LOCAL WRITERS GROUPS – WHY JOIN..?
Simple…the key word here is FEEDBACK.
You can sit in your room for hours, days, hammering away at a novel, article, or short story on your typewriter or computer keyboard (hopefully, you are using a computer!..) and acquire a major case of literary blindness.
By that, I mean you are zeroed in so tightly on the task at hand that you lose the ability to stand back and view just what it is that you have finally hammered out. When fresh eyes hit your pages (that may look dandy to you) something else ALWAYS happens: those new eyes see something other than what you felt you put on the page. Maybe it’s punctuation; possibly a detail or two don’t make sense – like dates or technical references; perhaps you’ve overpopulated your novel or story with extraneous characters that are muddying up your plot; your sentence structure may lack clarity; maybe your overarching STRUCTURE is muddy, sections cobbled together, scenes indistinct – or, even more disastrous, the basic premise of your novel, article, or short story just doesn’t make sense to the majority of the group. Tough stuff to face, eh?…
If you’re going to publish something that will be a smashing success, it had better start measuring up early on – otherwise, it ain’t never gonna happen! The point I’d like to make is that you must suffer the slings and arrows of your fellow writers’ critiques as gracefully as your disposition will allow. It’s not an easy task- sitting there quietly, letting others pick your precious writing to pieces. If you don’t learn to do this gracefully, there’s a danger of turning off the group. They’ll shift their critical attentions to someone who accepts them more graciously.
If your group has a leader – and it MUST have a seasoned senior person in charge, lest chaos reign – a strict set of rules should govern each meeting. Rules such as how many people will read ongoing work at each meeting and how much reaction is allowed to the criticism offered. For example: in a two hour meeting, two people might read 10 double-spaced typewritten pages; copies will be made and passed around to each attending member; the author reads, out loud, his pages, and then, in order, the attending members proceed to offer their comments on the work. The author may be requested to entertain such comments in silence until all are made and only then may he respond. That may sound a bit harsh, but it’s the way one successful group I know works.
Another gathering of writers may not offer criticism, but may invite guest authors to read their work; a question and answer period to follow. For the author who needs closer attention, such a meeting may not be sufficiently helpful; in that case, the agenda in the preceding paragraph may be the answer. You’ve simply got to do some investigation and find the group you need. If you can’t find anything helpful near you, consider enrolling at a summer writers’ conference sponsored by a college, or an established writers’ group. Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers magazine are both full of such advertisements come springtime. Expensive though it is, you will benefit greatly from such exposure. I speak from experience: I did this myself over a period of twenty summers.
Writers by nature are egotists. Far too often, it’s ME-ME-ME! One of your toughest tasks is to back off and submerge that damnable drive to monopolize discussions. Forget about attacking your critics and showing everyone just how talented you are. Chances are, everyone else is just as gifted, working just as hard, and feeling much the same way. The difference may be that they have learned to handle themselves better. They will find your outbursts childish and amateurish. Until you understand any group you have chosen to join, hold back and take stock of who and what you are dealing with. You will accomplish more by quiet listening and a nodding acceptance of criticisms should they come. Take what you have been told home with you. Try it out. If it’s wrong for YOU, discard it; if it improves your work, be grateful and express your appreciation at the next meeting. The mature writer uses criticism first to check his work; then, if indicated, to refine it.
I’m currently a member of two writers’ groups in two states - one in Florida, the other in my home state of Pennsylvania. Each group is distinctly different in the way they conduct meetings; both serve a distinct purpose for their members. The Florida group is more a group of retired “professional” writers (and a poet or two) with extensive magazine, editing, and/or newscasting experience. The local Pennsylvania group is a group of ambitious folks on their way up in the writing world – some of them still struggling to define the basics that bring a jumble of words to life.
After being exposed to the first group, you might ask, why take a seeming step backwards in joining the local group? Nothing backward about it… I want and need FEEDBACK from our local group regarding work in progress.
Just maybe, if you are lucky enough to find a well-run, established local writers group, you’ll emerge from every meeting a more disciplined, knowledgeable, and satisfied writer.
