How to Organize a Writing Group

I've been a writer for 30-plus years and over the years have been a member of different writers' groups. I've learned that writing isn’t just about sitting at your desk conjuring up fascinating characters, scintillating dialogue and compelling storylines. It’s about sharing your vision with an audience—of readers, movie fans, theatergoers. To find out if your writing is ready for an audience, feedback is crucial, and a writers’ group of trusted allies can provide tremendous benefits.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Contact like-minded souls. Start with writers you know and trust. If you don’t know other writers (??!!), meet some. Take a writing class at a local college, join a book club, do workshops at a local theatre. Look for people whose work inspires you, excites you, pulls you in.
2. Create a group large enough to sustain itself if people have to miss occasionally but not so large that people wait forever to hear a critique of their work. I’ve been a member of a group that averaged about six and I’m currently in a group that has around a dozen. Somewhere between those two numbers generally works.
3. Consider personalities. If people truly can’t talk without sounding like verbal napalm, don’t invite them in. If they annihilate other situations with their words, can they be trusted to offer a writing critique without permanently maiming the writer?
4. Set a regular schedule and STICK TO IT. If the schedule fluctuates too much or you change it every month to constantly accommodate everyone’s personal calendars, then there will never be consistency and people won’t take the group seriously. They need to know it’s on the calendar and it should be a priority in their lives. My current group meets twice a month on Monday nights from 7 to 10 p.m.
5. Rotate who gets their work read and receives feedback. Writers need to know ahead of time when their turn is so they have work ready.
6. Figure out a format to the meeting. My group hears work from three writers each meeting. We actually have actors read up to 30 pages of our scripts aloud. Then we do a 15 minute feedback session before moving on to the next writer’s pages.
7. Designate a moderator. This is very important so the feedback session doesn’t dissolve into meandering discussions or long-winded nit-picking.
8. Discuss feedback format and guidelines ahead of time (see How to Run a Writers’ Group) so everyone is on the same page and knows how to effectively offer insights.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider getting actors to read your work if you're writing stage plays or screenplays. It's invigorating to hear someone deliver the emotional goods you were intending.
• After you've heard your work in sections over several months, consider organizing a "staged reading" to hear the whole thing in its entirety.