The Ruffian article linked over at Maggie's, The Banality of Genius reminds me much of Diana Pavlac Glyer's Bandersnatch, discussed here, about the mutual influence of the Inklings on each other. I like what I said about the book and about my own inability to persevere and write stemming largely from my personality WRT to criticism and groups. I can't imagine how I would have found or assembled a group here, nor how I would have listened to any of them. And that was the end of my writing fiction. It's on me.
Interestingly, I still liked Sarah Hoyt then, in 2016.
Glyer makes much of the importance of writers working in groups, started with her understanding of the Inklings, but also from practical experience. She teaches a college class on writing in which the whole point is to learn to work in groups.
I was on a highly creative neuropsych team at work, for one brief shining Camelot hour, from 1998-2001, and it was magnificent. I have also been on competitive puzzle teams, also peak experiences. Whether groups are such an enormous advantage when they work, that it is worth the risk of the enormous time-suck most groups when they don't I can't say. Yet I think more writers would do it if they thought there was no chance they were going anywhere without one, so they might as well.
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