Writer’s Groups have many useful purposes. They provide encouragement and community and, If they are good, they provide honest critiques to enhance your work. Not all writer’s groups, however, are made up of experienced writers. Ideally, however, all group members are readers and therefore familiar with the kind of writing they hope to pursue.
When you are joining or putting a group together, choose wisely as you don’t want to be bogged down when critiquing. Brainstorm with one or two others and make some real decisions about how you want to proceed.
Here are a few points to consider.
1. Do you want to be in a group that will focus on one type of writing (ie., novel, short story, science fiction, romance, nonfiction, poetry etc.) or a group open to any type of writingIt is generally easier to focus on either fiction or nonfiction, then break it down further to genre. For many seventy-year-old writers, this means memoir or creative nonfiction. (I will explain the difference in my next blog)
2. How many writers do you want to include in the group? Two factors are important to consider – how many critiques are you willing to spend time writing, and how often will you meet.
a) Limit the number of pages each person can submit for critiquing
b) Make sure submissions are emailed or given to others in the group at least five days in advance
c) Limit the number to two submissions per session
d) Meeting every two weeks keeps everybody on track.
3. Are you willing to explore publishing options? This involves a general discussion of what individuals learn and want to share about their journey to publishing. Many age 70 and over are not interested in publishing. My own opinion is the best writing is done with the aim of having it read by others.