How to Start a Writers' Group

The traditional image of the writer is of the loner at his or her desk or computer, madly scrawling on paper or striking keys. But when the writing is done, you may want some moral support, advice, and constructive criticism from people who understand the writing process. By starting your own writing group, you will gain the companionship of other writers and a forum to share your work as it develops.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A place to hold meetings in
• Friends or acquaintances who write

1. Figure out how many people you want to have in your group and what type of group you are interested in starting. Some writers groups focus on providing comments on each other’s work, while others are simply about sharing. Some groups focus on a particular kind of writing, such as short stories, memoirs, or poetry.

2. Work your personal network: Identify friends and acquaintances who like to write. Invite them to join your group. Ask them if they know anyone who writes.

3. If you still have plenty of room for other members, consider advertising for other writers through a community bulletin board or Web site or an online classified advertisement board such as Craigslist.org.

4. At your first meeting, devote some time at the beginning to outlining how the group will be run. Ask people to write down their names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses on a sheet of paper.

5. Discuss meeting times and dates (including how often the group will meet), how often members will be asked to submit their writing for review by other members, and how much time people will be expected to devote to group activities. Figure out who will take on roles such as coordinator, moderator, and secretary, depending on your group’s size and needs.

6. The group’s approach to reviewing members’ writing may be formal or informal, depending on what works best for everyone. Members might be asked to submit work ahead of time, through either e-mail or postal mail, so that others can read it before the meeting. Reviews can be given orally or put into writing for the writer to keep. Some groups require members to attend several meetings before their work will be reviewed; others will only review work of members who have attended the previous meeting.

7. Together, come up with some guidelines for the general tone of the reviews. The most helpful critiques usually contain some constructive criticism and some praise but are not insulting to the writer.

8. Make sure everyone gets an equal share of time for having his or her writing reviewed by others. You might want to appoint a timekeeper, at least for the first few meetings, to let the group know when it is time to move on.

9. If your group wants to share refreshments, come up with a plan for when refreshments will be served (before or after the meeting or during a break) and who will bring them to each meeting.

10. Don’t forget to have fun! Share writing tips with your fellow writers, provide recommendations for good books on writing, and enjoy each other’s company.

[acole]

on 6/30/2008 Interesting. Good info. Thanks!