I'm part of two writer's groups and they're very different. (Hey, it gets me out of the house and I'm still working on my story. lol) I do enjoy both of them but I seem to be getting more out of one than the other at the moment.
One seems to be more of an editing/critiquing nature. We read a bit from our stories and get feedback. It can be a little intimidating since there are some published writers in this group and I'm just starting to get back into writing again. And often I don't have much other than a very rough first draft. It's also gotten to be fairly large, to the point where I'm thinking of asking if we can separate into smaller groups so people can get more feedback without feeling so rushed about it. Still, it helps because I'm still thinking about writing. I also get the chance to listen to other writer's opinions and writing styles. There's always something to learn.
The other is fairly new. This is also the one where most of the people all appear to be just starting their novels too. So it's a little less intimidating in that regard. Since we're all just starting out on our novels and the group's still pretty small, we can concentrate more on getting started, on working out plots. This is the group where I learned/re-learned the 3 Act Outline. Last night, since there were only three of us, we went over the outline again, using my story as an example. I did feel a little selfish because we were working on my story, rather than sharing our work, but I think it did help the other person as well. He's just getting back into writing too and we're all starting at the very beginning.
One seems to be more of an editing/critiquing nature. We read a bit from our stories and get feedback. It can be a little intimidating since there are some published writers in this group and I'm just starting to get back into writing again. And often I don't have much other than a very rough first draft. It's also gotten to be fairly large, to the point where I'm thinking of asking if we can separate into smaller groups so people can get more feedback without feeling so rushed about it. Still, it helps because I'm still thinking about writing. I also get the chance to listen to other writer's opinions and writing styles. There's always something to learn.
The other is fairly new. This is also the one where most of the people all appear to be just starting their novels too. So it's a little less intimidating in that regard. Since we're all just starting out on our novels and the group's still pretty small, we can concentrate more on getting started, on working out plots. This is the group where I learned/re-learned the 3 Act Outline. Last night, since there were only three of us, we went over the outline again, using my story as an example. I did feel a little selfish because we were working on my story, rather than sharing our work, but I think it did help the other person as well. He's just getting back into writing too and we're all starting at the very beginning.
