Find Your “Resonator”
What makes collaboration fruitful? How do writers and artists find groups that enable them to flourish through their work? These are among some of the questions that I’ve been thinking about lately, so I picked up Diana Pavlac Glyer’s pivotal book on the subject. Her book Bandersnatch: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings is based on a larger academic work titled The Company they Keep. I love learning about the Inklings and the inner workings of one of the most important groups in the literary world, so this book was a true gift and joy to read. She dispels the myth that writers and artists work in solitude. In fact, she sifts through much of their work and letters to discover just how much of a difference the Inklings community made to The Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, and other books.
The Inklings were a literary group established by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford. They met each week at a pub, read their work to one another, and offered support and critique. This was a community of friendship and leisure as well as practical help. The members provided one another with support as editors, critics, readers, listeners, collaborators, and motivators. They were true “resonators.”
Glyer found that the role of “resonators” was the key to the success of the group. What is a “resonator”? Glyer identifies a resonator as anyone interested in the work itself and encouraging of the writer/artist. She goes on,
Resonators fill many roles: They show interest, give feedback, express praise, offer encouragement, contribute practical help, and promote the work to others. The presence of resonators is one of the most important factors that marks the difference between successful writers and unsuccessful ones.
Resonators do more than support and encourage. They pressure, push, and persuade. Lewis found praise to be an important part of the good life: “Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible.” There was a spirit of charity and generosity that everyone (for the most part) agreed to promote.
But the other side of encouragement comes in the form of pressure, a way of helping writers and creators persevere. Tolkien, in particular, needed pressure from others to motivate his writing. Once when Tolkien was stuck, he met with C. S. Lewis who offered encouragement by sharing his own progress on a new story and urging Tolkien to finish his own. Tolkien wrote that “But for the encouragement of C. S. L. I do not think I should ever have completed or offered for publication The Lord of the Rings.”
Finally, resonators provide the creative spark we all need. Charles Williams and Owen Barfield often asked the group for project suggestions. The discussions themselves would prompt new ideas. As writers and creators, they flourished in community.
To Ponder
Who are your resonators? How have you been a resonator for another creator’s project?
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