yourself, you haven't
written."
~Eudora Welty
Writers' Groups |
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Receiving helpful feedback on your work doesn't require your earning an MFA degree. While MFA programs are invaluable to those who intend to teach, they aren't the only means of learning the craft and becoming an accomplished writer. Exchanging manuscripts with other writers can also be helpful. Below, Joyce McDonald shares her personal experience with writers groups.
If
you are thinking about starting a writers group (also called a critique group) or joining an existing one,
consider what kind of group will best meet your needs: A professional
group with a focus strictly on writing and critiquing. A professional group
that offers critiques on your work, but is also interested in the practical
side of the business (marketing, etc.). A small, informal group that is flexible
in structure. A group that also includes book discussions. Or any other combination
that you can come up with. Below are some examples of writers' groups and their
working formats that I have had the privilege of being a part of. Over the years I have come to realize the community of children's book authors is made up of many wonderful and generous people. I have had the good fortune to be blessed with having many of them in my life. When we face that blank page or computer screen, it may seem as if we're all alone. But I know I have the support of my friends behind me. I know they're only a phone call or an e-mail away. And if I've had a BWD (bad writing day), received a less than stellar review, or had a manuscript rejected, my friends are there to listen and offer support--just as I am there for them. Like many people in this profession, I belong to a writers group. Actually, I belong to two: The Bucks County Authors of Books for Children and the RiverStone Writers. This may seem like overkill, but both groups offer something quite different. I am also a former member of the Garden State Writers (see below). Each group has contributed immensely to my growth as a writer. |
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| From left to right (front row): Sally Keehn, Elvira Woodruff, Wendy Pfeffer, Susan Korman. (Second row, left to right)): Pat Brisson, Pamela Curtis Swallow, Kay Winters, Martha Hewson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Joyce McDonald, and Deborah Heiligman. | |||||||||||
The Bucks County Authors of Books for Children (pictured above) meet once a month at the Doylestown Library. Those who are working on a book bring their work to read out loud. We then spend five minutes writing our comments on copies provided by the writer and discuss the work. The benefit of this kind of critique format is that we get an initial gut-level response from our fellow writers. Those who write picture books usually bring the entire manuscript to share. Those of us who write novels might bring a scene that doesn't seem to be working or that we have concerns or questions about. We don't present an entire novel to the group, even over several months. But we might ask one or two members of the group if they would mind reading a finished first draft (outside of the group) and commenting on it. Our meetings take place in the morning, from 9:30 to noon, sometimes longer. After each meeting, we get together for lunch. Discussions usually focus on the more practical side of our business: marketing trends, publicity, school visits, author appearances. We sometimes make appearances as a group, usually on panels at conferences.
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| The RiverStone Writers | |||||||||||
| Sometimes, when a group of writers and illustrators comes together, something magical happens. That has been the case with the RiverStone Writers. This group began in 1996. Initially we met in Pat Brisson's kitchen and a few months later moved our meetings to Elvira Woodruff's study (sometimes affectionately referred to as the "club house.") We are a group of friends who also happen to be writers and illustrators. We meet once a month to share our professional lives, our personal lives, and our work. And we laugh. A LOT! Whining and complaining are also allowed. Good friends understand the need for the occasional wallow in self-pity. (Especially over rejections and bad reviews.) But it never lasts long when you're around these ladies. They can find the humor and the positive in just about anything. |  |
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| Monthly meeting at the "Club House." Above, left to right: Trinka Hakes Nobel, Elvira Woodruff, Pamela Curtis Swallow. | |||||||||||
| Below, left to right: Trinka Hakes Noble, Joyce McDonald, Pamela Curtis Swallow, and Pat Brisson. | Our meetings are informal and always include tea and good food. We all bring snacks to share. Elvira often has homemade soup--she makes the best soups ever!--simmering on the stove when we come through the back door. We meet at one in the afternoon and often don't finish up until almost six. The meeting format is relaxed and informal. We take turns sharing professional and personal news. We often bring a scene or chapter from our latest work for comments and suggestions from the group. Keeping current with the market, book discussions on children's and young adult books--we select and read one each month--are also part of the agenda. |
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Writers are especially susceptible to cabin fever during the winter months. So each year either the RiverStone group or the BCABC group takes a three-day winter writers retreat either in the Poconos or in Cape May. Our retreats are a comfortable balance of work and free time. The format is similar to our monthly meetings, only with more time out for fun (Deb Heiligman gives great improvisation prompts). We meet several times a day to critique each other's work, to do writing exercises with prompts, to discuss an assigned book, and to talk "shop." |
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From January 1986 to the summer of 2002, I was a member of the Garden State Writers, a group of professional writers who began their workshop in 1976 under the tutelage of Patricia Lee Gauch (author of numerous books for children and teens, and Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Philomel Books). The format of this critique group was similar to ones I'd experienced in writers workshops in college. So during my sixteen years with the group, I felt right at home. The group met at the Somerset County Library every other week, except during the summer months. Those who had work to be critiqued brought it to the meeting and handed it out at the end of the session to be commented on at the next meeting. This allowed members to read the work more than once and to write extensive comments. Some wrote comments on the manuscripts, others wrote out their suggestions separately, and some did both. We then discussed the work in depth the next time we met. These are only a few examples of how writers groups function. But there are any number of variations. The most important thing is to find a group of writers whose opinions you value and whose company you enjoy. |
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