The Set-up
I’d like to get a little housekeeping out of the way. I am brand new to this format, so I’m developing things gradually. My plans right now are to post issues regularly. Some will be centered on the larger concept of Story; some will get into the nitty gritty of writing. A recurring focus will be on writers groups.
Members of Off the Page & Under the Radar, the writers group I belong to will be occasional--or maybe regular--guest contributors. They’ll write about how they’ve experienced our group, their own writing issues, or some other writing-relevant topic. Some of us will even share our work. Next week I‘ll begin serialization of a short story I wrote for one of the three anthologies our group published.
The idea to create an anthology came as a surprise to the members of our fledgling writers group, Off the Page, as we called ourselves then. Our group was a private spin-off of a public group run by the local library. The library had cut our bi-monthly meetings to once a month (budget cuts), but we wanted to continue to meet twice. Plus, becoming a private group opened up possibilities. We would no longer be subject to the oversight that was required by public sponsorship.
Our gracious leader volunteered to continue to guide us even though she wouldn’t be paid for her time any longer. (Dedication and a little masochism are great motivating forces.)
An experienced leader with a few sadistic qualities, she delivered this challenge at our first meeting.
“Self-publish an anthology.”
Participation not required but highly encouraged.
Enthusiasm and terror ensued in equal portions. Some of us had read collections by familiar authors or groups: eg, Robert Aspirin’s Thieves World and So West, So Wild-- the Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths Chapter’s Anthology. We suggested some parameters for the book.
One would be to base the collection on a common world. Luckily we had members who were familiar with how that worked. They set out to create a setting, a fictitious town called Kyleighburn in North Carolina and a set of characters that any of us could use in our stories.
At the outset, we weren’t really convinced that our stories would overlap, but as we wrote, situations developed. We found ourselves consulting with other writers, requesting they include certain actions from a common character, or at least that their plans for a character did not conflict with our own! Stories could be written in any genre, but Kyleighburn had been conceived as being the site of some mysterious, never-fully-elaborated monumental event that occurred prior to the book’s opening. The event resulted in, among other curious elements, giant bees. That laid the groundwork for some sci-fi and fantasy pieces.
The group struggled. We struggled with deadlines. We struggled with story arcs. We struggled--oh, how we struggled--with continuity! While the stories stood alone, they couldn’t contradict, and the timeline had to make sense. There was confusion over what ‘world-building’ was and how it worked. There was discontent when one writer refused to accommodate another’s plotline. And there were the usual trends of procrastination, ‘writer’s block’, and “too busy to write this week.” Eventually, in 2018, The Mayor’s Tales: Stories from the Kyleighburn Archives was published. We held a signing complete with readings, refreshments, and opportunities to meet the authors.
Our group published two more Off the Page Anthologies: Passages (2021) and A Little Off the Page (2022). Neither of these were world-based, but we could choose to do that again. Since then our members have worked hard at honing their craft. Many of us now have manuscripts ready to submit—once we work up the courage. We also changed the group’s name to Off the Page & Under the Radar, reflecting the focus and autonomy of our close cohesive group.
Publishing a group anthology lends purpose to the frequently isolating activity of writing. Sitting at your desk, alone with your writing utensils1, filling up the blankness with words collected from the cacophony of voices in your head, you can lose your perspective on your story. Without feedback from critiques or the pressure of producing, a writer can lose both motivation and confidence. Even traditionally published authors working on a third or fourth book are familiar with the fears of not knowing how people will respond to their latest book. It can be paralyzing.
Is it going well? Is it as good as my last book? Have I kept my writing voice and my acclaimed deftness with words? Is this latest manuscript any good at all? WHY do I write?
The less a writer has been published, the bigger these haunting questions loom. Publishing an anthology gives writers in a group practice at their craft, experience with editors and their ‘requests’, copyediting, and all the infernal delays and crises that can plague any author. It also gives them the thrill of having their words in print, salable, and available to the reading public (friends and family included). It’s a project we recommend, IF the writers are serious, committed, and ready to take it on.
A project like this is only one aspect of what writers groups offer. There is so much more. Critiques, leads on resources, encouragement, writing tips, networks. Sharing is the main function of a writers group. How it’s done determines how well the group will work. Members of Off the Page & Under the Radar are huge advocates of writers groups. The key is, you have to find the right group. Luckily for us, we did.
The Story
Among its many entries for Story, Cambridge dictionary offers this: “a description, either true or imagined, of a connected series of events.” The site Dictionary.com includes the following: “a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader”.
Description or narrative
true or fictitious
a connected series of events
in prose or verse
designed to interest, amuse, or instruct
These components, applied by a writer to an idea, are the tools and raw material we use to make our stories.
Coming up in “Do You Know Where YOUR Story Is?” : Why Join a Writers Group by Off the Page & Under the Radar member Patricia Auman.
I once had an algebra teacher who used to require us to show our work in pen. She had the habit of always saying “writing utensil” instead of “pen” or “pencil”. I picked up the habit from her and use it often. Especially now, when writing can be done with computer, pen and paper, markers, tablets, phones...well,you get it.