What It Really Means to "Write in the Dark" | Begin here...
Welcome.
When you’re ready to get acclimated, start with the five-minute video above and these two posts:
Meanwhile, what you need to know is that writing saved my life, so I teach writing as if it might save yours.
This what it really means to write in the dark.
It’s about embracing the fundamental truth of uncertainty through a consistent practice of attention, curiosity, playfulness, surprise, and vulnerability—and thereby discovering the immense power, beauty, and transformation we engender when we do so.
Art critic Ben Eastham says it this way:
Art today is less about the formal or aesthetic properties of an object than a way of talking about the intricately entangled, increasingly unstable world in which we live.
This “word art” we do is a way of talking about the “intricately entangled, increasingly unstable” selves in which we live.
My philosophy of writing, and life, is that we are human beings, not human beens. We are always becoming, and writing in the dark invites the fullness of our unfolding.
The beautiful music in the video is by my friend, the incredible singer/songwriter friend Brianna Lane, and we are so grateful to her for generously permitting us to use her art. We’re also so thankful to our Writing in the Dark community members who shared thoughts to help us make the video (you can hear more beautiful testimonials here).
And this super short nut-and-bolts video tutorial shows you how to use the Writing in the Dark homepage and find stuff you’re looking for, including how to navigate our ever-growing Curriculum Index. Because our archive, including curricula from past seasonal intensives, is a big part of your value here, and we want it to be as easy as possible to dive in.
And … since this is a pinned post, please introduce yourself in the comments!
You can tell us where you live, what you write, and why you’re here … or just say whatever feels right to convey who you are. After all, as one of my mentors, Paul Matthews, reminds us:
The Troubadours in the South of France in the 12th century played a literary question and answer game called the “jeu-parti”—the “divided game.” From this comes our [English] word “jeopardy,” meaning danger. It is a marvelous root—that in the midst of our word play we might be confronted unexpectedly by a real question so that our whole being stands before a creative risk, a jeopardy, to be faced directly or shied away from … where suddenly the game requires quite another level of meaning. Such moments in the writing nearly always have something of the question, “Who are you” buried inside them. Without that fundamental question, in fact, no real conversation is possible, and yet we spend so much of our lives talking about other things in order to avoid it. When, however, that question is faced, the possibility of poetry arises.
So, welcome, welcome, welcome … and who are you?
We really want to know.
Finally, here’s an FAQ to help you orient yourself more fully.
What does it mean to write in the dark and what is this place, anyway?
Writing in the dark means doing language in a way that goes beyond self-expression or conveying information. It means writing creatively in order to discover more truth and beauty in the world and in your life. There’s more to it—like, Keats’s theory of negative capability, which means being able to dwell in uncertainty and see beyond what you think you know—but for starters, let’s just say that writing in the dark means wanting to wake language up and make it capable of telling the truth again, make it capable of holding beauty again, make it capable of being surprising, real, and free, so that we can be, too.
Ultimately, you could say Writing in the Dark is piloting a “slow-language” movement. It’s like, grab a cup of coffee, because we’re gonna hang out for a while. The whole “too long for email” warning? We’re not worried about it.
This WITD intro video tries to sum up what we do—and you can introduce yourself on that post, as well! And these short videos/audio love notes from WITD members also give a sense of this place. And of course we have that About Page that mostly no one looks at which is good since we’re always rewriting it and are totally overhauling it again soon. One thing we’re not is static.
Oh, and we offer writing exercises! Weird ones that can change not just your writing, but your life—we know, because people keep telling us.
That sounds cool, but … I still don’t get what you publish?
Oh, right! We publish four times a week:
Mondays are for Lit Salon, where we publish essays/stories/poems or poemish things submitted by WITD readers. These must be written in response to a WITD exercise and we pay $50 for these! You can read submission guidelines here and look at an example here.
Wednesdays are the heart of WITD—this is when our writing exercise posts come out, and if we’re in a seasonal intensive, those are really dynamic! People share snippets of their work from our writing exercises and the comment threads are often 300+. It’s really fun!
Thursdays we do community Threads, which are also super fun. A recent one was on quirks.
Fridays, we share posts from our incredible archive, since we’re growing fast and we hate to see all that good stuff go to waste.
Saturdays and Sundays and Tuesdays are off days, unless we have special announcements.
Do I have to be a writer to write in the dark?
No! Anyone who cares about language, and the way it shapes our lives, will benefit greatly from being here. If you want to become more aware of language and how it fundamentally alters the course of your life, you’re in the right place. That said, a great many people do end up publishing work that they start in WITD, so if that’s your goal, you’re also in the right place.
Sarah Fay calls WITD “better than an MFA”and also included me as one of her top creative writing teachers on Substack.
Where should I start if I just signed up?
You can start wherever you are! There’s no beginning, middle, or end. We’re mostly asynchronous with our content and there’s no right or wrong way. But since our archive is huge, we recently made a Curriculum Index to offer an easy map of what we do in the various categories, including foundational posts to get you started. We also have that intro video and a welcome thread where you can introduce yourself!
That’s a lot of content! How will I keep up?
You don’t have to! There is no “on time” or “late” here, there is no pressure. The content is there for you whenever you have the time. Here’s one way to think about it: we love Maria Popova’s Marginalian a lot! There’s a LOT of content there, too—way more than here, and we can never really get to it all, but that’s okay. It’s comforting to know it’s always there when we need it.
The big difference here at WITD (other than me not being brilliant like Popova, although Laura McKowen of Love Story did say WITD was like Mary Oliver and Rilke had a brainchild, which made my year) is that WITD offers weekly structured writing exercises which are intensely powerful. These are exercises that can change not just your writing, but your life. In fact, the exercises will for sure change your life if you do them regularly—I know this because I hear it all the time. And I get asked about the exercises a lot, including recently in the Substack Visionary series. 1
Also, unlike typical newsletters on other platforms, Writing in the Dark on Substack offers a way for you to engage with the community, which is—well, it’s hard to describe. This is a profoundly beautiful creative community.
Do I have to do the writing exercises?
No! The exercises are totally optional. They’re powerful, transformational, and always, always optional. Lots of people just read the posts, and say that, too, affects their writing and their lives. There is no right or wrong way.
If I do the exercises, do I have to share my work?
Never! That’s always optional. A lot of people do the exercises on their own for a long time before sharing, and some never share. I know this because people tell me. People tell me a lot of stuff. I am an easy person to confide in, it turns out. But whether you do or don’t do the exercises or share your work or not, it’s totally fine. The water is always warm whenever and wherever you might want to jump (or tip-toe) in.
Most of your posts are paywalled. What do free subscribers receive? Is it worth it to stick around free?
Definitely worth it! We love our free members. People tell us all the time that they get a ton of value from our free posts, because we do these really long previews. They’re not teasers. They’re rich and there’s huge value in them. We want you to stay free as long as you want, because lots and lots and lots of our free members (about 20% actually, which is bananas) eventually decide to become paid members, for which we are incredibly, eternally grateful.
Do you really pay for stories and essays?
Yes! And we are so excited to be doing that, because the feature itself is so empowering for writers and humans. It’s one of our best ideas so far in 2024. We would love to read your work (again, submission guidelines are here).
Is this a writing class?
No. For an example of one of my writing classes, see the description of “The Feeling of What Happens: Advanced Techniques for Writing that Stirs Emotion” (and our nine-month program, WITD: The School, registers in the spring and starts in the fall, just like real school). This space, right here? This is a newsletter and a vibrant community. But … lots of people tell us that they learn more about writing here, and see more growth in their writing, than they have in any other “writing class” they’ve ever taken.
That rocks our world. We’re super happy about it. It makes creative writing accessible to a lot of people who can’t afford writing classes (though you should know, our classes on Zoom offer sliding scales) or don’t have access for other reasons.
I don’t get your founding level—what’s the difference between founding and paid?
We pour our hearts into the founding level, with really special extras that help us build a truly interactive and sustainable community—e.g., voice memos and video notes, live salons on zoom, candlelight yoga nidra sessions, etc. If you value gathering with me and Billie Oh and other WITD members in real time, seeing faces and hearing voices, the founding level is totally worth it because it’s only nominally more per year more than a paid membership, but it all adds up to help us offer more value to more people and build a stronger, more vital community, so we really appreciate our founders a lot, a lot, a lot.
Who’s Billie Oh?
Billie is my youngest adult child, and single adoptive parent of our youngest grandchild, Z. Billie is my right-hand person here at WITD, and they do all the illustrations. Like me, they’re a writer and trained yoga teacher. Unlike me, they’re young and hip. They’re also sober, queer, nonbinary, radical, and, honestly, one of the best people I’ve ever known. They write trust fall on Substack, but mostly now they’re posting their best stuff on WITD. In the future, they’ll be building out trust fall, though. All things in a certain order, like, adopt a kid as a single parent, then figure out the rest.
Anything else?
Yes, always lots of other things, and probably millions that I am forgetting. We’re building this ship as we sail it—so there’s a lot of hammering and sawing going on as we scramble to manifest the true vastness of our vision. It’s really fun and kind of miraculous. We’re really glad you’re part of it.
And you can reach out to writing@writinginthedark.org with questions—no question is too big or too small. We’ll write back as soon as we can.
Love,
Jeannine & Billie
PS Threads/comments are a fun, safe and intellectually vibrant literary space for paid members to convene. Upgrade/manage your membership any time to join the conversation, or give the gift of WITD to someone who needs it. Thank you for Writing in the Dark together!