How goes the writer’s group?

If you’ve been reading this blog for the past 6 months, I’m thinking you’re a writer. So by now, I hope you’ve gotten a writer’s group together. It’s crucial to have people to bounce your ideas off, to read your work, and to give you HONEST feedback. Haven’t gotten around to the writer’s group thing yet? Well, now’s the time.

I can’t stress how important this is—because you need feedback on your work that will help you make it better. So here are some ways to accomplish this goal:

1. Take a writing class at a local university. Meeting students like you who want to work on their writing is a boon to getting going on your own work. You’ll learn to give feedback to others and you’ll get feedback on your work that will help you in revisions. Before the class ends, approach the students you think would work well together in a writer’s group and, basically, keep the class going by having your own writer’s group.
2. Take a writing class online. If you live in a small town or just don’t have a schedule that gives you time for an in-person class, many of our best institutions are offering writing classes online. In this kind of class, you’ll meet people from all over the country—even some international students. The feedback you give and get be written but you’ll most likely have chat rooms where you can interact with other writers in the class. And again, email the writers you think you’d like to stay in touch with after the class and form your own online group. There are lots of sites where you could actually all log on and even interact face-to-face.
3. Post a notice in your local library about wanting to form a writer’s group. Ask people to email you why they want to be in a writing group, what they want to work on writing-wise, and what times they’d be free to meet. Then choose the best responses and form your group.
4. Check with your college alumni association if you’re a grad, and see if you can’t drum up interest by posting an ad in their magazine or online forum.
5. Ask your friends if they know any writers who might want to form a group. You’d be surprised how many people might know another struggling writer who would jump at the chance.

However you do it, do it. And once you do, there are two really important things to remember:

• Be frank with one another. Make a pact to be absolutely honest about all the work you read. If you try to be nice to one another, to not ‘hurt anyone’s feelings’ you will be stifling your real thoughts, and denying the other person the benefit of an honest opinion of their work. Believe me, studio executives and agents who read your work don’t even think about your feelings—they’ll simply reject a work if it’s not good enough. So you need friends who will TELL you when they didn’t like something so you have a chance to consider changing it before giving it to someone at an agency or studio.
• When people are discussing your work during the group meeting, SAY NOTHING. Just sit there and write it all down—be a fly on the wall. If you have to explain what you meant to them in reaction to their criticism then you’re not really listening, you’re only trying to defend what you did and/or why you did it. You KNOW why you wrote it the way you did—so just listen to how they perceived it and later compare the two. It’s SO easy to be defensive during a feedback session so don’t do it—don’t say a word.

Don’t wait. Take some positive steps toward forming a writer’s group—do it today.

Copyright © Diane Lake

28May17

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com