by Megan Hart

Created on: December 20, 2009   Last Updated: December 21, 2009

Writing, by nature, is a solitary process. Writers sit for long hours hunched over keyboards or scribbling in journals. But what happens when the writing’s finished and you want to get a second (or third, or fourth) opinion? Where do you go when you need to talk about the character voices in your head or that sticky plot point that just won’t resolve itself, or even about the highs and lows of submitting for publication? If you’re lucky you have friends or family members who can understand the life of a writer – if you’re not, maybe you need a writing group.

There are dozens of national writing organizations such as Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, along with hundreds of local and regional writing groups. Some, such as RWA, have local chapters open to eligible writers.

But what to do if your favorite organization doesn’t offer chapter affiliation in your area, or at all? Starting your own writer’s group might seem like a lot of work, but in the end can provide an invaluable resource for your own creativity and productivity!

* First, figure out if your group’s going to be multi-genre or genre specific. Romance writers, for example, can benefit greatly from forming a chapter of RWA, including access to the national organizations many professional and educational opportunities. Decide if you’d like to focus your efforts on communicating and interacting with other writers who are doing what you do, or if you want to be open to any genres. Now’s a good time to decide if you also want to put restrictions on membership related to writing experience – and remember, you’ll need to figure out a way to accredit potential members if you decide to limit your group’s membership.

* Second, determine the purpose of your group. Do you want to be open for critiquing, market information, social chatter or other reason? If you plan to critique, how will you organize the critique sessions? Limiting the amount of work one person can offer or requiring all members critique a certain amount of others’ work before offering their own can keep the sessions fair. If your group is to be informational, how will you share and disseminate information? Will you try to provide guest speakers or simply share among members?

* Third, decide the structure of your group. Will you have a formal board, consisting of elected or appointed officers,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>