Writability: Why Writers Should Participate in Twitter Chats

Photo credit: Matt Hamm on Flickr

As most of you know, I adore Twitter. It’s easily one of my favorite social media sites, and it’s provided me with wonderful friends, great posts, book recommendations, tips that have stuck with me and two internships. I also wrote a post about why I’m glad I joined Twitter, and some tips on Twitter for writers so there’s that.

What I realized I haven’t talked about, and really should have, are Twitter chats.

Twitter chats are discussions that happen periodically and are marked under various hashtags. They’re often chock full of tips, publishing pros, wonderful writers and some really interesting discussions, so if you’re new to Twitter or just want to get more involved in the writing community, Twitter chats are the way to go.

Some other pros of fabulous Twitter chats include:

Connecting with other like-minded people. (SO IMPORTANT. For real. Try Twitter chats for this reason alone).
They’re fun.
Get questions answered.

But where to begin? It can be hard to find Twitter chats if you’re not following the right people or you’re brand new to Twitter, so I’ve compiled a list of some writing-related Twitter chats I know of. If you know of others, please do let me know and I’ll add them to the list:

#twdtopic: Tuesdays at 9PM EST—An open Twitter chat for writers run by The Writer Diaries. They discuss all sorts of publishing and writing-related topics.

#YALitChat: Wednesdays at 9PM EST—A Twitter chat for YA writers covering many aspects of writing and publishing.

#NALitChat: Thursdays at 9PM EST—“Ongoing discussion of all things in New Adult literature.” (Taken from their Twitter)

#K8chat: Thursdays 9PM EST—“A publishing related chat where we discuss topics relevant to readers and authors.” (Taken from their site)

#askagent: Random times. Follow agents on Twitter to catch a session!—An extremely valuable impromptu chat in which literary agents take and answer questions from writers.

#askTBA: Once a month, announced via TBA agents—Similar to #askagent, except it’s a scheduled Twitter chat in which a bunch of agents from The Bent Agency answer questions from writers.

#ukyachat: A periodic chat for UK writers that takes place periodically between 4-7PM GMT. (Thanks, Margarita!)

Do you participate in Twitter chats? Why or why not?

Twitter-sized bites:

#Writers, do you participate in Twitter chats? Here's why you should consider it. (Click to tweet)

Writer @Ava_Jae talks the importance of Twitter chats and why you should participate. (Click to tweet)

6 comments:

S.E DeeApril 28, 2014 at 11:50 AM
I never even knew these things existed!!!! Thank you!
Ava JaeApril 28, 2014 at 1:41 PM
You're very welcome!! :)
Novlette MyersApril 28, 2014 at 4:29 PM
Persons expressing honest opinions never offend me, Ava. You've given a well thought out and reasoned response. I can't fail to appreciate that.
When I have a mo. I'll post on same.

That said, having taught literature for over a decade, I see great changes in set texts. The "normal" world created in much of current YA fiction is a world that the writer would never wish to live in:
Ava JaeApril 28, 2014 at 7:50 PM
I have seen that there are many more books where the world of the book (this especially applies to dystopians) isn't one we'd like to live in, but to me, that doesn't diminish the value of the book, or the value of it's message, or my ability to enjoy it.
Margarita MorrisApril 29, 2014 at 10:49 AM
In the UK we have #ukyachat which happens periodically, usually starting any time between 4pm and 7pm, UK time.
Ava JaeApril 29, 2014 at 2:54 PM
Ohhh good to know! I'll add it! :D Thanks!