Finding the Writer's Heart: Ten Rules for A New Kind of Writing Group

“Clarity is everything,” Confucius is reported to have said, and, though he was certainly not a writer in any modern sense, he may as well have been, considering how writers have, down the

ages, echoed his thoughts.  “I always thought,” said Bertoldt Brecht, “the very simplest words must be enough - when I say the way things really are, people’s hearts must be torn to shreds.”  Or Hemingway’s admonition to “write hard and clear about what hurts.”

Note the focus from these writers on the emotional, on the heart.  “Fill your paper,” Wordsworth said, “with the breathings of your heart.”   Maya Angelou tells us that “the idea is to write it so that...it slides right through the brain and straight to the heart.”

Clarity, clarity, clarity.  Heart, heart, heart.  If all writers could find and keep these qualities, then we would never have to browse the bookstore, in desperate search for something that would not bore or repel us.   Every book we picked up would slide right through our brains and into our hearts.  But, like everything in the world, it is, of course, not this simple.  So writers seek help in the company of their fellows - they join writing groups or have writing buddies or critic-pals, or use paid professional services to seek through the drafts of what they’ve written for that spark, that thing that will lead both writer and reader to the heart.  What they get back, more often than not, is line-editing, suggestions for sentence structure, observations about logistical problems in the movement of a scene, or the structure of their plot.  All that is essential to the craft of the writer, but not to the writer’s heart.  And if the writer’s heart and soul are not in the work, then what’s the point?

What happens in most writing groups, writing classes, and critic-partnerships is a focus on technique.  That is fine.  It’s not only fine, it’s essential, but it is not the thing that makes a great writer, or a great piece of writing.   To do their best work, writers must move beyond technique, to find that clarity, that deep sense in their hearts that moves them toward clarity in their work and on the page.  

What I propose is a new model for writer’s groups that is based on the Quaker practice of Clearness Committees.  As those communities use it, it is a space among trusted fellows were a person with a problem can be  helped towards the answer.  As a structure for a writer’s group, it will be radically different from any such group you have ever tried, and I have tried many, many.  The use of this model will be, much like its Quaker counterpart, based on a single assumption, and a set of rules.  While our assumptions and rules will differ in details, the substance will be the same.  Our assumption:   every writer - every writer- has within their self a singular spot of truth and meaning, that simply needs to be accessed and acknowledged to help them to be the best writers that they can.  

To bring this assumption into an effective writing group, three things are required:  1) the set of rules;  2) a clear understanding of the spatial/environmental requirements; and 3) an understanding of what an ‘open, honest question’ is.   

Here is how a writer’s group, based on the Clearness Committee model, works:  each meeting has one person as the “author.”  That person may (or may not) bring an actual piece of writing, and may choose to have her group read it ahead of time, or may choose to have them proceed with the

group without having read the piece the author is working on.  In preparation, the writer will identify what their most significant problem is with the piece.  Is it the development of the main character?  The structure?  The flow of the story?  This should not be influenced by what others may think of the piece, or what others have told you that you should be concerned about.  Rather:  what does not feel right?  Then, you can choose to write that down, either for yourself, or for the group.  You do not need to provide such a piece of writing for the group, but you would find it will be very valuable to you as the focus of the group.

When the group convenes, the author sits in the center of a half-circle, or, if using a table, at the head, where the author can easily see all and be seen by all.  The group should have identified, ahead of time, a facilitator and someone to record the session, either in notes or a sound recording.  At the beginning, the facilitator reminds everyone of the rules, monitors to be sure, as the meeting progresses, that people are abiding by the agreements that the rules impy,  and the monitor also ends the meeting on time.  

Adapted from the rules used by the Quaker community for their communal problem solving, here are the rules for Finding The Writer’s Heart:

1. All aspects -- all aspects -- of the meeting are entirely confidential.  You may never, outside of the meeting, discuss any words, advice, questions, answers, or readings encountered during the meeting, unless given permission by the author who is the focus.
2. The author prepares (either in writing or mentally) a statement of what their NEED is for the current piece they are writing.  In preparation of this, think also of what hunches you have about the solution, what resistance you feel, what you think could/should happen next.
3. The meeting lasts for three hours, with a single author as focus, a facilitator, and a recorder.
4. Begin the meeting with a time of silence, allowing the author who is the object of the meeting to focus and clarify mentally.  The author speaks to begin the meeting whenever they are fully ready to begin.  Others should remain silent until then.
5. The author states what the problem is,  what is the challenge, and the hunches they have.  When the author is done, others may speak, but ONLY to ask questions - NO ADVICE GIVING. NO SUGGESTIONS.   NO OBSERVATIONS.  The only speaking allowed among the group are OPEN, HONEST QUESTIONS.  
6. What is an “Open, Honest Question?”  The best way to define an open honest question is the type of question that the asker could not POSSIBLY know the answer to, and no answer is implied by the question itself.  (Further information about open, honest questions in the next post).  The GOAL of these questions is to help lead the author to FIND THE ANSWER IN THEMSELVES.   An open, honest, question is brief and to the point.   It is not leading.  It does not imply that you know the answer.  You don’t.  You need to help the author find the answer they already know.
7. The author can respond to questions or decide to pass.  If the author takes time to respond, WAIT - DO NOT PROD THE AUTHOR.
8. The questions should NEVER become grilling, or rapid-fire.  Respect the author’s space and trust the silence needed to get to the right answer.
9. During the course of the meeting, it is the job of others ONLY to ask questions, and to remain completely focused on the author.  If there are silences while the author thinks, waits for the next question, everyone should remain focused on that author - no joking or side conversations or fidgeting.    If any of these protocols are broken, it is the job of the facilitator to remind all of the rules and get the meeting back on track.
10. The meeting should go the full allotted time - DO NOT QUIT because you think you’ve “run out of questions” -- dig deeper.

Neither the author nor the group should assume that one meeting will help the author to clarity, to the solution needed.  It may, but multiple meetings may also be needed.  This kind of writing group is clearly more time-intensive than the typical read-a-few-pages-share-commentary-move-to-the-next-writer model.  It requires commitment.  However, having experienced (as what the Quakers call “the focus person”) Clearness Committees, I can promise you that the results will be much deeper than anything you’ve experienced in a writing group to date.

Two more things are required to practice this form of Clearness for writers:   the foundations of the environment, rooted in accepting six paradoxes of human nature, and a clear understanding of (and practice with) “open, honest questions.”   These two will follow in the next post.

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Much credit and thanks to:  first, Parker Palmer, the Quaker philosopher, writer, and educator who founded The Center for Formation in the Community College, with which I was privileged to train for five years;  second, all the members of the various Clearness Committees in which I have participated.  I highly recommend reading Palmer’s “Let Your Life Speak” in preparation for this work.  My handbook for writer’s group to use this method will be available for free on my website within one month of the final post on this method (the next post in this series).