Are there any advantages to belonging in a writers’ group?
In my opinion, there are pros and cons, and the reason for this is down to the effectiveness of the group.
So what does a good writers’ group look like? Here are some of my thoughts and observations:
- The purpose of the group needs to be clearly determined so that all members have the same expectations, for example to critique each member’s work and post the crit for all members to review.
- There’s an agreed word count. Posting around 3,500 words is reasonable.
- Work shouldn’t be changed – all comments should be in the margins. Once people start editing someone else’s work, it gets messy, especially if track changes are used.
- The group size is important: A good size is approximately four members. This allows for three critiques per member, and each member won’t have to wait too long before their turn comes back around.
- There should be an agreed turn-around time for work posted to the group. Two weeks allows time for a critique to be completed but also offers a reasonable turnaround for people waiting to hear back.
- Comments should be summarised under the following headings, or something similar: What I loved and Suggestions. This allows for encouragement for all the positive aspects of the work, and respectful ideas for improvement/changes.
- And finally, a good writers’ group elevates each member’s writing with kind, respectful and useful critiques of each member’s work.
So have you ever been in a writers’ group? And if so, was the experience a positive one?