The Writing Community Before and After COVID: An Observation

Did coming back from COVID ruin the writing community?

As COVID-19 began its spread around the world, things began to change. Social distancing was imposed, a lot of work turned online—people started to stay indoors more than ever before. Although the pandemic took the lives of many of our loved ones, it also taught us to not take things and people for granted. Researching various experiences of people during COVID-19, I found this article that describes the experiences of various people and how that period changed their lives.

During the pandemic, people began to explore new hobbies or go back to their abandoned ones. And so the writing community online started to thrive as well.

Writers started to engage on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Discord, etc. From “introduce yourself” hashtags to writing prompt challenges and write-a-thons, writers from all around the world felt inspired and motivated.

Personally, for me, Instagram was mostly a platform where I connected with friends and followed writing advice accounts. That was the time when I found out about TYWI.

Twitter, back then for me, was a really important part of my writing journey. As a teen who just wrote short stories on Wattpad, I learned so much about the craft of writing as well as the industry itself. I met a lot of writers there and found out about various programs.

NaNoWriMo was one of the great discoveries of that time as I was transitioning from short stories to novels. Although I couldn’t hit the 50k mark each time, the feeling of every writer in the community writing every day for a month together was really motivating. Escapril (@ letsescapril) was also a similar challenge, which I didn’t do myself, but many of my colleagues did. Every month in April, writers wrote pieces of poetry according to prompts that were posted daily on Instagram and shared them by using the provided tags. Fellow participants connected through this challenge.

Many published writers offered query letter and first chapter critiques, there were pitch competitions on Twitter, and mentorship programs as well. It is true to say that the whole writing community was more connected than ever at the time.

Although we were physically isolated, personally, I found and connected with many young writers around the world. I joined a few writer groups on Instagram where we shared our stories and received feedback but later they became inactive as time passed.

Transitioning from when COVID-19 hit to current times, trends and social media patterns changed. Some apps were banned in some countries and people moved to posting different types of content. And so, the writing community online scattered.

Since then, young writers have found it hard to find a place where they can connect with fellow writers as everyone is moving to new platforms.

Before, writers used to participate in many programs that were hosted by organizations which now face a lack of audience interaction.

Speaking to the Co-Communications Director at TYWI, Zoe Foster, she said regarding her experience with the transition and impact of COVID on her writing journey;

“Covid had an impact on my love for writing greatly. honestly I didn’t write much before covid, as high school was very rough for me. But during covid when I decided to create my own writing account and do escapril, it forced me to write and think differently. I was really proud of myself. sadly, I didn’t complete the full month of prompts, but I wrote! and it was really motivating to see other writers on instagram post their response to the prompts as we never have the same idea. due to doing escapril, I met Riya and then shortly after joined TYWI! so being able to participate in a large community of writers helping other writers was very rewarding. Unfortunately, writing pages slowly moved from a community base to share your writing to influencer-esque content. after covid, the writing community on instagram barely exists. It feels as if you have to beg people to engage the community, especially when everyone’s posting tips. So it was harder for me to write. And after covid, a lot of persons wanted to focus on building in person connections and third spaces, which I do too and makes a lot of sense. So unfortunately the virtual community isn’t the same. But I do have hope! a lot of online journals and communities such as TYWI still exist, and the grand interconnection of the virtual writing community is still there, I really believe so. I think one writer just has to start with the genuine engaging, and the rest will flow.”

With a change in trends and scattering of audiences, it’s hard to go back to being connected. But it’s not impossible. As Zoe said, there are still many organizations like ours out there. All you have to do is seek. You may feel lost along the way, but remember that there are tons of writers like you out there who are looking for the right group.

The time isn’t the same as it was. Our priorities changed and so did our workload and life in general. But one thing still remains the same: our passion for writing. With rising controversies with platforms like NaNoWriMo which we all cherished for years and busy schedules, authortubers like Kate Cavanaugh curated the typical 50k in a month—NaNoWriMo—challenge, to a much more flexible one, which she calls the 100KQ4 challenge. In this challenge, writers use the tag to share their writing adventures over the course of October, November, and December. Basically, instead of pushing yourself to get 50,000 words in a month, you can manage your writing time to complete the challenge over the course of three months with a preparatory month—Preptember—to outline your book. This shows that instead of abandoning our passion due to lack of time or problems with platforms (which may be sad to let go), we can move stuff around to fit writing into our busy schedules.

Although school, college, or corporate life may be daunting at times, with true passion for writing, you don’t need situations like pandemics or ban of platforms to shift back to your hobbies. With proper time management and the right community, you’ll be successful in your writing endeavors.

Keep writing and stay healthy!

Thank you to our content writer, Dawood and our designer, Elizabeth!