Busting the Myth of the Solitary Writer: A Cautionary Tale
Is this the image we all have of what it means to be a writer? Writing alone?
Virginia Woolf sold us a lie. She said that women need a room of their own to write. And we believed her. We believed her so much, that many of us flittered away the potential for a satisfying and successful writing life, because we were too busy lamenting the fact that we didn’t have a room of our own. In other words, we didn’t have the requisite space, time, and solitude to create the literary masterpieces we were destined to write. I say, poppy-cox!
Writers, we’ve been bamboozled and misled. The thing that women writers need more than a room of our own to lead successful literary lives, is a community of like-minded sister scribes who have the diligence and determination to build a long-lasting life of words. And the great irony here, of course, is that Virginia Woolf knew this to be true, because she belonged to one of the most famous writing groups in England.
The Allure of the Writing Group
Women writing together is always more fun!
I often liken a writing group to a running group. People seem to understand the form and function of a running group, so it’s a useful comparison to make. Running is a solitary activity that requires loads of discipline and commitment. People who like to run to stay in shape, plus compete in occasional races, often join running groups to get tips on training, updates on upcoming competitions, and probably most importantly, a community of running enthusiasts to practice with who will also keep them accountable to their training. A writing group functions pretty much in the same way.
A well-run writing group can provide a writer with “trainings” to nourish and improve their craft; the group can be a source to find out about publishing opportunities and other ways to get their work into the world, and a community of like-minded writers is invaluable in the marathon-like experience of getting a book-length work of literature completed. The members of the community can provide feedback, accountability and a shoulder to cry on, or the pompoms to wave at the appropriate moments of a writer’s life.
You can listen to a podcast episode based on this article on the Reed, Write, & Create podcast. Find it on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.
Writers Groups Make the Best Writers
Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes. They were all part of organized and sometimes famous writing groups. These were essentially support groups comprised of other writers with similar literary ambitions who could serve as feedback partners, ego checkers, debate partners, collaborators and more.
Some of the most well-known writing groups include:
The Sisterhood: Famous Members included Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, Audre Lorde.
The Bloomsbury Group: Famous members included Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster and literary journalist Desmond MacCarthy.
The Inklings: Famous members included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
Stratford on Odeon: Famous members included Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald .
The Harlem Renaissance Writers: Famous members included Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and Claude McKay.
The South Side Writers Group: Famous members included Richard Wright, Frank Marshall Davis, Arna Bontemps, and Margaret Walker
Harlem Writers Guild: Famous members included John Oliver Killens, Rosa Guy, Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry
United We Stand for Getting Our Stories in the World
The powerful thing about a writing group is the community. But that’s not just about having a group of friends to come home to. There is strength in numbers, and when writers work together as a group they can get more accomplished. They have bargaining power. What might seem like an impossible task for one, can become easy as a joint endeavor. A writer launching her own book tour can feel overwhelmed, but a writer who can stop at a bookstore in the city of all the members of her writing group has a plan. And interestingly, if you track the careers of some of our most famous writers, you’ll see they did their best work in community. When they went off on their own to write, their career didn’t fare as well. For different reasons. See Zora Neale Hurston. See Ernest Hemingway.
The thing is, when writers work together, they can handle challenges and obstacles so much better than trying to do it on their own. For example, when the mainstream publishing industry refuses to publish your work, in community you have options. Case in point, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press was founded in the 1980s by Black women writers, including Audre Lorde and Barbara Smith, who used their collective power and created their own press to publish their own books and the books of other Black women. And in the meantime, changed the publishing landscape because of it.
The Potential and Power in Women Writing Together
As the founder of The Sanctuary, every day I see endless possibilities of what we women writers can do with our collective talent, experience and wisdom. We can really make an impact as storytellers who will get our work out into the world. Heck, we might even start our own press or publications. That’s the power and potential of writers who work together. Sorry, Virginia Woolf, I really think you got it wrong.