Safety Tools for Writers Groups
Make your writer's group a welcoming space by implementing these safety tools inspired by those commonly used in the ttrpg community.
Tools
Tool: Advertency
Unique descriptions are a skill you can build by learning to observe the world around you in detail with focus and compassion.
How to Session Zero Your Writer's Group
Start your new writers group with a "Session Zero" meeting to get everyone on the same page.
Tool: Yearly Themes
Instead of a New Years resolution, try a gentler approach by setting a yearly or seasonal theme. Here's how.
Finding Begeisterung
Begeisterung is what artists share over their otherwise endless differences: enthusiasm for a task clearly perceived
Tool: How and Why to Track Your Writing
Whether on paper or a spreadsheet, or on specialized software, keeping track of when, where, and how much you write can help you spot when your writing sweet spots are, and are useful tools for estimating how long a draft will take.
Firing Chekov's Gun - A Gentleman in Moscow
A Gentleman in Moscow contains a set of literal Chekov’s guns, but many of the other objects, people, and places in the story set up the ending. So let's talk about how this type if story is built.
Tool: Always have something to write with
One of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten was if you want to get good at something, keep your tools with you all the time.
Tool: Thought-Time
Thought-time is the sum of the mental energy put into a piece of artwork. Along with craft-time and distance-time it helps determine the "value" of the work.
Tool: Put Events in Time Order
What is the actual order of the events, as the point of view character witnesses them?
Tool: Extreme Specificity
What specifically happened in that particular time when light fell through those particular leaves.
Tool: Movement and Flow
Professional writers will tell you that they find exercise helpful, not just in counteracting the sedentary lifestyle, but in finding the "Flow" state most useful for writing.