Advice for Starting a Writing Group

MozyZinc
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I need some advice on starting a little writing group at the community center near my home. I want to structure each class as such:

*Everyone reads and discusses a piece of literature 5/10 minutes

*We go over one of the topics covered in Chuck’s Essays 10 minutes

*Brainstorm/ Warm up 5minutes

*We write based on one of the particular skills discussed in Chuck’s essay 30 minutes

*We read what we have written to each other and record feedback 30 minutes

*Homework: Edit and implement changes to workshop writing.

* Next Session: Read what you wrote or just pass it around for others to read

What do you think?

Has anyone tried this in there own community?

Do I have to get any special permission from Chuck to do this even if I’m doing this is totally non-profit?

Laters,

M


Posted February 11th, 2007 by MozyZinc

vigorous puppy
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I don't think you need to worry about permissions for a small, non-profit group, doing something for it's own betterment. If you wanted republish one of Chuck's essays in a newsletter, or adapt one of his stories for a public performance, that's where you'd need to look into permissions.

Start by doing a Google search. I just ran one with the phrase "starting writer's group" and came up with all sorts of hits. After a very cursory view, [URL=http://www.dmrosner.com/WritersGroups.html]here's one of the better links[/URL] I stumbled upon.

There's very good info out there by people who have run writer's groups for ten years and more. The advice runs along the lines of:

[list=1]
[*] keep the group small; five or six people works fine.

[*] make sure everyone has the same level of dedication and the same idea about how formal or relaxed the group should be.

[*] establish by-laws and a screening process for new group members. That may sound stuffy and pretentious on the surface, but if a potential new member doesn't fit the group's vision and goals, it's much better to nicely but firmly reject his or her application, rather than have to throw the person out later.
[/list]

So, you need to be pretty mature, dedicated, and diplomatic--nice but firm, to run even a small and fairly informal writer's group and have it go well and hang together.

On a personal note, you may even reassess how much you want to build it around Chuck's lessons. Other writers who are serious about their work and want to join a group are people you can find. Other Chuck Palahniuk fans who know the name and respect the style are people you can find. But realize that your current goal is to find people in a very small and selective overlap camp, and to find enough of them in your own vacinity to start a local group.

If that remains your true goal, I'd suggest both a very targeted flyer you could post around coffeeshops, bookstores, and college campuses, and also making the effort to find some of your members through this website. Otherwise, start a more general sort of writer's group--specify only that it will focus on fiction, for example--and make a few things that you glean from Chuck's lessons just one part of a larger and more diverse offering.

__________________________

VP - Workshop Dog


Mon, 02/12/2007 - 04:59

tomstrong83
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I joined a small writing group in my town and can tell you a couple things I learned.
I think your plan looks good, but it totals over an hour. That doesn't seem like much, but it's pretty tough to find a block of a couple hours where all of your members can show up. If you commit yourselves to keeping it under an hour it might be easier to get people to show up.
It's also important to invite writers you respect if you know any in the area. Sometimes you can become part of a writing group and realize that the people in it are not exactly the type you're looking for or that their feedback is not helpful/not productive. If you have one or two writers you know and whose opinions you trust, get them to show up.
The way we operate is to have one person submit a piece for workshopping every week. They email it to everybody and everybody reads it sometime before the meeting. However, procrastinators can be a problem. If your members are sending out their stuff too late, change the way it works so that the person is responsible for sending out their piece sometime the day before the meeting. In other words, let's say that you guys meet every monday. If Jim is supposed to have his piece workshopped on March 19, then he needs to send it out before you all meet on March 12th. That way you can insure everyone gets to read it, plus you can sell the idea to your members by telling them that you want everything a week early so that you can make sure everybody gets the email and clear up any technical problems.


Wed, 03/07/2007 - 19:43

nothingbutyours
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what a wonderful idea.
you've gotten me thinking about starting one as well.


Thu, 11/01/2007 - 17:09