I recently ran a pop-up young writers group and OMG, this is what happened
Firstly, I’d like welcome my inner 14 year old. Say, hi.
Hi.
Would you like to tell the story or shall I?
You can.
Alright. I’ll begin and then you can continue. I had the idea to run a pop-up young writers group.
Actually, it was my idea.
Yes, it was your idea. You reminded me of what it was like when you were a budding young writer who was desperate to learn everything you could about writing. You didn’t know any writers so you went to the library and read every single copy of Writer’s Digest, cover to cover. That was in the dark ages before the internet.
I like to learn.
You did learn a lot but there was a hankering, wasn’t there, to feel more supported and to find a way to take all this writing knowledge and make it your own. We eventually did develop our own writing process, rather than feeling like we had to copy other people’s process, but it took awhile.
Like a lifetime.
Yes, a lifetime of ignoring fiction writing altogether, forging a career in psychology instead, then coming back to creative writing after we had a significant birthday.
You had a significant birthday. I’m still 14.
Yes, you are. But you reminded me what it was like to be a young writer and we wanted to share what we had learnt. Not the craft of writing, there’s heaps of info about that. And not even writing mindset because that’s too limited an approach. We wanted to share a way to connect with our writing, co-collaborate with our characters and listen rather than think our way through a first draft.
Uh-huh.
There we were at the first session with six amazing, young writers, in a cosy corner of our local bookshop, and what happened?
I got scared.
Yes. Why did you get scared?
Because I’m 14. Because I wanted them to like me. Because I didn’t know if they would get it.
Get what?
Get this writing approach that you like to share. It’s not a normal way to teach creative writing. It’s different.
Yes, it is. But they did like it.
Yeah but I didn’t know that in the first meeting. I just wanted them to like it, like me.
Yes, we were feeling very vulnerable in the first meeting, weren’t we? Scared but also excited?
I suppose so.
And we did talk to the group about how writing is vulnerable work and sharing our writing is vulnerable too. We did talk about how we were a little scared but also a lot excited.
Sure.
So it’s great that you were there with me. You reminded me, viscerally, what it feels like to be a young writer who loves writing and wants to learn. But…
Yes, there’s a but…
We’ve already chatted about this, haven’t we? We’re just sharing it here so it might help others.
Just tell them.
Well, your feelings took up a lot of my internal space so that meant that I got a little overwhelmed, and I felt more like 14 year old than a grown adult. It wasn’t your fault. You were just expressing yourself. Afterwards, we chatted and we worked out a better plan for future sessions.
They were much better.
Yes, because instead of you taking up all the inner space, you were with me. You brought that empathy and understanding and then we could create a space for everyone that felt safe and supportive. We acknowledged the vulnerability but didn’t get overwhelmed by it.
That’s true.
And that helps our writing too, doesn’t it? Acknowledging the vulnerability but not being overwhelmed by it.
Uh-huh.
We recently ran a pop-up young writers group and OMG, do you know what happened?
We rocked it.
Well, we worked together and it was an honour to be with such a lovely group of buddying young writers who were ready to learn.
Always learning.
Yes, I don’t think we’ll ever stop learning.
Nope, not ever.
