount code for 50% off your first month, sign up for the mailing list at Loft.Thinkific.Com