3 Reasons Why the Solitary Writer is a Myth

NaNo Prep season has begun in earnest. We’ve asked some writers to share their best tips on how to write the first draft of a novel and have fun doing it. Today, NaNoWriMo’s executive director, Grant Faulkner, shares just how a writing community can change your creative life:

Do you remember your first day of school? If you’re like me, you experienced a moment of trepidation just before you stepped into the room. You didn’t know who any of these people were. You didn’t know how they were going to receive you. And you didn’t want to be the uncomfortable loner marooned in a corner watching everyone else having fun together.

Here are two things I’ve learned over the years: 

most people are nice and want to get to know you;once you make friends in that new community, you’re a better person for it.

I say this because for years I kept writers’ communities at an arm’s distance, despite being a very diligent and determined writer. I guess I thought I could do it all myself, but I was also fearful of something—of rejection, of vulnerability, or of just being uncomfortable.

Now that I engage with several writing communities, however, I realize how they infuse me with a creative chutzpah that my lonely, dark garrett of a writing life never provided. I especially cherish the NaNo community’s rollicking, encouraging, whimsical, whip-cracking, jet-propelling spirit. NaNo’s community is all about helping everyone realize their creative dreams.

Here are the three simple reasons I think you should join in:

Creativity thrives in collaboration: None of us is as smart as all of us! Creations tend to emerge from a sequence of sparks lit by others—and your fellow NaNo writers form a whirling dervish of sparks.If you fall, you fall into others’ arms: Meeting regularly to write with others keeps you accountable. And if your main character decides to play dead, you’ll have a room full of other writers who will drop their pens to help you brainstorm “what if” scenarios.Sometimes you need commiseration or encouragement: NaNoWriMo can be an overwhelming beast. Only your fellow writers can understand why you’re more concerned about a character lost in a netherworld of darkness than your own lack of sleep, or when you’ve reached a milestone that deserves the crashing of cymbals.

Writers thrive together. When C.S. Lewis met J.R.R. Tolkein, they were just two men with a “writing hobby”. They bonded over their interest in Nordic myths, formed a writing group called “The Inklings”, and guess what came next? Little books like The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia.

This year’s theme of “the NaNoWriMo Library” represents not only the infinite reaches of the stories in your imagination, but the giant, wonderful community who gathers together for the love of storytelling.

So, if you haven’t gone to write-in, give it a whirl. The next time you hit a noveling hurdle, pose your question in the NaNo forums. Or jump start your word-count with one of the @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter. NaNoWriMo might be best described as the world’s biggest and best novel writing party, so join the revelry.

For more, I wrote an article in Writer’s Digest a year ago about some of the many ways NaNo’s community helps writers. 

Grant Faulkner is the executive director of the nonprofit behind National Novel Writing Month. He received his B.A. from Grinnell College in English and his M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He has published stories and essays in The New York Times,Poets & Writers, Writer’s Digest, The Southwest Review, The Rumpus, Gargoyle, and The Berkeley Fiction Review, among dozens of others. He’s also the founder and editor of the lit journal 100 Word Story, and has published a collection of 100-word stories, Fissures.

Top photo by Flickr user masochismtango.