Starting a Writing Group?

Somebody local may reply but did you try googling 'critique groups west yorkshire' or 'writing groups west yorkshire'?

I had a group in college. We were all in the creative writing program together, so we already had the people, and the idea to meet and help each other out just naturally followed. Our schedules were mostly the same, so we found time between classes to do it. It took a joint effort to organize it, but between my reminding/bothering people and another gal using her connections with the student paper to secure a study room, we managed a semi-regular gathering.

As far as what we did, we generally brought in our WIP and swapped them around the table for feedback. It was very informal, something made easier as we were all friends and classmates already. Our genres were all over the place, whatever we wrote.

Have you tried Meetup.com?

My IRL critique group began as a result of taking a college-level creative writing course. The best way to enter or start a group is to get to know other writers. We formed our group out of that class and several originating members are still active in it. The group has existed for about 6 years.

We meet once per month. At least a week before the meeting (ideally 2 weeks) each member who has work to share emails the story or chapter to the other members. We get together at each other's houses on a rotating basis. During the meeting, we critique a story by each member giving their feedback to the writer. There is always room for other opinions and discussion. We try to keep submissions to a reasonable length and hope that members carry comments into their future work so we see ongoing improvement.

The members of my group write in a different genres (commercial fiction, urban fantasy, memoir, fantasy). We have both men and women.

Hope this information helps you. If you have any more questions, just ask!

Here in California, we have the California Writing Club, a non-profit organization, which has branches all over California. One of those branches is Redwood Writers, the club I am a member of. We have monthly meetings with speakers (in the past: Nathan Bransford, Jordan Rosenfeld, Persia Woolley (a member too), and most recently Veronica Rossi). We have over 200 members, and people are very serious about writing and publication. We have board meetings, a killer newsletter (which I am now editing), writing contests, and plenty of social interaction.

Within this writing club are several smaller groups, some of which are for critique by genre. You don't have to be a member to join a critique group, you just have to know about the group.

If you have a writers club in your area, they could probably direct you to a critique group.

Do you have an arts center there? They should know if there are any writers groups around your area.

Good luck!

Does this help?

Maryn, that sounds like a great group! I'm jealous.

I've been in a number of local groups over the years, some of which had a paid teacher leading the group (not what I was looking for, but all that was available at the time). Most of them meet weekly, in someone's home. They sit in a circle and each person reads a couple of pages of their work aloud, then others give feedback (sometimes they have copies to mark up).

I, for one, find this format supremely unhelpful. It tends to lead to a lot of comments like, "Oh, you just read so beautifully!" which have nothing to do with the writing, and I don't think you can get a good sense of a novel if you're only able to read 1000 words at a go.

I'm currently trying to gather a group of 4-6 writers who are working on novels, and want to read before/between meetings so that we can read longer works and use the time together more productively. For this kind of group, I think a monthly meeting is good, though every 2 weeks might be OK if people had time and were working on shorter pieces.

I've sent out some emails to writers I know, and phoned the leader of one of the groups I'm aware of. I have two other women who might be interested later in the year, after the busy summer season. I might make a posting to a facebook page for local writers. I'm considering phoning one of the high school English teachers (no college near here) and asking if he knows of any former students who might be interested. I could post flyers at the local libraries and possibly one of the coffee shops, but it's hard. People are busy and unreliable (that can apply to me, too!).

Good luck with it!

Pip H said:

As it's starting to look like there are no groups, my only option is to start one myself!

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I've belonged to three local groups, but only one has persisted for a long time (15 years). We meet weekly on Monday evenings for two hours. Over the years, we've varied from five to twelve regular members.

You can recruit members using meetup.com, as someone mentioned. Our experience is that you may have 100 or 200 people sign up, but only a handful will actually show up for a meeting.

Another group starter is the Nanowrimo exercise in November. There are numerous regional groups around the world who meet regularly during November. When you get to know a few people, you can be more selective about who to invite.

A third starter is a local writing workshop or conference, if there is one. The organizers will often have a session where critique groups can recruit new members. If there isn't one, you can bring up the idea to the organizers.

Ideally, you want members who are better writers than you, so you can learn from them. But that's what every member should want, too. In practice, our group takes on all comers, but only a few persist from year to year.

The biggest problem with putting a group together is to choose people who actually want to improve their writing. About half the people who turn out aren't looking to improve their writing. They're looking for validation, for attaboys, and will be mortally insulted if they hear anything other than what wonderful writers they are. But those folks are self-selecting and disappear quickly after they get one or two mild critiques.

Some other tips here (don't mind the title):
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About conduct of meetings:

Every group evolves its own methods. Maryn's is one example. Our group is strictly for critique.

People show up around seven, but some are fashionably late. When we have a 'quorum' (about three to five people), we find out how many people brought stuff to read. The order of reading is usually by consensus. Stuff that isn't read one week is first in line for the next week.

Copies are passed out to everyone, and the author reads his stuff, while the others don't comment (except sometimes, 'Would you read that again?'--we're getting old and deaf.).

At the end, we go around the table, offering our comments. The author does not reply to these, except for clarification. Commenting on other critiques is also not encouraged. ("Mel may like that paragraph, but I don't, because...")

Also, comments are marked in the copies and returned to the author afterward.

Sometimes a single piece will take the whole two hours, or more. Often three or four pieces can be handled instead. Because of the long history of working together, it's very congenial, and the most incisive comments are taken in the constructive way they're meant.

My recommendation is to be very, very clear with expectations for the group from the get-go. Different people tend to want different things from a group, and so if the group's expectations are not laid out clearly, it can lead to disappointments, in-fighting, power struggles, etc.

If I were putting together a group, I would define:

* Minimum and maximum number of participants.
* Genres allowed.
* Experience level preffered.
* Method by which new members are added to the group.
* How often the group will meet.
* Where the group will meet.
* What will happen at the meetings -- critiques? speakers? duration? how many critiques?
* How material for critique is disseminated: at the meeting (with the author bringing hard copies) or before the meeting (with members bringing their own copies and coming prepared).
* How much material a person can submit for critique.
* Expectations for members: doing critiques if they miss meetings, how often they must submit work, etc.

Honestly, if it were my group, I'd take a stab at defining all that before putting out an announcement, and then I'd include the info in the announcement, so anyone who applied shared the same vision.

Jumping up and down, waving her hands!! Here I am!! I started one; The King's Pen. It's through my church and it's a small group for writers. I've led it for 2 years now. I chose do to it this way because we are a Christian writing group and I didn't want anyone to come in and complain that all our stuff was so 'Godly'. Now if someone has a problem, they can talk to the pastor.

- Are you a member of a local writing group? How often do you usually meet, what kind of venue? Which sorts of topics are covered? Is there a range of writers, forms, genres etc involved or is it a specific group? How did you hear about it?

We meet twice a month, 1st and third thursdays, 6:30 to 9pm at a local christian book store, but we will eventually move to the church b/c we're gettin' pretty big. We started with just 3 people, now we are up to almost 8 now. I have allllllll kinds of writers: Sci-fi, devotional, fantasy, poetry, biography, etc. Eventually, I want to break them down into genre groups. I have to send out an email to everyone that week as it seems no can remember. sigh . . .

- Does anyone here perhaps even lead a group? Is it easy to organise? How did you find was best to advertise and get the word out about yuor group/how easy was it to set up? Do you invite guest writers? What other things does your group get up to? Does it help to be part of writers group associations or have other affiliates?

It was easy to start. The pastor wanted to start 'small groups' which is like a mini-church that meets in someone's home or outside the church. I advertise in all kinds of way: through the bookstore where we meet, on Facebook, word of mouth, the church, trust me, it won't be hard to advertise especially if there are others out there who are wanting a writers' group also. My writers LOVE field trips. Sometimes we'll meet at a restaurant, or I'll take them to the park and we'll have our meeting there, or we'll go to the museum and look at art, or something. We're going to Chicago next month and then to the Bristol Ren faire in Wisconsin. I went there a few years ago and was amazed at the world building. So now I take my writers up there and we look at the world building, talk to the characters, then talk about what we learned.

I do invite guest speakers when I see they are in town. My writers love that. If you know of some, then YES, invite them. And tell them to bring their books to sell. That's a great incentive. We aren't part of any affiliation.

We start with prayer, obviously, then we have what is called the 5 min writing prompt. I show them a picture and they have 5 min to write whatever they want. (It's a way to get the old juices flowing.) Then we read what we wrote. I also send them out a writers' prompt during the week and we share what we wrote also. (must be less than 500 words). I only give them 5 min to share. Why? B/c I have one writer who would be more than happy to spend the next HOUR sharing his very long, long, long story!! ARg!!!! Then we have a devotional which is 1/2 hour, then we study a writing book and talk about it - 1/2 hour, then we have critique time. B/c I have so many people now, I'm breaking this down to 3 to 4 per group. One of other writers will take one group, I'll take the other. Each person gets 10 min to read a sample of their story. then we discuss it. I do 10 min b/c if I don't, we'll be there all night, sitting in the dark.

Things to think about:

1) Be prepared!!!!!!! make a plan on what you want to cover during your time together. Do you want it just to be reading the stories and critiquing them? do you want to cover writing techniques?

We are studying the book, The Art and Craft of Christian Writing. (one thing I've learned to do if you do study a writing book is have them do a practice run around the lesson. It makes it sink in as opposed to a simple teaching.) I also bring in stuff I've learned from writing conventions/other books and basically teach writing techniques from the book we are covering. Or I might have them watch a movie that has some great writing stuff in it. I always, always, always let the others share what they've learned also.


You make the decision on what you want to do. And stick with it. Have a mission statement. mine is to help writers have a stronger relationship with Christ and become better writers. Trust me, this is very important to have a mission statement. helps keep you focused.

2) Be ready for ALLLLL kinds of different people:
The shy - I'll just sit in the corner and not talk - writer.
The know-it-all writer who thinks they are above everyone and know more about writing than God.
The I-must-share-my-story-with-everyone writer who takes up most of the time.
The Insecured writer who says their stuff is stupid - all the time.
The wacko writer who is just, well, weird.
The I-could-lead-this-group-better-than-you-so-go-away. Ahh . . . those are so lovely. Remember, the group is like a bunch of chickens with ADD. By the time you get them together, they scatter everywhere. ) So be sure to keep on track. Rabbit trails are everywhere in a writers' group.

3) MAKE RULES!! This is most important and make sure you and the others know them and follow them. If not, then you'll have chaos. Make sure also you have a copy of copyright laws. You'd be surprised as to how many writers freak out thinking someone will 'steal' their work.
Also make rules on critiquing. We don't do line-by-lines, it takes wayyy to long. We start by giving three things we like about the story and three things that need tweeking. We always start with the good. If you start with the bad, then the writer will think they just plain suck.

4) WATCH YOUR TIME!! We have 2 1/2 hours. Everyone looks at that and thinks, that's tooo long. NOOOOOO!! it's not!! It goes by fast. Don't let one person dominate the entire conversation. You might have to steer the conversation away from them.

5) Be very understanding, very kind, very compassionate. You are dealing with artists who are basically and . So it helps to learn how to hand hold and be supportive. I can't tell you how many FB messages, personal emails, phone calls, etc I've received from freaked out, depressed, joyfull, crying writers. And I listen and help them as best I can. I've got one writer who will NOT listen to anything anyone says regarding his writing. He is depressed ALL the time and basically likes to dominate the meeting. I have to put reigns on him. Stuff is slowly seeping in though. I have to be understanding and kind with him even if I want to strangle him.

6) start a special FB page in which the writers can talk to each other. It helps to build friendships and trust.

7) You DON'T have to have a book published to start one, so don't let anyone sell you the idea you're not 'qualified' if you havn't sold a book yet. When I started mine, I hadn't sold a single book. I just taught what I knew. I love my writers and they love me. They drive me nuts, make me want to strangle them, hug them, cry with them, pray with them and adore them (They are all genius writers, of course.)It will be the best thing you ever did. That is if you don't kill them first.

8 ) you may have to kick someone out if they are harrassing or hurting a fellow writer or you may have to talk to someone especially if they try to dominate the meeting or take it from you, so don't be afraid of confrontation. (I had a writer who came to my group and frighented the girls, thankfully, he hasn't come back.)

9) they are looking to you to lead, so be ready to answer questions on publishing, techniques, what works/doesn't work, etc. If you don't know the answer, tell them you find it. Don't be upset if you only have 3 people the first year. I had three people, including me, for a year. now I have 8. The church is pushing small groups so I know the number will riiiissseee this fall. EEK!! so don't despise small beginnings. Don't be upset if only 3 people show up for months or even years. The group will grow. Be on the lookout for future leaders, people whom you can train to maybe led their own group one day. )

I love leading my group and I often have to keep focused on my mission statement. It's like a marriage, the first year is the honeymoon. All excitment, love, thrills, chills, then the committment starts. Oh yeh. After 6 months of starting my group, I wanted to quit. I got bored with it. so I went back to my mission statement and got committed. Now I love it. I couldn't leave them for the world. )

CaroGirl said:

My IRL critique group began as a result of taking a college-level creative writing course. ... The group has existed for about 6 years.

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Egads, I've been out of college for two years and I have to poke my creative writing college friends with sticks and wave shiny things in their faces to get them to keep in touch, much less participate in critiques.

My friends are easily distracted. Of the two I know best from college, one has a hopeless case of 'ooh shiny', made worse by the fact there's a guy in her life who gets every bit of her attention, and the other has a full-time job and some time management issues. 40 hours of work a week somehow renders her unable to make time for writing. I did my most prolific writing on top of 30 hours of work and a 17 credit hour course load. Of course, now that I'm graduated and housewifing it, I haven't turned out very much. Funny how things are when you have all the time in the world...

Let me also add, in my group, anyone who likes writing can join, any level of writing, published/non-published. As long as you can sit and write, you can join. (I've even had folks who didn't write sit in on my group, which is fine.) Oh and have food nights. Those are fun!! One writer even suggested if we have an extra Thursday in the month, can we meet at a restaurant or have game night, which we will do!! Make it fun, not work.

that is awesome, Susan!!

Susan Littlefield said:

Here in California, we have the California Writing Club, a non-profit organization, which has branches all over California. One of those branches is Redwood Writers, the club I am a member of. We have monthly meetings with speakers (in the past: Nathan Bransford, Jordan Rosenfeld, Persia Woolley (a member too), and most recently Veronica Rossi). We have over 200 members, and people are very serious about writing and publication. We have board meetings, a killer newsletter (which I am now editing), writing contests, and plenty of social interaction.

Within this writing club are several smaller groups, some of which are for critique by genre. You don't have to be a member to join a critique group, you just have to know about the group.

If you have a writers club in your area, they could probably direct you to a critique group.

Do you have an arts center there? They should know if there are any writers groups around your area.

Good luck!

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- Are you a member of a local writing group?
Yep, I'm currently in two, one for fiction and one for screenplays.

How often do you usually meet, what kind of venue?
We meet every other week (more if we can), but 2X a month is what we shoot for. We have a few coffee houses and casual restaurants we like. One is a "Gaming Café" coffee house that has LOTs of big tables, great owner and good patrons. Another is a restaurant/café type place.

Which sorts of topics are covered?
Not sure what you mean by topics? One person writes horror, another urban fantasy, I write epic fantasy, another writes sci-fi/romance, and the last has written sci-fi, but has turned in more literary stuff lately. We turn in sections of novels (in order), or short stories if we need a break from our larger works.

We don't have a session where we look at character or plot. Though, we have done sessions where we brainstorm on plot for someone if they need help. Our #1 goal is to get our work ready for query.

Is there a range of writers, forms, genres etc involved or is it a specific group?
We prefer people who read genre simply because we all want to publish in genre. But, we write literary fiction sometimes. We're not against a straight-up lit-fic person joining us, but they'd have to come sans the elitist ass-hat mentality that genre is lesser. We actually dropped one person for that very issue.

How did you hear about it?
We came together. Three of us were in the same MFA program and were basically there to learn craft and apply it to our genre writing. But, for the program we were only allowed to write lit-fic. So, we created our own group to fill our genre needs. Another was a former student of mine and the final member is a friend of another member who loves to write and has a background in literature.

- Does anyone here perhaps even lead a group?
We have no leader. I'm not sure how I would react to a "leader" in a writing group. Not the feel we're looking for or the vibe.

Is it easy to organise?
For us? Yes. The hardest thing sometimes is finding a date/time where we all can meet. We have settled into a certain day (time changes each session an hour or so).

How did you find was best to advertise and get the word out about your group/how easy was it to set up?
It just kind of happened for us. We all were like-minded people who wanted to write outside the "program" and from there it grew. We didn't need to get the word out as all of us were engrained in our own writing communities and knew a lot of writers. We did have a few people come and go. One never submitted any work. Another had the wrong (snobby) mentality that wasn't helping us in any way (she later found her own group and is very happy with them). Another did not turn anything in and only came to one session. Kept bailing on the others.

Do you invite guest writers?
No. That sounds too formal for us. We're a pretty "nose to the grindstone" type of group. We dig right in. We love talking about each other's work, we love having brainstorming sessions. It's casual, but we get a lot done and we are comfortable enough with one another to be honest. We're tactful and try to help the writer obtain his/her vision.

Besides, what would inviting a guest writer do? If you're all working on novels, you'd have to catch him/her up on everyones' stories and what would they be bringing to workshop? Just something they show the group once then leave?

What other things does your group get up to?
Hmmm, not sure I understand? We hang out sometimes. I hang out with members individually or as a group. We support one another at local readings and such.

Does it help to be part of writers group associations or have other affiliates?
I guess so. We each found our way into the group either through the university or a friend-of-a-friend type thing. For the film group, I belong to an area writing group (that covers the northern part of the state). We found members through them to join.

My advice (and what's worked for us):

1. Finding like-minded people. We've learned not to mix closed-minded literary types in our group. That's not to say that every lit-fic person is a d-bag, but some are, and some bring it to the table and need to stand on their soap box. No thanks. On the other end are super-genre nerds that will use up their 15 minutes using CSI-like techno-jargon about every, tiny, minute detail about how magic MUST function in your world. In other words, if they were playing D&D, they would be called "rules-mongers," and will suck the love of writing from you faster than lightspeed.
2. Go casual. If you only find 3 people, then work it with 3 people. The more you have, actually, the more complicated and frustrating it can get. Two of our group members had to take breaks for academic or personal reasons, so three of us met for months and it worked great. Six was too many.

Our session looks something like this:

1. Everyone gets there. Orders drinks. We chat for about 20 minutes. Get caught up on everyones' lives.
2. Story #1 is "up." First person talks. We don't let people go over 10 minutes. Then we go around the table until everyone talks. Sometimes, others chime in to say, "I agree with that," or whatnot. The person whose story is being workshopped DOES NOT TALK. That's a big rule for us. It's not a debate. People have read the work and are responding to what's on the page, not what might have been there, what will come or such.
3. After everyone goes, the writer whose story was workshopped has time to ask specific questions and to address (or ask for clarification) on anything said during the workshop.
4. Next person goes.

Logicstics:

• We spend around 3-4 hours per session.
• Each person can turn in a max. of 40 pages (or more, if let's say one writer didn't turn in that week).
• Each person prints out a copy of the story, writes on it, marks things up. We don't focus so much on grammar unless it's a recurring issue. Reader takes notes and that helps guide their discussion.

Final disclaimer. This is how it's worked for us. Others will have successful groups that are set up differently.

Put a sign in a cafe that you like where they have a billboard.

I highly recommend the book "Writing Without Teachers" by Peter Elbow. The latter half of it is about how to get the most out of a writer's group.

Attention MODS!

Dancre said:

Jumping up and down, waving her hands!! Here I am!! I started one; The King's Pen.

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MODS! Pay attention! This great post has to go up as a sticky somewhere!

Ahh . . . Thanks Bill!! here's the $50.

dangerousbill said:

MODS! Pay attention! This great post has to go up as a sticky somewhere!

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I just want to add my comment - please be careful that you don't exclude anyone who genuinely wants to join.

As I was excluded years ago, and yes, it irks me to this day. I was told the group was for 'serious writers only.'

I suppose I could be happy that no one from that 'group' ever got published. But I am not.

Be generous is what I'm saying to anyone in a writing group or thinking of starting one. If certain members don't work out or fit in, or whatever, then you deal with it later. Just please don't deny anyone because of their age, background, expertise - or lack of.

Now carry on and good luck to all of you starting a group.

Dancre said:

Ahh . . . Thanks Bill!! here's the $50.

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Mods, pay attention and sticky this thread NOW!

Dancre, where's my $100?

jaksen said:

I just want to add my comment - please be careful that you don't exclude anyone who genuinely wants to join.

As I was excluded years ago, and yes, it irks me to this day. I was told the group was for 'serious writers only.'

I suppose I could be happy that no one from that 'group' ever got published. But I am not.

Be generous is what I'm saying to anyone in a writing group or thinking of starting one. If certain members don't work out or fit in, or whatever, then you deal with it later. Just please don't deny anyone because of their age, background, expertise - or lack of.

Now carry on and good luck to all of you starting a group.

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Excellent advice, which I agree with.

You can join my group ANY time, jaksen!! I take anyone, even non-writers!!!!

jaksen said:

I just want to add my comment - please be careful that you don't exclude anyone who genuinely wants to join.

As I was excluded years ago, and yes, it irks me to this day. I was told the group was for 'serious writers only.'

I suppose I could be happy that no one from that 'group' ever got published. But I am not.

Be generous is what I'm saying to anyone in a writing group or thinking of starting one. If certain members don't work out or fit in, or whatever, then you deal with it later. Just please don't deny anyone because of their age, background, expertise - or lack of.

Now carry on and good luck to all of you starting a group.

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