Writers in the Storm

by John Peragine

These last few weeks have been one of the most trying times of my life. Covid-19 has been this constant cloud that hovers over the most inane tasks of ordinary life. Heaped on top of this is the political divide happening in America and the ongoing fight for freedom and rights. Though these issues have weighed heavy on my heart the last few months, nothing has been as crushing as these last two weeks.

First, my twenty-two-year-old daughter became very ill. She had been living on her own and preparing to go back to school this fall. Since her illness began, she has been in the hospital five times and moved back home.

Then the Midwest derecho happened on August 10th. In about fifteen minutes, the derecho pounded through with 120 mile-an-hour sustained winds and flattened trees all around us. Cell phone towers went down, as did the power and our Internet. We remained that way for over a week.

Many people have had it much worse than us but my purpose in sharing this story is to illuminate the one thing that got me through with my sanity and soul intact: my writing community.

My Writing Community Is a Godsend

I needed help, and they responded. And I am so grateful. I was scheduled earlier this month to post a blog, and with a text, my good friend Jenny switched with me. I have had writer friends call me, write to me, send me letters, and Zoom with me. They shared the burden of my work and lent an ear when I needed it.

Creating a writing community around you helps you in so many ways because we are all in this together.

Our work is done inside our heads. Writing the words down is a consequence of the worlds we build in our dreams. Writers' greatest accomplishments happen in total isolation. Because of this, we want…no…we need connections with others just like us.

Sure, I have a loving family and non-writer friends, and they often nod and do their best to support me. But they don't always 'get' me. A writer understands the emotional angst of another writer.

In the middle of the night, I can send out a sentence I'm stuck on to a writer pal, and within minutes I receive a response. My own biological family doesn't even do that!

Tips for Building a Writing Community

1. You offer yourself first. You ask what you can do for other writers you meet. They may not take your offer right away, but they will remember your generosity. One day, you will get an email, humble in its construction, asking for the help you offered months and even years prior.

2. You become active in the writing community. You show up and pay forward the help others have given you, whether it is writing on a blog like WITS or offering to look over someone's opening lines. Being part of a writing community is about service and what you offer to others.

3. Create a Writing Support Group

The reason several current contributing authors are here on Writers in the Storm is because of a Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference from four years ago where I met Eldred, Jenny, Kris, and Miffie. I suggested we begin a writer's group online and we, along with Ellen Buikema, have met weekly ever since.

It is not a traditional writing/critique group. It is mostly a check-in on how our writing (and more importantly, how our lives) are going. We encourage each other to write more and pursue our career goals, and some amazing things have occurred. Most of us have had books completed and published. We have grown as writers together. We have become friends for life.

4. Offer What You Know

I have a mantra that I live by, especially when it comes to other writers:

I give away what I know,
I get paid for what I do.

I have a few years of experience as a writer, and I am willing to share whatever I know (or think I know). I crave connecting with and helping other writers. Rather than monetizing it, I offer it freely with the hope someone will use it to become more successful.

This isn't to knock the writing teachers out there. That is their job and they should be compensated for it. But I get paid for writing and editing. I'm lucky...I have no need to make money off my writing community.

The Astounding Generosity of My Writing Community

As I mentioned earlier, the generosity of my writing community has been astonishing. I never expected anything like the outpouring of support they have gifted me with while I was down. I am genuinely humbled. I know this is not the typical blog post you might expect at Writers In the Storm, but I felt compelled to share something positive in these sometimes dark times.

I appreciate every one of you.

Writers are so vital in this time of strife and fear. Through our fingertips, we can create beautiful worlds, words of hope, words of love, and create a better tomorrow. Keep writing my friends. And remember to reach out to the writer friends in your community. We can all use a good word and the reminder that we are together in this!

P.S. My daughter is doing better, my power and Internet are back, my coffee maker works, and I have ice for my whiskey. All is right in my corner of the world again.

How has your writing community supported you on your journey? Are there any moments that stand out for you? What are doing for your fellow writers? Please share your stories with us down in the comments!

About John

John Peragine has published 14 books and ghostwritten more than 100 others. He is a contributor for HuffPost, Reuters, and The Today Show. He covered the John Edwards trial exclusively for Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He has written for Wine Enthusiast, Grapevine Magazine, Realtor.com, WineMaker magazine, and Writer's Digest.

John began writing professionally in 2007, after working 13 years in social work and as the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for over 25 years. Peragine is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. His newest book, Max and the Spice Thieves, will be released Spring 2021. https://www.facebook.com/twilightdjinn/

By Barbara Linn Probst

Before I turned to fiction, I was a hybrid of academic and therapist. There was a truism in clinical practice that having been in therapy made you a better therapist—a complicated question, impossible to prove, although we always encouraged students to experience therapy themselves before attempting to offer it to others. I got curious and decided to ask the question in reverse: what was it like for people who entered therapy after having spent time as therapists?  Could they leave their therapist-minds behind when they moved to “the other chair” and surrender to the client role? As you might guess, it wasn’t so easy.

Now that I’m a novelist, I’m interested in a similar question for writers. Most of us were readers before we became writers, and would probably agree that our reading experience influences our experience as writers. But what happens when a writer opens a book and shifts to her reader-identity? Can we leave our writer-minds behind and surrender to the “reader chair”—and should we?  

Once again, I asked.  More than fifty people on several writer groups I belong to responded to my question: “How do you read? Do you lose yourself in the story (as a reader might) or read to study how the author did it (as a writer might)?”

The responses can be summarized into three big ideas.

"It depends on the quality of the book."

For some, there was a clear difference in how they read “well-written books” and how they read “poorly-written books.” 

• If the book is really good, I lose myself in it and forget to “read like a writer,” even if I want to and try to.
• A good story hijacks my brain and turns me back into a reader!
• If it's a book with problems, I tend to read like a writer and start seeing the issues.
• A poorly-written book will break the spell and activate that inner critic.

On the other hand, some people felt that the writer-brain interfered, even with well-written books, and often ruined their enjoyment.

• Writer-mind can interfere, and I wish it didn’t!  It’s a real downer.
• I’d like to read like a reader but it can be really difficult.
• The inner writer critic comes out far too often. I find myself pulled from the story.
• I'd like to read as a reader, but I find now that it's often as a writer. Oh, there's THAT trope. Oh, what a nice use of interjection. Why's she switching POV now? Hah, great dialogue! Ooh, what a great way to describe that expression. Ah, she just raised the stakes. It's kind of annoying because I miss just reading for pleasure.

People dealt with that challenge in different ways—typically by toggling back and forth or by reading a book more than once.

"I switch back and forth."

For some, the “toggling” happens as they go. While mainly “just reading,” they might stop to note something the writer did that they admired—or to wince when something is jarring.

• I read like a reader who is a writer, meaning that I simply read, but sometimes take notes on things that impressed me about the writing.
• A good book makes me stop to ponder how she did that!
• I often re-read a certain passage and think, “Now that’s a great idea to describe xyz!”
• I try to read like a reader but I catch myself noticing if the POV veered slightly off or if the scene jumped without a clear explanation. I find myself thinking: hmmm. Something was removed here and the transition is now bumpy.
• Mostly as a reader but I sometimes stop dead as a writer to admire a great sentence or be shocked by bad technique.

For others, the two processes happen alongside one another, as if different parts of the self are engaged in different ways.

• The writer can still think along the way, while the reader feels.
• I read like both: like a chef enjoying a dish prepared by someone else, who can't help figuring out how it was prepared and what ingredients went into it. Or like a singer listening to another singer, and appreciating how they handle reaching difficult notes and where technique compensates for vocal flaws.

I go back and read the book a second time.

With an exceptionally good book, many people said that they read for enjoyment the first time, and then go back to re-read with their “writer-brains” so they can focus on craft and identify what the author did that was so effective.

• Then a second time as a writer, paying more attention to how it was written rather than what it's about.
• If a book wows me, I'll reread it, sometimes to be wowed again, sometimes to study technique to understand why it wowed me.
• If it's amazing or I couldn't put it down, I go back and try to figure out what exactly created that response.

This was especially so for books that had effective twists and turns.

• If the book intrigues me enough I'll go back and reread as a writer so that I can understand how this particular book kept me turning the pages
• I wanted to analyze why it worked so well and what it was that made me lose myself.
• The twist at the end revealed why the point-of-view character behaved as he did throughout the story. I had to reread it with that knowledge.

Many people noted how important it was to experience the story as a reader, before all else.

• If you don't read first as a reader, the story is no longer a work of art or humanity.
• I would never want to forget that the story is written for readers, that the writer has something personal to convey, and is speaking to me, not demonstrating writing technique. I can't really experience the story if all I care about is to study its writing, even if I naturally tend to notice the writer's skill as I read.

These reflections offer an additional reminder. It’s important to remember that we’re writing for the reader—to give the reader that immersive experience of falling under the spell of the story, the same experience that we ourselves enjoy!

That may sound obvious, but I know I can become caught up in craft and technique—the sort of things that writers care about. I can spend hours worrying about eliminating “deadweight” or searching for the perfect word to convey the meaning I’m after. Although these things are part of our craft, I suspect that they’re not the things that readers care about.

Story.
Characters.
Meaning.

Isn’t that what we care about too, when we are in our reader-selves?  When we read, many of us toggle back-and-forth. We also need to toggle back-and-forth when we write— balancing our search for the highest level of craft we can muster and our feeling for the reader.

What about you? How do you read? Do you find yourself switching into your writer-brain when you read? If so, what triggers the switch? Please share with us down in the comments!

Barbara Linn Probst is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, living on a historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her debut novel, Queen of the Owls (April 2020), is the powerful story of a woman’s search for wholeness, framed around the art and life of iconic American painter Georgia O’Keeffe.

Endorsed by best-selling authors such as Christina Baker Kline and Caroline Leavitt, Queen of the Owls was selected as one of the 20 most anticipated books of 2020 by Working Mother, one of the best Spring fiction books by Parade Magazine, and a debut novel “too good to ignore” by Bustle. It was also featured in lists compiled by Pop Sugar and Entertainment Weekly, among others. It won the bronze medal for popular fiction from the Independent Publishers Association, placed first runner-up in general fiction for the Eric Hoffer Award, and was short-listed for both the First Horizon and the $2500 Grand Prize. Barbara’s book-related article, “Naked: Being Seen is Terrifying but Liberating,” appeared in Ms. Magazine on May 27.

Barbara is also the author of the groundbreaking book on nurturing out-of-the-box children, When The Labels Don't Fit. She has a PhD in clinical social work, blogs for several award-winning sites for writers, and is a serious amateur pianist. Her second book releases in April 2021. To learn more about Barbara and her work,  please see http://www.barbaralinnprobst.com/

by Tasha Seegmiller

There are a lot of people out there who believe writing is a solitary affair. And to some extent, they are right. As someone who is in her final MFA semester, I can tell you that there are many times when people have asked how they can help and my answer is always they can’t. I have to do the reading. I have to do the writing. The drafting and outlining and brainstorming and editing and revising? That’s all on me.

But there is no way that I write a book on my own. Not even close. No one does.

All you have to do is flip to the acknowledgements section of a book to realize that the act of creation is a collaborative one. Much like the ending credit of a movie, the acknowledgments are where authors share how people helped hone their books (this is also a good place to see who is representing/editing work if you are at that stage of your career).

In order to write well, in order to write authentically, in order to create a story that hits all the markers we hope for, writers need to assemble their villages. I have a few suggestions for how to start or improve a novel’s village.

Writing Neighbors

I have the good fortune of having a writing group in my town. We’ve been meeting *almost* every two weeks for NINE years. We have grown together and our critiques have helped each other with lots of projects, many of which are and will soon be published. These are my critique partners, the ones who help with everything and anything from outline to name choice to diction and tone to plot holes. They are there to help see if the story is on track when I’m writing, to give feedback of where I’ve wandered, to help me see that no, I cannot skip over that moment just because it’s difficult to write.

I have a dear friend who I met through Women’s Fiction Writers Association who I have talked to about all the writing and life things off and on for several years, and we just started working on a “let’s remember how to have fun with writing” collaborative project (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s okay. Those of you who do know, find a project/person to have fun with again).

And then there are beta readers. These are the kinds of people who help writers by reading through a whole manuscript. Some may make line edit kinds of notes, others may point out plot holes. If you don’t know this, please understand that when someone betas for you, you automatically owe them a beta. Neighbors don’t take a cup of sugar, they borrow one, acknowledging that it needs to be returned in kind. Be a good neighbor.

Expert Neighbors

I think most people who have been writing for a while know about the writing neighbors. There are also members of a novel’s village who might be our real-life neighbors, online friends, work associates, casual acquaintances who have a specific set of knowledge or skills that will allow characters to be more authentic.

Right now, I am building my current novel’s neighborhood with a friend whose a therapist, one who has an Instagram shop making custom polymer clay earrings, one who is raising a gay child. I have had heart to heart conversations with friends who came out in high school as a character in my book experiences this and I want to make sure their story is told authentically.

In previous works, I talked to a divorcee who placed a baby through adoption, two people who live with MS, a couple women who have wrestled with infertility, and an organic soap maker.

But not every book or topic needs a person who is an expert. I needed to check a timeline for a high school play production – that’s something I can just throw out on social media to get a pretty good ballpark.

I wanted to see if women of a certain faith felt a strain in their roles as women so I put together an anonymous google form where people could both select a multiple choice option and provide written feedback.

I’m following several people on twitter who are going through life experiences similar to what I intend to have a character go through. Leaning into what they are saying is allowing me to craft a more authentic reading experience.

Some people may categorize these neighbors under research, but for me, research is making sure I’ve got the information correct. This kind of immersion reaches further and deeper – it’s what makes people more interested in watching/listening to Hamilton than reading the biography. It brings the research into 3D.

Nurturing Neighbors

I’ve heard of the elusive individual who can write 8-10,000 words a day, who thrives in creating, who just has stories flow from them with ease.

I. Am. Not. That. Person.

In Elizabeth Gilbert’s well-known TED talk “Your Elusive Creative Genius,” she talks about how she is like a mule, trudging through the work. If ever there was a way to describe my process, it would be that. Writing brings me joy and a sense of accomplishment that little else in my life ever has, and it has brought me frustration and feelings of inadequacy just as often. I have wanted to quit. And I have endured more than one writing crisis.

I have a couple very close friends who are in the same trenches, though maybe at different places. These are people I can talk to when I am certain I’m a fraud, that I’ve wasted so much time and money, that I never had any business pursuing this writing thing in the first place. These are people I can reach out to when the publishing world is hard (it is), when I just don’t understand why something is progressing like I think it should (more than I’d like).

They know that the answer might be “Let me bring you some chocolate” or “Let’s go get a Diet Coke.”

They know the answer might be “What have you got so far?” or “Where are you stuck?”

They know the answer is also “If you weren’t a good writer, would you have experienced ______?”

These kinds of people are those who are neighbors in every novel’s village. They travel from project to project with me because a writer isn’t just an author once (generally). They nurture the progress of the book by helping with the needs of the writer.

Moving Neighborhoods

While there are a few people who help as neighbors in lots of books, if a writer intends for each book to be a little different from the previous one, there is a necessity to rebuild a novel’s village with newcomers as well. Anytime I come across a character who I think could be interesting but who is reading as flat, I start to think about who I know that is similar in some way. And sometimes, I see something or someone in a book, TV show, movie, social media or at the grocery story that makes me wonder. Jot it down, let it set for a while, and the start creating the new cast along with the experts needed to have them come to life.

How have you gathered information to help strengthen your characters or plot? What questions might you have about how to start such a conversation?

*  *  *  *  *  *

About Tasha

Tasha Seegmiller believes in the magic of love and hope, which she weaves into every story she creates. She is an MFA candidate in the Writing Program at Pacific University and teaches composition courses at Southern Utah University. Tasha married a guy she’s known since she was seven, is the mom of three teens, and co-owner of a soda shack and cotton candy company. She is represented by Annelise Robey of Jane Rotrosen Agency.