Blessing you all with my face of disapproval once again.
Even though I've been writing very seriously for the past ten years, I've only recently started connecting with other writers online. It's a great way to find people who understand, you know? And it's wonderful to be able to cheer each other on through the writing and querying processes. I'm fortunate to even be included in a decent-sized group chat with some lovely writers - some of whom have had books out within the past year!
With that established, this post isn't about the subgroup of writers I've talked to in the chat, or even anyone I follow on social media - I make a point to only follow people I genuinely like. My pet peeves with the #WritingCommunity have to do with things I see at large on social media, outside of my group of acquaintances, and trust me, there's a handful. In no particular order, here are my biggest pet peeves with the #WritingCommunity.
1. Only following for a follow. Look, I get it: It's brutal out here. We're all trying to build an audience and readership. But I don't see the purpose in following a thousand accounts and then unfollowing if they don't follow back. Just follow the people you're actually interested in seeing content from, regardless if you get a follow back. At least you're being genuine.
2. Commenting to promote yourself, unsolicited, under my own writing. This is such a thing on Instagram. It seems like there are barely any people interested in making real connections on that platform - it's all about self-promotion, all the time, even if it's an irrelevant time.
3. Dishing out genuinely bad advice. Some publishers and writers have cautioned that online writing communities are an example of the blind leading the blind. I don't think this is entirely true. After querying literary agents for so long, we end up doing a ton of research, and some people have stronger ties to publishing than others. However, once in a while, I see some people dishing out some truly bad advice. From fun fonts, to formatting, to word counts and industry standards, some people need to discover the wonders of Google and stop misinforming others.
4. Promoting the idea that writing is awful and laborious rather than rewarding and fun. If you feel so negatively about writing, why do it? And why send all that negativity out into the universe? Doesn't make sense to me.
5. Doing #PitMad but your book isn't done. This drives me insane. #PitMad is an event for writers to pitch their manuscripts in a tweet using the hashtag so literary agents and publishers can find them. It's an incredibly popular event, making it difficult to be seen. You know what makes it even more difficult for those of us who are actually done writing and polishing our books? When our pitches are buried under concepts for unfinished books, so the author can't even submit their manuscript, and those of us who are finished are even less likely to be seen.
6. Breaking other rules during #PitMad, including posting pictures and aesthetics for your book. Sometimes posts that break these rules get agent likes, which isn't fair.
And that's the tea.