A Writer’s Journey

The past couple of days, I’ve been catching up on the blog archives of Joanna Young’s Confident Writing blog, which centres around developing confidence in writing. This got me thinking about the numerous young writers I see on various roleplaying forums.

It can certainly be intimidating to join a writing community where there are more experienced writers than yoursef. Will you meet the standards people expect? How can you integrate into the community? Will you be shunned? I imagine that these are all questions being asked by new roleplayers and writers in general. In a community setting like a forum (probably one of the major media for roleplaying online), how can we as more experienced writers help build young peoples’ confidences?

• Take an active interest. Of course, within a community, we should take an interest in the person. How much onus should be placed on taking an interest in their actual writing?
• Offer critiques. I’ve always been of the belief that a critique should highlight where something is good, and areas for improvement. We should offer this to new and young writers, but what can be done to ensure that we keep a balance?
• Encourage them. Take the time to say well done, or that you like a particular post or piece of writing. Let them know that people do read their work who are established members of the community and experience writers.

The realm of roleplaying has a massive range of members. The ages can spread from as young as 12 to as old as early/mid 40s. It includes people who have been roleplaying for a decade or more, or have just started to discover the hobby. It also attracts brand new writers and those, like me, who have been writing since childhood.

The younger members of the roleplaying community are still learning how to write yet can be among ‘masters’ of the art. How can we build the confidence of these young people? It can be a difficult task at times. What have you found works for you when dealing with younger writers? What enouraged you when you were young?

Saladin Akara General Writing, Roleplaying