Great Writers

Sometimes, I wonder how the great writers like Shakespeare, Chaucer, Cervantes, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Tolstoy, and all the others managed to write at such a high level without being in writing groups. How did they do it--write beautifully, grammatically correct, excellently in all phases? How did they learn it? How did they figure it out? It just came natuarally to them, I guess. Perhaps, being educated at an early age in the classics is a huge advantage. It seems that, besides being genuises, the quality of their education had something to do with it.

Writing As a Lonely Occupation

Yes, writing is a lonely occupation. But, as a fiction writer, I'm involved in my characters' lives, which can be sort of like having company. Of course, they are not real people, but sometimes it seems like they are. I care about their lives, their dreams, their relationships. I can have a hard time when one of them dies. Usually, when I start a story, I don't know much about my characters, but after a while I know them really well. I like character-driven stories. Plot is important. But the characters are more important. One of the ways writing is less lonely is by participating in writing groups or workshops.

Writing Groups

I belong to two writing groups, both of which have helped me enormously. One group is reading the first half of a novel I've written, the other group is reading the second half. Even at this pace, it'll probably take until next summer to finish reading it. However, this isn't the first time it's been read by a group, so this is more like fine tuning. In the mean time, I'm attempting to find an agent.

Writing groups are a big help to me. Besides sharing our writings, we have a lot of fun too. Both of my groups are excellent at critiquing, very professional in approach. Part of the key is the leader. John is more like a moderator. He doesn't present any of his own work. He strickly makes critiques and makes sure we're on track. Of course, he's paid. The rest of us do the paying. But it's worth it.

It's very important that no one in the group take anyone's critiques personally. Occasionally, it happens, and that person ends up dropping out. But it's their own fault for taking it personally. I appreciate all the feedback I get. I accept probably 95-98% of all suggestions made, because they're correct and it makes my work better.