My writers group meets here this evening. I don’t know if I’ve written much about writers groups, or my writers group in particular before, so I hope I’m not becoming boringly repetitive if I say I highly recommend them – if they’re good. They can be bad. A good writers group has one goal: to get every member published. Okay, another goal: to improve every members’ writing. No cliques, no cruel comments, no games. Say something nice before offering a critical comment: "Your story has a nice brisk pace, but I think you need to foreshadow this abrupt change of attitude in your main character," for example. My group meets weekly and one or two members read. Other groups meet monthly and every members reads. Some groups hand out copies of the readings at the meeting, some mail them out in advance, some don’t hand out copies. Our group meets in members’ homes; other groups meet at a central place. The motto of every writers group should be: Whatever works. The joy of sharing with fellow writers cannot be overstated, and the value of a good writers group cannot be exaggerated.
Well, a bad writer probably could do both, but in a writers group it would be critiqued.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
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5 comments:
I think you need different things from a writers group at different points in your career. I belonged to a couple of "virtual" groups a few years ago, and it was eye-opening to see how widely our voices and skills varied, and how others responded to our writing. I haven't had access to one lately, but I do have some beta readers whose opinion I respect. It's always good to have another eye looking at your work.
I met with my critique group yesterday (one of whom has a book coming out in January from Writer's Digest, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide). We've been meeting every other week for 8 years. I can easily say without them I wouldn't be published. Yesterday they helped me with the book I'm writing now. I'm forever grateful.
I was in a group of four for years, but one member moved away and another died. So, for now I am going it alone.
I don't think I've ever sent out an un-vetted word!
I'm with you, Monica, Terri and Camille. I really appreciate running things by my critique group to get their take on what's going on in my stories.
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