It never fails. Iron sharpens iron. It's so dependable an axiom that it's also a cliché.
If you want to get better as a writer, surround yourself with other writers who will challenge and inspire you. One of the best ways to do that is through being part of a writers' group. The trick is usually in finding one that is focused on what you need from it and one that is filled with writers you "click" with.
The problem is that far too often, groups fizzle out because they're not really accomplishing anything truly helpful for the group's members. For every 5 groups created, it feels like at least 7 die on the vine.
Okay, I know that's statistically impossible, but it sure as hell can feel that way when you're looking for a group that can help you become a better, more efficient and effective word-slinger.
Focus, Focus, Focus
What do I mean by "focused on what you need"?
Well, at its most basic, a writers’ group is merely a group of writers (usually a small group) who read and share their work with each other. But some groups have a more organized plan for how to help each beyond just an audience to be read to.
Sometimes, when you're lucky (or if you help direct a group so) a group can know each other so well they know what parts of the writing process and what techniques to target for the most effective and efficient use of a group's time.
Is dialog a key issue? Perhaps it's plotting? Or maybe establishing more character depth?
The best groups can zero in on such things and help each writer involved develop in areas such as these.
Most typically though, all that is available through your local college or library is a group of writers of various levels who write and read. And that's okay. Particularly for beginning writers and those who need more experience in sharing their work with others.
Because writing is such a solitary exercise, it's not uncommon for writers to be inexperienced with sharing their work, whether aloud or simply by passing around a printed copy. And that's where many writer's groups excel -- helping a shut-in of a wordsmith put his/her/their work in front of others for review and critique.
But, if you have any say-so in a group, remember that pushing each other is the only way to grow in the craft. A group, if it wants to actually be useful to a serious writer, needs to push its members and to keep them writing. If it fails in these two tasks, well, it becomes more of a social group and less of an effective tool for members.
Perhaps the most amazing writers’ group I was ever a part of grew out of a college creative writing class. During the class, it was a melee of opinions -- informed, uninformed, and everything between -- not particularly helpful. But after class each day (after the class itself had ended too) four of us continued to meet once a week for coffee before school and really pushed each other to work within our chosen styles to become better at putting our ideas into stories. It worked because we were able to cut through all the nonsense of the large class and get together those who really wanted to improve.
However, the biggest obstacle to building such a group is most often the group's members themselves.
The People in Your Neighborhood
That brings us to the people you meet in a typical writer's group.
As much as this list is also a work of satire, it's also sadly built on actually people you and I both have encountered in real-life writers’ groups.
The "I Was Born for This" Writer:
This writer feels pre-ordained to the act of wordsmithing. Not just that, but somehow equally pre-ordained to being a sort of chosen one in the craft, whether in popular fiction or something more avant-garde. This person is often "blessed" with pre-conceived ideas that simply can't be corrected until they get over themselves and realize they are not the Harry Potter of prose.
The "I Love These Floor Tiles" Writer:
A.K.A., the shy one. This writer may be hiding the next true master of the form (or not) but you'll never know because they never speak up, hell, they rarely look up from the floor to make eye contact. And getting them to read... Well, you can forget that.
The "Serious Literary" Writer:
These writers believe themselves above the whole deal. After all, "no one else in this group is there for creating art, are they? They just want to change the almighty dollar." This person tends to quote James Joyce and reference scholastic literary terms lesser writers haven't yet encountered in their journeys. They "bleed emotions onto paper" and call it art, and if you're too dumb to understand their genius, that's all on you.
The "Total Newb" Writer:
Energetic and "just so excited to be here," this writer is the person who really stands to get the most out of a group like this -- if only they would stop gushing all over the experience so they could get to the actual work of writing. They're far most likely to tell you their dreams than their plans, their long-term goals over their short-term ones, and still haven't learned the hard lessons that most early drafts actually do suck hard.
The "Button Pusher" Writer:
This person studies the rest of the group and knows just what buttons to push to irritate the others. This one knows that Margaret doesn't like stories with vulgar language, so he/she/they write in lots of it. This one knows that violence upsets Jim, so over the top violence is the theme of the next writing exercise.
The "How Gross Is Too Gross" Writer:
Closely akin to the "Button Pusher," this writer revels in their genre of choice -- horror, and the more graphic the better. Women aren't molested -- they're raped. Victims are just killed -- they're disemboweled. Ghouls aren't just creepy -- they're dripping pus and blood on granny's good rug. You'll usually find them wherever there's a group filled with their foil writer -- the "Sweet Little Ol' Lady."
The "Copy Cat" Writer:
These writers are either still trying to find their own voices or they're just not interested in do anything more than being a copy of their favorite style or author. Most of us may begin this way, but we quickly outgrow it. I myself started by copying C.S. Lewis and then moved on to Ernest Hemingway before discovering how to apply my inspirations to find my own voice.
The "Hobbyist" Writer:
These writers are looking for fun for the most part. And that's perfectly fine. Sometimes they catch the bug and sometimes they don't. But again, that's okay. The trick of it all is to make sure that the bulk of a group isn't filled with this type, or you may find it unhelpful.
The "Memoir of the War" Writer:
You’ve seen this one in every movie about a writers’ group. They're the one who believes their personal memoir of war, small town life, big city adventures, etc. will be the fodder for the next "Great American Novel." Closely akin to the "I Was Born for This" type, they have a lot of mystical myths about the way the life and process of both writing and publishing work to dispel before they can get out of their own heads and out of their own way.
The "Just Here for the Snacks and Free Coffee" Member:
I'm not even calling this one a writer. They never have anything the share and have little to say in critique or review other than some vague "I liked it" or "It's not bad" kind of muttering. It makes you really wonder just why they are even showing up.
Okay, okay. I jest. And yes, I am making a little fun of the stereotypes. But let's be honest... If you've been in a writers’ group, you've met them before, at least in part. Don't lie.
Practical Magic
Still, how does a group with these folks become a group that can actually help a writer focus on getting better and getting helpful critique?
Luckily (I knew there was a reason I wrote this article), there are some ideas I've found helpful from the various groups I've been a part of.
1. Get to know the types and learn to balance them. Find the stereotypes behind your members and look for ways to help them or lessen their negative impact. For example, find a way to limit the Serious Literary writer from harshly overcommenting on the work of others. Ask better guided questions instead of vague ones to help direct the reviews to matters of technique, tone, etc. rather than "It was fun" or "I didn't like it."
2. Get to know the "You are here" X for each member. Learn where the writers in your group are on their path, not where they think they are. Some may be farther along than they believe, and others may not be as far along as they believe. If you don't have a new member questionnaire, perhaps one might be needed.
3. Notice that genre isn't a concern. Unless you are founded as a mystery writers or horror writers group, don't make a big deal about the genres in which the members choose to write. Be far more concerned with helping each grow in their own style, genre, etc.
4. Get to know the strengths for each member. But be careful, they may not be what the writer in question believes. And they don't have to be spoken necessarily as long as they are taken into account when directing the discussions and critiques.
5. Get to know the weaknesses for each member. Bear in mind, no one likes to hear about what they're not good at. Again, these don't have to be spoken as long as they are taken into account in directing the discussions and critiques.
6. Target your critiques based on the type, level, strengths, and weaknesses of each member. If discussions don't address the actual needs of a group, then the group runs to the risk of becoming a mutual admiration society or one writer's personal crusade against other types of styles.
7. Start all over again. Sorry, my friends. Like Ouroboros, this snake keeps eating its tales and needs to be done over and over again throughout the life of a group.
8. Encourage and help members who don't fit to find a group more appropriate for their goals, types, level, strengths, and weaknesses. This can be the most difficult part. Sometimes the best help a group can gift to writers is to help them find a group that will be more useful to them. Sometimes the best help a group can gift to the members of the group is to request that a writer who doesn't mesh with the team (looks only for praise, considers vacation thrillers to be not real literature, ridicules new writers for not knowing the basics or literary terms by their Strunk & White names, etc.) politely find another group.
It's not easy. And it takes effort. But it's worth it if you want to really build a group where you sharpen each other's iron and surround yourself with other like-minded writers looking to improve and learn from each other.
In Short...
Do you remember the famous scene in Dead Poet's Society when the students react to Robin Williams' dismissal with a spontaneous outburst of "O' Captain, my Captain" from Walt Whitman's poem? Sure. What writer among us doesn't? But what does that have to do with any of this?
Well, it takes leadership to make a writers' group work. It takes direction. It takes balance and structure. It takes a lot more than just a group of people writing and reading. If you're in a group that you'd like to see become more effective in helping you improve as a writer, hopefully something in the half-thought ideas and satirical caricatures that can help your either find or create such a group. Or perhaps lead one.
