Making Connections by Rebecca Seaton

 

Making Connections by Rebecca Seaton

God is all about connection: with Him and with each other. What does that mean for us as writers?

 

With members of my writing group

Connecting as a writer is important:

- for criticism. We can’t always see the wood for the trees. An honest friend will tell us if the plot is confusing or the tenses jarring.

- to share. We exist in relationship with others. Although there is a valid therapeutic element to writing for ourselves, sharing work can also be significant. ‘Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.’ (Matthew 5:15). Consider as well who is ‘in your house’. This could be immediate family and close friends but could be much wider. Joining a writing group we choose to connect with people who will have an opinion on our work. But be open to accepting connections through others. I was recently introduced to an author I had never heard of and who I’m quite sure hadn’t heard of me! However, despite writing in very different styles and genres, I interviewed her for a magazine and was able to connect over our writing journeys: a powerful reminder that the process is as important as the output.

- to support other writers. As we become more confident in our own writing voice and experience, we mustn’t forget the help we had in getting there. And it’s fun! There is a joy in giving someone else’s work the tweak that enables them to fly.

 

Celebrating my own and others' success

Connecting as a reader is also vital.

If I love a book I will recommend it to everyone I know and I love to get recommendations from others. We can widen our writing and reading circles not just as a chore but as a blessing: to us and others. As a teacher I am all too aware of the difference reading makes to children’s learning: not just in improving their vocabulary or comprehension skills but in terms of their imagination and empathy. In an increasingly polarising world, we need to read widely to appreciate viewpoints beyond our own. How often do we read outside of our preferred genres? Or work by an author of a different racial background to our own? It may or may not impact our own writing but it should certainly help us to see our own reading and writing experience against a wider context. 

Be bold: ask to see you friend’s early draft, read a book which challenges you. Connect, not for your own benefit but as God asks, ‘…value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.’ (Philippians 2:3-4).

 

#amwriting #amwritingfantasy #ACW     

 

Rebecca writes fantasy novels, magazine articles and the occasional play. You can see themes of connection and redemption in her novel, A Silent Song.