I've never - aside from the thousands of fairly typical, late-night, beer-and/or coffee-fueled conversations with the like-minded friends of my high school, college and near post college years - been a part of a "writer's group" or anything similarly high-minded. Not that I'm opposed to the concept, but I started writing decidedly non-creative, non-artistic, workaday yeoman's copy for money while still in college and have been doing it pretty much non-stop since. As a result, the creative, nurturing, let's-talk-about-our feelings-and-such group setting of the typical writer's group is totally foreign to me.
Which is why I want to see this movie.
I know nothing of the movie itself, but anything starring Jonathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad) or Dennis Farina can't be all bad, right? What I'd really like to see is Christopher Guest do a movie about aspiring writers, but until that happens this is what we've got.
Anyone ever been part of a writer's group? We've got a local writer's group in my town comprised almost wholly of sweet, blue-haired Republican grandmothers writing Christian romance, heartwarming Billie Letts-esque light fiction and books about quilting. I thought I might join and see if I could get some feedback on my Chuck Palahniuk-inspired experimental fiction...
Haven't done it since college, where I actually enjoyed the discussions (which were seldom about actually writing). It was fun, and maybe even a little helpful... although none of it resulted in any great works of fiction or poetry. Like you, I was already doing freelance work at the time, so my participation was mostly just for intelligent, and sometimes trippy, conversation.
ReplyDeleteThere is a writers' group here in my itty-bitty Texas town. I'm contemplating joining up, but I am a little concerned that the typical demographic here is similar to what you've described... not that there's anything wrong with that, but I somehow doubt that I'll get much inspiration for anything I might actually want to write. Of course, there's not much I might actually want to write that anyone would actually want to publish, so it's probably just as well.
Self-publishing, man. I'm telling you, it's the future for writers like us...
ReplyDeleteI've always imagined writer's groups to be:
ReplyDeleteA bit worthy
A good place to pull indecisive drippy chicks
An evening with hand-wringing intellectually constipated whingers from Hampstead
OR
A space where fascinating conversations crash though old ideas like pressing the flush button on an arroyo Only the most reckless would seek the comfort of strangers there, it'd be a launchpad for disastrous relationships. The stars would never shine, there would be no angels. A bit like 'Lately's' on a monday night circa '98. A velvet and cigar smoke evening in the company of philosophers, bon vivres,adventurers,and the unrepentant
having talked them up this much I guess I should go and see what they're really like
I think you have just found the premise of your first successful screenplay in your final paragraph..
ReplyDeleteThere's a local writer's group that seems pretty much as you describe. I went to one meeting.
ReplyDelete