Oh I spotted this sitting with scriptwriter Andrea Mann and a bunch of other local writers this morning. Andrea has set up a fortnightly 'Write In' in a local cafe. We gather a couple of Wednesday mornings a week and work on whatever writing project we want to, but in the company of other writers. I love London Writers Salon who got me writing with their Writers Hours, I also have a local writing group, Moor Words set up by short story writer Emily Devane (who was with us at the writing table this morning) and then there's your Breakthrough and Blocks writing community too. I write alone but I rarely feel alone and I love the phrase 'collective effervescence'. Thank you!
Thank you Harriet - you are definitely someone who has figured out what you need to support your writing. I love how you have pulled together the people and communities to help keep you going - in person and online. And yes, collective effervescence is the best phrase ever. I shall be slipping it into conversation for the rest of the week.
..."emerging neuroscience shows that audience members have synchronous brain patterns, called by one researcher as collective daydreaming."
Not to mention the mirror cells that have our brain-bodies literally mirror the meaningful actions of others, the "emotional contagion" that does the same for feelings and likely plays a part in empathy, imitative learning as superior to verbal instruction, rhythmic sync'ing (hence the power of chnating, ballroom dancing and argentine tango ;-). We are imitative brains and getting in "sync" with each other can produce powerful effects. (And hence, why I warn my clients -- be intentional about what you ask your brain to do and what you are asking it to learn.
Thank you for joining me in the footnotes Karen! You are absolutely right - when I dug a little deeper into collective effervescence we can end up with all sorts of strange and worrisome group-think situations. I hope I didn't make light of very serious brain science - it's one of the reasons I quoted from the dictionary of philosophy so the focus was on the idea rather than the science, but I loved that article about the choreography research. Collective daydreaming :)
Not at all, Bec! I'd never heard the term "collective effervescence", so delighted to add it to my collection of "mirroring" examples. And while sometimes worrisome group-think, this mirroring capacity is maybe also a royal road to culture change. Along the lines of "children learn what they live" (read: are exposed to), so do we all. We can be pulled along by the current or follow an alternate flow that might grow to include those around us, with gradually increasing ripples. There is hope :-)
Exciting! Which centre are you going to? Who are the tutors? I want all the details! But also, you will have the best time being able to focus on your writing. I can't wait to hear all about it.
As I think you already know, I am still searching for my "people", my writing support group that would meet regularly whether it's online or in-person. I joined the LWS and am considering joining the Mslexia salon as well but I am lacking closer people to talk about writing. Collective effervescence is amazing and I haven't felt it in a while.
It's tough when we know the power of 'collective effervescence' but aren't in a position to grab hold of it. Just writing this post made me realise how long it can take to build community. It is after all a relationship and requires trust when it comes to writing. My writing group spun out of an online course at City Lit. We meet online, but once or twice a year we meet in person.
I wrote about collective effervescence in my first newsletter explaining my love of festivals. The term is certainly attracting attention again, which is great to see
It's such a great concept and when I stumbled on to it, felt amazed I hadn't heard it before. It's perfect and I can see why it works so well for festivals.
I love this term, collective effervescence! I experienced it last month, at the magical Haven for Stories retreat, and have been trying to find opportunities for it in my regular, non-retreat life through writing hours with friends (I meet one in a cafe once a month, and one on Zoom once a week).
I must admit, that while it does exist online, the real effervescence happens in person. I wonder how much we could / should have? Can we fizz all the time?!
I agree the in person effect is far stronger than online. I tried out a very cool coworking space two weeks ago and experienced it despite not knowing any of the other people in the shared space or the details of what they were working on. Just being in proximity to others deep in their creative work made a bit of a fizz. I don’t think it’s possible (or a good idea) to be in a perpetual state of effervescence though. Small doses can be effective too!
Oh I spotted this sitting with scriptwriter Andrea Mann and a bunch of other local writers this morning. Andrea has set up a fortnightly 'Write In' in a local cafe. We gather a couple of Wednesday mornings a week and work on whatever writing project we want to, but in the company of other writers. I love London Writers Salon who got me writing with their Writers Hours, I also have a local writing group, Moor Words set up by short story writer Emily Devane (who was with us at the writing table this morning) and then there's your Breakthrough and Blocks writing community too. I write alone but I rarely feel alone and I love the phrase 'collective effervescence'. Thank you!
Thank you Harriet - you are definitely someone who has figured out what you need to support your writing. I love how you have pulled together the people and communities to help keep you going - in person and online. And yes, collective effervescence is the best phrase ever. I shall be slipping it into conversation for the rest of the week.
..."emerging neuroscience shows that audience members have synchronous brain patterns, called by one researcher as collective daydreaming."
Not to mention the mirror cells that have our brain-bodies literally mirror the meaningful actions of others, the "emotional contagion" that does the same for feelings and likely plays a part in empathy, imitative learning as superior to verbal instruction, rhythmic sync'ing (hence the power of chnating, ballroom dancing and argentine tango ;-). We are imitative brains and getting in "sync" with each other can produce powerful effects. (And hence, why I warn my clients -- be intentional about what you ask your brain to do and what you are asking it to learn.
Thank you for joining me in the footnotes Karen! You are absolutely right - when I dug a little deeper into collective effervescence we can end up with all sorts of strange and worrisome group-think situations. I hope I didn't make light of very serious brain science - it's one of the reasons I quoted from the dictionary of philosophy so the focus was on the idea rather than the science, but I loved that article about the choreography research. Collective daydreaming :)
Not at all, Bec! I'd never heard the term "collective effervescence", so delighted to add it to my collection of "mirroring" examples. And while sometimes worrisome group-think, this mirroring capacity is maybe also a royal road to culture change. Along the lines of "children learn what they live" (read: are exposed to), so do we all. We can be pulled along by the current or follow an alternate flow that might grow to include those around us, with gradually increasing ripples. There is hope :-)
This is beautiful Karen - thank you for being a fellow geeky optimist. To hope. And footnotes.
Gorgeous Bec! I’ve signed up for my first residential Arvon retreat in February and I honestly can’t wait❤️
Exciting! Which centre are you going to? Who are the tutors? I want all the details! But also, you will have the best time being able to focus on your writing. I can't wait to hear all about it.
As I think you already know, I am still searching for my "people", my writing support group that would meet regularly whether it's online or in-person. I joined the LWS and am considering joining the Mslexia salon as well but I am lacking closer people to talk about writing. Collective effervescence is amazing and I haven't felt it in a while.
It's tough when we know the power of 'collective effervescence' but aren't in a position to grab hold of it. Just writing this post made me realise how long it can take to build community. It is after all a relationship and requires trust when it comes to writing. My writing group spun out of an online course at City Lit. We meet online, but once or twice a year we meet in person.
I wrote about collective effervescence in my first newsletter explaining my love of festivals. The term is certainly attracting attention again, which is great to see
It's such a great concept and when I stumbled on to it, felt amazed I hadn't heard it before. It's perfect and I can see why it works so well for festivals.
I love this term, collective effervescence! I experienced it last month, at the magical Haven for Stories retreat, and have been trying to find opportunities for it in my regular, non-retreat life through writing hours with friends (I meet one in a cafe once a month, and one on Zoom once a week).
I must admit, that while it does exist online, the real effervescence happens in person. I wonder how much we could / should have? Can we fizz all the time?!
I agree the in person effect is far stronger than online. I tried out a very cool coworking space two weeks ago and experienced it despite not knowing any of the other people in the shared space or the details of what they were working on. Just being in proximity to others deep in their creative work made a bit of a fizz. I don’t think it’s possible (or a good idea) to be in a perpetual state of effervescence though. Small doses can be effective too!
Bec, this is lovely! Thank you for sharing. Full of hope.
Thank you for reading Shelley - and for our collective effervescence - together, separately, across the pond.