Writing groups

[SFG75]

Anyone ever start one or participate in one? I don't know why this has caught my eye, but I've noticed some workshops in my area have been set up as to how to create writing groups. There have also been some articles on active groups that have a long history of operation. I'll have to do some more homework to see if there are groups near my area that are active. Sounds like a fun thing to participate in.

 

[Stewart]

Anyone ever start one or participate in one? I don't know why this has caught my eye, but I've noticed some workshops in my area have been set up as to how to create writing groups. There have also been some articles on active groups that have a long history of operation. I'll have to do some more homework to see if there are groups near my area that are active. Sounds like a fun thing to participate in.

Not so much a writing group, but I did a creative writing course last year and that involved a bit of workshopping of each others' work. It was a beginner's course I went on and so the quality of the work being read out varied drastically, some seemingly beyond encouragement. (Unless you encouraged them to burn the manuscript.)

I'm set to start a second year next month and this is mostly for workshopping with (hopefully) more experienced writers.

I suppose what you've got to find out about the group you potentially join. Do they like similar material to yourself? Does their level of experience fit in with yours? No point in turning up to read out your Russian inspired masterpiece if everyone else is reading our their knitting mystery.

Getting a good mix of people with varied reading is best, so that you'll be able to received critiques from men, women, young upstarts, old know-it-alls, and the downright terrible.

 

[sirmyk]

In January 2006 I attended a weekend boot camp in Maryland for short stories of the horror/sub-horror genre, put on by Borderlands Press (with a little input from Cemetery Dance). I think I created a thread somewhere on this forum about my experience. Anyway, twenty of us newbies met with four established writers (David Morrell, Douglas E. Winter, Elizabeth Massie, and F. Paul Wilson), and each of us, including the instructors, critiqued each others work until we were ready to kill each other. It was great. I think I slept six hours the entire weekend. Sixteen of us twenty still meet online regularly to critique each other's work (one or two post a story for critiquing each month), and I am in regular contact with three of the above listed authors... sort of my mentors in the field. Don't ask about the fourth--I wasn't too fond of him). In short... yeah, workshops and writing groups can be rather enlightening (as long as criticism is to be taken as constructive).