WRITING SALON: The Madness of Crowds

The Writing Salon is unlike any other event for writers.  It seeks to draw inspiration from unlikely places as it dissects genre and narrative, explores fiction and non-fiction, and dives into all forms of storytelling.  Through a mixture of video, audio, theory, practical exercises, interviews with guests, and a very social and engaged membership it will make you feel energised about your writing. Everyone is welcome, as well as all writing genres and formats. Some members have no previous writing experience – others write regularly for stage, page and screen.  Whatever your level, you’ll get a warm welcome.

There will be a practical section, so grab your pencil cases, and we’ll see you there.

How can a room full of intelligent people make a spectacularly stupid decision? Why do we sometimes agree to things we privately oppose? And what happens when a group of people begins behaving in ways that none of them would behave alone?

This month, join host Mark Heywood as The Writing Salon explores the strange psychology of crowds and the extraordinary storytelling possibilities that emerge when individuals become part of a group.

In the 1970s, management scholar Jerry B. Harvey described the Abilene paradox, in which a family agrees to make an unpleasant journey that nobody actually wants to take. Each person mistakenly believes the others are keen to go, so everyone agrees. It is a wonderfully absurd situation, but it reveals something unsettling about collective behaviour. A group can arrive at a decision that none of its members supports.

Storytelling usually concentrates on individuals, giving characters their own desires and motivations. But groups can develop identities and behaviours that belong to nobody in particular. A committee can make a decision everyone privately opposes. A community can turn against someone its members once trusted. A crowd can display extraordinary courage or become capable of terrible cruelty.

From the comedy of Monty Python's Life of Brian to the tensions of 12 Angry Men, we'll explore conformity, collective belief and the curious ways people influence one another. We'll consider what makes crowds wise or foolish, why individuals surrender their judgement to a group, and how a family, a village or an entire community might become a character in its own right. And why, when you think of it, supporting the same sports team your whole life makes very little sense.

For writers, this opens up a fascinating question: what if the most powerful force in your story is something that none of your characters intended to create?

The session starts at 7pm but please feel free to book a table at the Club from 5pm to enjoy a bite to eat, or arrive a little early in order grab a drink before we begin (you can also book a table for 9pm to have your supper afterwards!)

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