How Community Transforms Writing

by Rochelle Melander

In April 1815, Mount Tambora in India erupted, causing catastrophic weather shifts. The ash directed sunlight away from earth and temperatures dropped. The summer of 1816 brought snow, frost, and ice.

During that time, eighteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelly) traveled to Lake Geneva with Percy Shelly, who would become her husband, and several other friends. Because the weather was dreadful, the group was stuck inside. Percy Shelly challenged them to write a ghost story.

A nightmare sparked Mary’s imagination—and she began writing. Later, she’d show her first pages to Shelly, who would mark them with suggestions. Back and forth they went until Mary had a finished draft.

Mary isn’t alone. Many writers have joined together to support one another.

Think Virginal Woolf and her Bloomsbury Group, who connected to share writing and support each other’s political views.

Remember C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien? I wrote about them earlier this year. They formed the group, The Inklings, as a sanctuary when they were frustrated by the pressures of teaching and the worries of war. Tolkien later wrote about C. S. Lewis’s comments on The Lord of the Rings,

‘When he would say, “You can do better than that. Better, Tolkien, please!” I would try. I’d sit down and write the section over and over.”

After Lewis’s death, Tolkien wrote, “The unpayable debt that I owe to him was not ‘influence’ as it is ordinarily understood, but sheer encouragement. He was for long my only audience. Only from him [did I] ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a private hobby.”

PEN (originally short for Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists) was founded in 1921 by Catherine Amy Dawson Scott in London to promote community among writers and to defend both literature and free expression. It remains an active organization today.

I wonder if these writers could have done their work without the help and support of each other?

I’ve gained so much from participating in writing groups over the years. Because of these groups, I spend time talking about writing. I read and review my colleagues’ work. And, thanks to Show Up and Write, I now get to write with others.

The value of working with other writers has made such a huge difference in my life, I created the Mightier Writer’s Circle. I wanted to provide writers with a community built on mutual support, co-writing, and the feedback of others.

This game-changing community will help you:

• Establish a writing habit through challenges and Show Up and Write
• Connect with other writers on the message boards and in groups
• Get answers to your most pressing writing questions

And here’s the best thing: the first members of the Mightier Writer’s Circle will be able to shape content for the next year. I’ll be turning to you to find out what classes you want, what editors and agents you hope to hear from, and what tools you need.

Let’s write these books together!

Don’t forget, you get a seven-day free trial: WRITER’S CIRCLE