Friday, June 5, 2009

What Makes a Successful Writers Group?

by Sheryl Tuttle

Do you ever wonder what makes a writers group tick? Why some groups come together and stick, while others dissolve over time?

One of the keys to a successful group is communication. For example, with the Humble Fiction Café (HFC), we have easy, frequent, and honest communication between our members.

Easy communication

  • One email sends to the whole group
  • Yahoo group for uploading files; this is where we post stories, chapters, or poems for critique, as well as a place to share other information

Frequent communication
  • Weekly meetings; approximately every other week the meetings are open to the public
  • Regular email; emails are used for communications between meetings

Honest communication
  • Written and/or verbal critique is offered highlighting strengths and weaknesses
  • Critique is offered on the written piece, not the writer, and is intended to help the writer improve in the craft

Recently, members of HFC participated in an interview by John E. Murray, III with Story Institute. In the interview, we discuss the dynamics of our group and what it is we believe makes it work so well. We also talk about some of our projects, including the writing of Split. You can listen to the interview in its entirety at the Story Institute Rambling Verser – Episode 16.

What are some other characteristics of a good writers group? How and where do you go about finding one? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I am interested in becoming a member of your association. I have composed seventeen novels that are presently on sale through Amazon's Kindle program. My name is James Haycraft, my pen name is Jim Haycraft.