The major thing I struggled with transitioning to being a writer from the tech world is the challenge of creating feedback cycles. Writing can be a lonely affair, since outside of writing rooms, it's not naturally collaborative, unlike the business world, where you get constant feedback from peers, bosses, customers, the market, etc.
The advice from published authors I know is that the highest correlation with eventually getting published is to have a weekly (or regular) cadence with an intimate critique group of small size. The critiques themselves are useful, but even more important is the social pressure to produce.
I've always wondered how famous authors seemed to all hang out with each other, like C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. I realized the question was poorly formed: famous authors tend to cluster because they got to know each other before they were famous. They improved their craft together, and each person's success levels up the group.
Great thread, thanks for sharing. I've found a lot of what you said to ring absolutely true in my own experience (only recently started publicly sharing content). I also love writing on a typewriter, it's such a great tool for focusing on moving forward as opposed to obsessive, premature editing.
Do you have any thoughts on finding/developing your writing community?
Usually workshops are a good place to find folks at your level, and those that go are usually eager to connect, and maybe even start a critique group if that is what you want.
You can also try larger cons that are aimed at your vertical, but I’ve found that workshops attract people who are more actively engaged in improving their craft. Those are the folks you want to mingle with.
Thanks for the suggestion! I currently live in Tokyo, which is big enough I _should_ be able to find some writing communities, but it might be a bit challenging.
Good stuff! I agree with everything in that thread.
I think a lot about the comparisons to coding, because both writing and coding are acts of thinking. When we started Parse, for example, we hired folks who were naturally inclined to write. This gave us a huge advantage when it came time to communicate how the platform worked to a wide audience.
The advice from published authors I know is that the highest correlation with eventually getting published is to have a weekly (or regular) cadence with an intimate critique group of small size. The critiques themselves are useful, but even more important is the social pressure to produce.
I've always wondered how famous authors seemed to all hang out with each other, like C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. I realized the question was poorly formed: famous authors tend to cluster because they got to know each other before they were famous. They improved their craft together, and each person's success levels up the group.