As a follow-up to a prior blog post on writing groups (are evil… or are they), here’s a quick rundown of the key factors which are necessary (IMHO) when forming a successful writer’s group.
Before we begin, please note that every writer’s group varies — in personality, needs, format, expectations, etc — and I doubt there is a magic standard to fit all scenarios. That said, look for TIMMY TIP’s for examples of how my group does things.


PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL PRESENCE: While it’s not absolutely necessary to do both, I highly recommend that you establish both an online (virtual) and physical (in-person) presence for your writers group:

• Online tools (virtual) will help you to manage the group/ and coordinate events, as well as getting discovered by other writers seeking to join a group.
• Meeting in person (physical) helps to build raptor and understanding with other writers. Just be sure the venue supports the number of people in your group and provides at least a semi-private area, one free from notable distractions. Best to call ahead to make sure the venue is open to hosting your group, as you may be sitting there for a few hours!

TIMMY TIP: My group utilizes Meetup.com to build up our group and organize  events, and Google Drive for sharing our work and other writing-related content. Note — I am in no way affiliated with these services and there are MANY other options to choose from. These are simply the two my group uses and it works for our needs. 
Oh, and we meet consistently at a local coffee shop!  :-)


GROUP SIZE:  You will likely have to gauge the appropriate number as you go along, but make sure to monitor the number of participants as it can dilute the feedback and author relationships.
TIMMY TIP: We like eight, as it allows for attendance to ebb and flow, yet maintain close relationships between the authors.


GROUP EXPECTATIONS: The key to any productive group is to establish expectations upfront. This includes but may not be limited to:

• The theme or goals of this group: The theme of your group will dictate what everyone is supposed to do and what they are not supposed to do.

TIMMY TIP: The sole purpose of our group is to help one another improve and to get published. We do this by sharing feedback, resources and ideas. We are not a socializing group.  In fairness, we do socialize, but everyone is well aware that socializing will be cut off if it interfere’s with the group’s primary goals.

• Membership requirements: If you’re open to everyone, you may not get the level or type of feedback you or your group needs. If you restrict membership to only those with certain qualifications, you may limit the level of perspectives looking over your work and/or have difficulty in locating members.

TIMMY TIP: Our group is open to all. We like the broad range of perspectives each individual brings, whether they are a newbie or published. 

• Genre and type of writing restrictions: I recommend limiting the scope to ensure that the feedback is targeted and to ensure enthusiasm from all participant. Example: Sci-fi nerds are not likely to read a bodice-ripping romance novel on their own, so it’s probably safe to say they won’t be thrilled with the prospect of critiquing someone’s attempt at writing it.

TIMMY TIP: While our group is open to all levels of author, we do limit the genres to just SciFi, Horror, Fantasy (swords and sorcery, not fifty shades of perversion), and we focus solely on short stories and novels, not screenplays, poetry, or other forms.

• Participation commitment: Every writer has their own level of commitment to writing, let alone availability to write and/or take part in a writer’s group. This question is critical for the group’s success as it will set the bar for how much is expected of each individual. How often are members expected to attend a meeting? How many times can someone not attend or participate before they are booted from the group?

TIMMY TIP: Our group has weekly meetings and it helps to keep our membership engaged and focused on writing. This may be too aggressive for most, so every other week or monthly meetings may help keep members engaged. 

• Acceptable tools: You may wish to limit how work is shared (for instance, not allow print-outs, digital only), or restrict the group to using a specific set of tools or programs to ensure consistency.

TIMMY TIP: As mentioned earlier, my group utilizes Google Drive and Meetup.com, but we also standardized on MS Word (or any application that can produce DOC or DOCX files and maintain markups and comments). Again, not affiliated with Micro$oft in any way, just mentioning what works for our group.


FEEDBACK GUIDELINES: This is a major factor in the success of a writer’s group. From the beginning, everyone needs to understand what constitutes an acceptable form of feedback. This helps to also establish how much time and effort is expected when critiquing a fellow author’s piece. Without guidelines, your group will not be able to maintain any consistency in the level and type of feedback given. Common factors within feedback guidelines include:

• Number expectations on the giving and receiving of feedback. For example, does your group allow people to just submit without ever providing a critique?  Or should there be some level of tit-for-tat at play, in which a member only gets what they are willing to give (ie you give a critique, you get a critique). You may even wish to implement a tracking system to know who owes who a critique to keep things fair and avoid the potential for resentment.
• A reminder that providing a good critique helps them as much as it helps the author.
• Reading a piece all the way through one time without entering any critiques in order to experience the piece as an “ordinary reader” before putting on author or editor glasses.
• Be specific in feedback and provide relevant examples.
• Start with the strengths, then offer thoughts on weaknesses and problem areas using positive language.

LEADERSHIP TIPS:
Whether you want it or not, you will likely be looked upon as a leader in this group considering you create it. This should not scare you off, but instead, reinforce the idea that you are committed to improving your writing that you are willing to brave the barbs and arrows that will fly in your direction. If you haven’t ran for the hills yet, here’s some final points to take with you:
Establish a co-leader: Someone in your group should be designated as your backup, at minimum, for emergency situations where you are not available — such as you winning the lottery and running away to Tahiti (not that you wouldn’t invite your group to come visit later).
Regularly attend meetings: If you don’t, others will question your engagement or worse, start to emulate you!
Be aware of lulls in attendance: The members of your group have lives, which will often kick them where it hurts and prevent them from attending every meeting or stop them from critiquing everyone’s work. In the first year, you’ll likely see a lot of members come and go before the membership stabilizes. It took four months for the core of my group to form.
Accept quitters happen: Not everyone will be able to commit to the group’s requirements. Could be a change in their life, attitude, or otherwise pulls them away. Just wish them well and move on. Don’t spiral into depression, even if they were your favorite member.
Don’t hesitate to drop the ax: Your group will not be a good fit for everyone. If someone is not meeting with the expectations of the group, give them a warning, then cut them if they don’t change their ways. It’s better for EVERYONE involved, even if the one being cut doesn’t see it.
Finally, take a gut check before starting anything:

• TIME & EFFORT: Can you devote yourself to starting and maintaining this group? If you barely find time to write, let alone attend a meeting with other writers, you probably should just join another group versus start one yourself. The time commitment at first is notable (e.g. to setup virtual workspaces/tools, market the group, build out the requirements, etc), but once things get going, there’s not much to do besides maintain a few areas.
• CONTROL: Do you have the chops to reign in people if they go off track? Are you able to coordinate events.
• PRIDE: Check your pride at the door and allow your group to vote on what works best for the majority — even if you feel it’s not the best course for you. You will hopefully find the proposed change does work and benefit from it later.

I hope this information leads you to forming the best group possible. If you have any other thoughts or ideas to share, please leave a comment. IN A FUTURE POST, I will upload copies of the guidelines, rules, and other content used by my group as possible templates you can use for your own needs!

Search the Interwebs for “critique group” or “writers group” and you will undoubtedly find an assortment of content on the subject, from the benefits of writer collaboration, to what groups are available, and even how to find the right group for you. You will also find, however, strongly voiced opinions on how “evil” critique groups are and the dangers of joining them.

So are critique groups good or evil?

Personally, I feel the truth lies somewhere in-between. When I first started my journey into the wilds of writing, I took a few classes, read some “how to write” guides, and followed a number of “experts” online who professed to know the secrets of getting published. All of this accumulated “knowledge” convinced me that I could write a story reasonably well and didn’t need much input from others to get it ready for prime time — or at least, not have it come out like a steaming pile of $#1+!

After writing two full-length novels (both that will likely never leave the dungeons I’ve thrown them into), I decided to take the plunge and actually show my work to other authors in order to see how great my writing truly was.

(Spoiler alert — my greatness wasn’t so great at all. Quite horrendous, in fact. Shocker, right?)

Using a myriad of online critique groups, I unveiled my greatness to a varying levels of writers — from professional writers to fellow amateurs. While nervous, I still felt relatively confident that my work was pretty solid and worthy of being read by the masses…

Sadly, it only took the first round of critiques to realize I was no writing prodigy. I would need a lot of help if I wanted to make a go at this “writing thing.”

I continued with the online critique groups for several years, uploading content every now and again as my schedule or muse would allow. Overall, I found the experience generally positive, though a few people had gone to the dark side when providing feedback (e.g. your work is drivel), which made me seriously question the value of critique groups. This is where I feel most negativity towards critique groups comes from and why there are a lot of people who despise them so passionately.

Thankfully, I didn’t let the negative stop me. I forged on, confident that the more eyes I had on my work, the more likely the work would turn out better overall. And more importantly, I was learning an absolute TON about what works and what doesn’t.

Critiquing the work of others is FREE TRAINING!

After awhile, I found the impersonal nature of online groups prevented me from receiving the level of engagement and feedback I desired, such as taking into account my style of writing or engaging other writers in topics beyond the small chunks we get to critique. Nor did it push me to keep writing, to overcome the procrastination that so often took hold over me.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and join a local writing group. THE HORROR! Searching the Interwebs, I found several groups that fit the bill for me (Sci-Fi, easy driving distance, regular meetings, and no reading stories aloud — YICK!). However, every one of them had closed their doors to new members.

Undeterred, I used an online tool to find other authors and setup my own damn writing group.

Not that it’s an easy choice, as it takes a bit of promotion to draw in other authors of your ilk (if the tool you use doesn’t draw them in automatically). You need to create a format and schedule that works for the group, not just you, and you have to be willing to lead when the time dictates (ie keeping people on task vs allowing a meeting to squirrel all over the place). You have to be willing to cut those who are hurting the group.

The benefits, however, outweigh those negatives without question. You and your group control the entirety of the experience. If something doesn’t feel right, you work together and change it. It took several months before my group really hit its stride. During that time, we locked in several committed members, those willing to attend as many meetings as possible. We had to work through some rough areas in order to smooth out the process of getting the authors WHAT THEY WANTED vs just griping about what we didn’t like about an author’s work (which sadly is what some groups do).
In short, I get to attend a critique group that meets every single requirement I have, gets me feedback from people who know me and my style, and provides me with in-depth critiques vs the half-ass jobs you get from those who are not invested in your success (like anonymous online critique groups).

In short(er still) — Critique groups can be evil. If you don’t like what you are finding, consider creating your own and work hard to prevent it from turning evil.

Best of luck to you in your critique group search!

-- Timothy A Fenner