A while ago, I posted a blog just airing out some grievances I’ve had with the writing community. I’ve covered the bad and the ugly, but not so much the good. This blog is going to be my amazing experience with the writing community.
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Community is So Accepting
I’ve found the community so kind especially to me as a teenager. People treat me as an equal. If anything, I don’t think there is much difference in how I’m treated because of my age. It comes with its pros and cons but in this case, I’m able to talk to adult women as an equal. As a colleague. Which is wild. I’m talking to people who are my mother’s age as a colleague.
New Friends
This is of course a given, but I’ve made some amazing friends on here. Evan Rodriguez is a fantastic guy. Chloe is so kind. Cris is so hilarious. Even big writers that an audience wouldn’t think interact are willing to talk to you. People like Kim Chance, Jenna Moreci, Hannah Lee Kidder are so kind and more than willing to give advice. There is just something about this community that just exudes kindness and I love it.
Helping Others
I love beta-reading for other authors. I find it so much fun and that is what I do for the community, asides from videos and other social media stuff. I am more than happy to critique someone’s writing. And it’s just-I don’t know how to describe it. To see someone I’ve grown attached to make their story bigger and better. I love seeing other people succeed and I’m just so proud of other people. Like, y’all created a story out of literally nothing. And you’re brave enough to share it and be vulnerable to improve and you are improving. You’re all awesome.
People Help Me
Of course people can help me. I personally haven’t sought out any critiques except from Evan for one chapter. That I ended up cutting entirely out of my novel because I changed a lot of the plot.
But the community helps me primarily for just being a community. I can vent to people about issues I’ve faced with writing. I can complain to other teen writers on issues that affect us.
I know that when I am ready to have my novel critiqued, I will have people behind my back. I know when I start querying, there will be people cheering me on. I know there are real people that believe in my story as much as I do and that’s more than enough help. Reviews are Freely Given
Reviews are Freely Given
Authors understand how important reviews are. They are more than willing to go out of their way to drop a review everywhere they could, good or bad. They’ll leave it on Goodreads, Amazon, IBooks, anything. And it’s just so fantastic to see other authors support each other.
Writers can Share Audiences
I always feel weird talking about marketing. But I will say that it is very appreciative that writers are so willing to share audiences. I just love that this industry doesn’t rely on competition. We can totally gush about other peoples’ books without fear of hurting our own chance of selling.
Teen Writers are Friendly
This is for the age part. But like, teen writers are so nice. And it’s great to have people in my age range, same generation that oftentimes share the same humor. We can send memes to one another. It’s just great to be around people my own age.
Chloe actually started a teen writing group chat. If you’re a teen writer, we’d love to have you. Just message me on twitter or comment below. Most of us write genre fiction but I write literary short stories. One of us writes non-fiction. We’re a small group and we’d love to have you.
Moms of the Community
This is to the older people of the community. I say older with like, a grain of salt. People like Jenna Moreci and Super Cossack have kind of played a mentor or mother-like figure in my writing career. I know Dawn much better. They have actually treated me like a child, which I am, and I appreciate that on another level when in comparison to the first point. I love y’all.
I love this community and it has helped me not just as an artist but also as a person. I’ve made some great friends and I hope to continue contributing to this amazing community of kind and talented people.
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