Creating an Offline Writer’s Group is Harder than it Looks

As many of you know, supporting my fellow writers and editors is very important to me provided my schedule allows for it. Whether someone is new to the craft or not, I can relate to the challenges of networking. When I started forming a writer’s group a few months ago, I really had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t sure if there would be a large interest or a small one, or if we’d have a more professional take on it rather than something casual.

What I’ve learned is that forming an offline writer’s group is a lot harder than it looks. I’d like to share some of the things I’ve internalized over the past, few months with you.

1. Writing Groups Seem to Work Better when There’s a Tight Focus – Because the physical act of writing is often extremely solitary, I didn’t want to create an exclusive “fiction” or “non-fiction” group. Initially, I thought that because there’s often writers (like myself) that do both non-fiction and fiction, a generic group might allow people to network and grow in the areas that they wanted to write in. What I found was that the group needed a tighter focus. We’ve had many different people come to the different writer’s groups; but everyone seemed to be interested in something that I wasn’t prepared to provide. Some wanted a workshop sort of a scenario, with a more professional (e.g. paying dues) structure that offered support for professional (e.g. established) writers. Others wanted a casual environment where leads and other opportunities happened organically, with less of a structure. This experience taught me that even though I had the best of intentions for creating a more generic, more people-oriented structure, it would have been more successful if there was an outline and an agenda that I could offer people up front. This also brings me to my next point…

2. You Can’t Please Everyone – I’ve learned that no matter how much I want to try to offer a group where there’s a little something for everyone, in reality that’s pretty darn close to impossible. Writing as a career is so broad (almost too broad) that it’s perfectly normal to have two, very successful writers who have experiences that have nothing to do with one another. A romance novelist, for example, may have something in common with another novelist, but not with an editor for a business journal. Query letters might be necessary for fiction and non-fiction, but they aren’t for people who are employed full-time in a company. Throw in writers who have never published an article or a short story, and it’s possible the group ends up not finding anything to talk about without prompting.

Realizing that I couldn’t offer a group that would mean something to everyone was a very, difficult lesson for me to learn. Add my own “wants” and “needs” on top of that lesson, and I found myself facing one, inevitable truth…

3. There’s Only So Much of “Me” to Go Around – It is no secret that I’ve been restructuring my long-term writing goals. I have a limited amount of time to work with, because I have a “day job” that I am committed to, which means that I need to be extraordinarily disciplined and aware of my time away from work in order to remain professional and achieve my goals. I would like to point out that I am exceptionally fortunate that my team supports my fiction-and-game writing efforts outside of work; many of my fellow team members are writers or have other creative endeavors as well, too.

I had initially envisioned the writer’s group to be something that just took off on its own, so that I could fit in into my schedule without creating a lot of prep time or additional time sinks. What I found was that because the organic nature of the group didn’t happen as well as I had hoped, I realized that I needed to dump more time into the group to nurture it along. Unfortunately, I had a situation where I was prepping for other conferences and I couldn’t devote time into it. Because of that, the group is a lot smaller than I had expected. Sure, if I had put more time and effort into it I’m confident that I would have been able to help it get off the ground, but that’s time I didn’t (and still don’t) have. Part of it, too, is that LinkedIn (which is where I first started this group) didn’t meet all of our needs, either. That thought segues into my next point…

4. Functionality Online is Key to Offline Organization – Facebook has “events” that allow you to see whether or not people are attending. Those invites are great for booking invitations. LinkedIn also has “events,” but they’re not part of a group’s functionality, so you have to send people to a separate location to sign up for the event. Group emails (like Google or Yahoo! groups) can work, but since they’re separate from where the group’s info might be located, they can be limiting and they also need to be monitored.

Regardless of the tools I’d need to facilitate group communication, I’ve also realized that because not everyone spends the same amount of time that I do online, they might not “see” something I post for a few days, maybe even a week. I feel that I should have figured out what tools I needed to use before I started up the group; and I should have established some sort of communication structure beforehand. So what’s the lesson here?

5. It’s Best to Plan Before You Form a Writer’s Group – From researching established writer’s groups to figuring out how the group will function in the long-term, I’ve learned that starting a writer’s group does require time and special loving care. In my opinion, the tools that you need to create a writer’s group are:

  • Specific Goal or Unifying Message (e.g. What do you want to Accomplish?)
  • Financial Structure (e.g. Fee-based? Not?)
  • Offline Location (Easily Accessible and Low-Cost)
  • Online Location (Easily Accessible and Easy-to-Use)
  • Group Guidelines (e.g. Who is the group for?)
  • Awareness of Existing Writer’s Groups
  • Promotion (Getting People Interested)
  • Support (Information, Resources, Short-Term Goals)
  • Communication (e.g. Who handles grievances? Messaging? etc.?)
  • People Willing to Help Organize

    • Going forward, I’m still going to offer something for the existing group and see where it goes. It’ll be structured around a more “social” idea, though. Once a month I’m going to offer a chance for people to network, either through dinner or a cocktail hour. Then, on a quarterly basis, I’ll have a workshop or learning experience of some kind. For fall, I’m going to toss out the idea of attending a lecture that might be invaluable for people who want to learn how to get published in fiction.

    Even though I’m not sure how things will progress for the group, I’m learning to move forward in a new and positive direction.

    September 13, 2009
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    Bridging the Online to Offline Connection

    Twitter. Facebook. LiveJournal. FriendFeed. Chat rooms and forums. The list of places where you can go to interact with someone online goes on and on and on. Eventually, you get to know personalities on these different platforms and (in some cases) can meet up with people offline. The experience of meeting someone offline can be either daunting or disappointing, but almost always it is “different” than interacting with someone online.

    When you’re chatting with someone online, you are “just” relying on words and rapid responses to develop a connection which (more often than not) is hidden behind an avatar or truncated persona. When you meet someone offline, you make conscious and unconscious judgments based on body language and other social/professional cues. Unfortunately, because people are more accessible online than they are offline, we all know that the internet can foster an illusion of popularity or self-importance. Being chatty with someone online usually means precisely that. It doesn’t mean that people will necessarily remember who you are or expect that you’re their “best friend forever,” but those expectations do exist.

    Over the past year I’ve been to several conventions, and at almost every, single one there is a story about how an author or an agent felt threatened by one of their online fans. Fans, readers and aspiring authors who have never met these people expected — nay, demanded — personal time with them because of a relationship they believed existed that wasn’t there in the first place. Even if the invitation was innocuous, it leaves a bad impression that can hurt an aspiring author’s (or fan’s) chances of continuing any communication. To put it into perspective: Imagine you were attending your company’s trade show. Say someone walks up to you that you don’t recognize. They introduce themselves as someone you’ve had an exchange with maybe once or twice. You don’t remember them, but you’re trying to be polite. Professionalism is important to you because you’re representing your company. Now they ask you out for an evening’s worth of entertainment. Would you say ‘Yes’?

    Even if your intentions for an invite are honorable, I would recommend against having any expectations unless you set something up beforehand for professional reasons. Keep in mind that it’s becoming harder and harder to bridge that online-to-offline connection because of the bad experiences people have had and, subsequently, share with one another.

    Most authors/agents/celebrities/etc. are online because it is part of their job to foster an internet presence and provide a glimpse into their life “behind-the-curtain.” Many of these people have hundreds, if not thousands, of readers who demand their time: they have to leverage that offline with writing, working their day job, maintaining a family and their own social life, etc.

    As writers, it is exceptionally easy to lose social skills because of the nature of writing. When you’re writing, you aren’t talking “to” anyone and you’re typically engaging with an inanimate object. Writing can be a very lonely and solitary activity, which can sometimes lead to misunderstandings or challenges if you haven’t been social for a while. This is why I cannot stress enough the importance of getting out there and finding ways to “be social” with other people. In my experiences, when you have a strong foundation of social skills offline, you will find that it’s easier to bridge that online-to-offline connection and remain professional when you do meet new people.

    Here are ten, low-cost ways you can be social in your own community:

      1. Start (or Join) a Book Club
      2. Get a Part-Time Holiday Job
      3. Volunteer (e.g. Shelters, Humane Society, etc.)
      4. Join a Non-Profit Group (e.g. Church, Politics, etc.)
      5. Be Part of a Community Theatre/Choir
      6. Start (or Join) a Writer’s Group
      7. Take a Class
      8. Sign Up for Co-Ed Sports
      9. Attend (or Organize) a Social Media Meet-Up
      10. Visit your Library, Game or Book Store for Local Events
    September 2, 2009
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    AP’s New Pay-Per-Quote and the Power of Asking “Permission”

    If you work in the business world, you might have heard the phrase: “Ask forgiveness, don’t ask permission.” This phrase is supposed to reflect how you, as an employee, might take calculated risks in your day job to “get ahead” in your career.

    As a writer, the reverse is often true, especially if you’re writing for the internet.

    The Associated Press released a press release late last week dubbed, “Associated Press to build news registry to protect content.” Additionally, they’re also charging a sliding scale of $2.50 per word for a quote from one of their articles per this Mashable article entitled, “Quote 5 Words from the Associated Press? That’ll Be $12.50.”

    In an earlier post, I talked about the Top Five Writer Misconceptions about Online Publishing. You might recall Misconception #2: My article will only be found on the site where I published it. The recent decision by the AP supports that misconception, by even charging for what I would call “fair and reputable” by offering commentary and then quoting and linking to the AP article’s original online source.

    Most of the internet’s content is structured in that way. You have original content which is then spread via social media and blogging; people often take a critical or an editorial approach to the content and build around it. Many of the web’s most popular sites, for example, are primarily aggregators that pull in content from other sources or find links on the web and talk about them. (Boing Boing, the Huffington Post, the Drudge Report just to name a few.)

    Between potentially getting sued for libel and now this new action by the Associated Press, I believe it is now (more than ever) vitally important to protect yourself as a writer and ask permission when you’re quoting an article. When I wrote my article for SFWA about personalization, I contacted the authors directly and asked them for a quote. Why? Two reasons. One, I wanted to offer personal examples of SFWA members to support my opinion. In order to do that, I felt I needed to ask permission because I was talking about someone’s online presence, which may (or may not) support their platform or reputation as a writer. Two, asking for permission gave me the chance to touch base with these authors and ensure that I was acting professionally. Did I need to ask them permission? Absolutely!

    Asking permission to quote someone’s article can also help you network, too. I understand that you may be on a deadline (Read my latest post about the Hazards of Getting There First) but as I’ve mentioned several times before, there is a lot on the internet that is still uncharted and unexplored. Internet law is not set in stone. By establishing good, professional practices you can protect your reputation and the reputation of the source you are quoting.

    No matter what I may think of the AP’s recent practices, I feel that this will not be the first (nor the last) major publisher/company to go this route. Content on the web has been published unchecked for so long; the rabbit is already out of the hat. As a result, the potential for bad PR is huge because content providers and readers both have years of established expectations for consuming and producing content which is, in many cases, “free.”

    Regardless, as a writer I will continue to ask permission, even if I have personal opinions about whether or not a particular ruling is a good one.

    August 3, 2009
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    My GenCon 2009 Writer’s Symposium Schedule

    Folks, things have been a bit crazy on my planet as I get ready for GenCon: Indy. This will be my first year I’ll be speaking on panels through the Writer’s Symposium, even though this is definitely not my first speaking engagement. I’ll be bringing along some mini-flyers for those of you that are interested in picking up the games or some of the fiction I’ve written for, with info where they’ll be at the con. I’ve received word that my latest contribution in Family Games: 100 won’t be available until after GenCon, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pre-order a copy. (Shameless plug, I know. Please forgive me!)

    Please keep in mind that there will be a ton of really great authors in the Writer’s Symposium that you might recognize. Jean Rabe, Patrick Rothfuss, Paul Genesse, John Helfers, Anton Strout, Mike Stackpole, Ed Greenwood and many other wonderful authors will be here, so be sure to bring your books and get them signed, too!

    Without further ado, here’s my schedule for the GenCon: Indy 2009 Writer’s Symposium:

    Thursday, August 13

      2:00 p.m. Main Hall – Author’s Alley – Come say hello! John Helfers and Kerrie Hughes will also be around in this area where you can meet-and-greet your favorite authors!
      4:00 p.m. The Marriott (Santa Fe) – Switching Gears: Fiction to Game Writing and Back Again – Jean Rabe, Marc Tassin, Robert, Farnsworth, Monica Valentinelli – The genres require different styles of writing, and if you want to work in both industries you have to be able to switch gears…and don’t let them hear the dice rolling when you do it.
      5:00 p.m. The Marriott (Santa Fe) – Shameless Self-Promotion – Paul Genesse, Donald Bingle, Monica Valentinelli – Web pages and blogs and going to conventions…oh my! Promoting yourself andyour writing is necessary in today’s market. But how far should you go? Just how do you promote yourself without sounding desperate? Our panelists offer their sage advice on how to draw attention to you and your work economically and ethically.

    Friday, August 14

      9:00 a.m. The Marriott (Lincoln) – Urban Fantasy – Anton Strout, Kerrie Hughes, Monica Valentinelli – Is there still room in the market? Can the public handle another vampire detective? Our panelists have written urban fantasy and discuss the ingredients, what makes a successful fantasy city yarn, and how you can try to break into the genre.
      12:00 p.m. The Marriott (Santa Fe) – Author Reading – Anton Strout, Monica Valentinelli – Come and listen to us read from our published (and maybe even unpublished!) works.

    Saturday, August 15

      8:00 a.m. The Marriott (Lincoln) – Worldbuilding: Mythology – Chris Pierson, Sabrina Klein, Monica Valentinelli, Robert Farnsworth – The mythology of your world makes a huge impact on how your story is perceived. Should you lift a mythology from an ancient culture? Twist a current one? Or create one from scratch? Our panelists take on making mythologies convincing, realistic, and interesting.
      9:00 a.m. The Marriott (Lincoln) – Worldbuilding: Magic, Technology and Evolution – John Helfers, Kerrie Hughes, Chris Pierson, Monica Valentinelli – We’re living in a time when technological evolution has made a tremendous difference in most of our world’s societies. What would your characters’ evolutionary paths be if they used magic instead of computers? How does magic or science affect a society’s evolution? We’ll examine how patterns of change affect your world and characters and how to twist technology with magic or vice versa.
      1:00 p.m. Main Hall – Author’s Alley – Paul Genesse and Monica Valentinelli

    Sunday, August 16

      8:00 a.m. The Marriott (Santa Fe) – Tough Guys and Gals in Fiction – Elizabeth Vaughan, Kelly Swails, Monica Valentinelli, Robert Farnsworth – Hard-edged characters are very popular…Conan, Xena, Laura Croft, the Terminator, and the Punisher. Why do we like the shoot first, ask questions later characters? What is their place in modern fiction, and how can we use them in our own stories?
      9:00 a.m. The Marriott (Santa Fe)– Pardon Me, But I’m a Writer… – Kelly Swails, Robert Farnsworth, Elizabeth Vaughan, Monica Valentinelli – …and I’d like to know all about…Do you need to know what goes on in the kitchen of a Japanese restaurant? How a horse moves? Which everyday plants are poisonous? What ratlines are? Research in an important part of writing, and sometimes it involves approaching others for information. Join us for a fun panel on how to get information from mundanes without appearing to be crazy.

    Special thanks to Jean Rabe for allowing me to be a part of the Writer’s Symposium this year. Hope to see you there!

    August 2, 2009
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    Looking for Publishing Advice? Why Offline May be Better.

    On the internet, there is no shortage of publishing advice. You can often find this advice from people who work in the publishing industry (authors, agents, publishers) as well as from people who don’t (fans, readers, reviewers and some marketers or booksellers). While I do sometimes give publishing advice, I try to put that advice into context based on my experiences because when it comes to this industry – I believe that everyone’s experiences may be different.

    Regardless of how the advice is given, there is often a reason why the advice is being offered in the first place. Many people try to establish themselves as an “expert” for some reason or another; others, like in my case, provide advice to either “pay it forward” or to help their blog readers get to know them. Regardless of the reason why the advice is being offered, the content of that article or blog post may (or may not) be accurate. By “accurate” I mean that the advice could be outdated, colored by personal experience or stretched a bit for some reason or another. That’s not to say that “all” advice is bad; nor am I saying that people knowingly give crappy advice. In many ways, people provide advice as a means of helping themselves reach their goal just like you are reading the advice to (hopefully) reach yours.

    As I mentioned earlier, my goal for providing advice to you – my readers – is to help you think critically about your choices. I don’t expect you to take every word I say verbatim, nor do I believe that you’ll agree with everything I say. It may “seem” otherwise (especially when I’ve had too much caffeine) but I really and truly believe that everyone has their own path.

    However, no matter how much advice you read online there is one thing that you’re missing – and that is the 100s of conversations that happen offline. Those are the conversations that, if you’re interested in writing within the publishing industry, you need to be involved with, listen to and watch for. Why? Well, just like you have an online reputation to manage, foster and protect – so does everyone else. As a result, there is a lot about the publishing industry that is not revealed on the internet. From the inside skinny on what publishers are really looking for to understanding which agents not to query, there are a lot of business-facing conversations that happen offline.

    I’m sure by now you’re wondering how these offline conversations happen. Well? I can tell you that those conversations don’t happen overnight because often they require a level of trust after you’ve developed a rapport with other people in the industry. While that trust does not come easily, the publishing industry is really no different from any other business. In order to be a part of it, you need to network and approach it like a business (Which means keep writing!). Where can you meet people in publishing? Book clubs, conventions, author signings and critique groups in your area might be a few places to start.

    Regardless of where you get your information, I strongly encourage you to take all advice with a grain of salt and be sure to follow up and research thoroughly.

    July 27, 2009
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