An Inhouse Writer's Group?

Hello all,

I added a comment on one of the threads that I thought this group could develop into a writing support group along the way. A few have endorsed that notion. There are some phenomenal writers among us and probably a few others who are great writers that we haven't heard much from yet. The range and quality of the writing blows my mind. It far exceeds anything I've seen from people who are not professional writers. It exceeds much of what I've seen from professionals too!

I don't know anything about writer's groups, so I don't feel qualified to suggest how that might come about. Instead, I'll start the conversation with a description of my writing experience.

I've wanted to write creatively for a long time, but never got around to it. The only writing I did consistently was long letters to friends and to people I dated online. About a year ago, I started work on my first novel. It's a little hard to describe. It falls into the romantic comedy genre but it's not at all a typical example. I couldn't give it a classic happy ending in good conscience.

As I was writing it, I realized something important. This was not a novel - it was a screenplay. I had little patience for descriptions. The writing felt too technical to hold a reader's interest. But the dialog felt natural and I liked how the character development played out. My writing seemed visual. Much to my relief, a screenplay is a great deal shorter than a novel.

I finished the story in prose and converted it to screenplay format. I then rewrote it about five times, partly to trim it to the maximum allowed length. I finished it at the end of last year. I managed to do this while working full time because I enjoyed the experience of writing so much.

This year, I started two other screenplays in other genres. I found these much harder to complete. I started another romantic comedy and finished it in no time. I felt like I may have found my niche. This second screenplay was much more conventional than my first. I wrote it in part because I thought that would make it more sellable. Most romantic comedies I see are pretty conventional.

Last June, I attended something called The Great American Pitchfest in L.A. This is a day of conferences on all things screenwriting and then a day for the pitchfest itself. That was a strange and interesting experience. Each participant waited in line for one of about 120 agents, producers and managers. When it's your turn and the bell rings, you get exactly five minutes to sell them on your movie. I had two movies to sell, so I had to talk very fast. I now know far more about the movie business as a result of that weekend than I did before it.

In the present economy romantic comedies are big right now. To my surprise, most of the people I pitched to were far more interested in my unconventional script. To my dismay, I learned that there were no less than four movies in various stages of production using a theme that I assumed was original. Even though people liked it, no one will touch this script for some years to come. I was devastated. I haven't done any screenwriting since.

Writing on the boards and now on this blog has started up the creative juices again. I'm learning far more about romance and relationships from all of you than I imagined possible. I hope to put this new-found understanding of human nature into practice in my writing but more so in my personal life. And I promise not to use in a screenplay any personal information that people reveal without their permission! Your friendship is much more important to me than any screenplays I might write.

What experiences with writing and writing groups do others have?
Jim