This is the fourth of my pieces on setting up a writers’ group. We have already covered what type of writers’ group you’d like to join (Rule 1), setting your group’s goals (Rule 2) and learning from others (Rule 3). In this final post in this series, we’ll take a look at how to deal with slow patches in participation.
A few weeks ago, we held the last of our Doha Writers’ Workshop meetings before the summer holidays. It was a talk by a poet who lived in the community. She was vibrant and shared from her heart. There were only four women in the audience. But did this diminish any of the interaction? Or the fact that shortly after the presentation, one of the other women and I struck up a conversation in the parking lot?
We had all been inspired by the poet’s 10-year history of writing and the evidence of her craft. Although the formal meetings for our group were now concluded, we agreed to meet in a smaller group for a few more weeks before leaving for the holidays.
That this occurred among the three of the four of us who attended that evening was not lost on me, and I drove home feeling encouraged (very different from how I felt waiting for people to arrive for the session and wondering who would show up). I realised we may not have had the same conversation about wanting to write or needing a small group if more people had turned up.
A writers’ group is not necessarily the place where you want to have a large membership. When it comes to developing craft, more is not necessarily merrier.
Four to six people can be an ideal number for working through lengthier material; particularly if everyone is willing to adhere to deadlines and take the time to give feedback on others’ work. The cardinal sin of a writers’ group is to sign up to have your work critiqued, come to that particular workshop, and are then never to be seen again or return the favour. Sadly this happens all too often.
It can be helpful to establish a particular theme or topic for a series of meetings – such as critiquing novel manuscripts or developing outlines for new material – as a way of sifting out the casual writer who dabbles in the idea of composing a piece from those who would really like to concentrate on developing new material or polishing up ideas to send out to contests, agents etc.
The adage that it’s not quantity but quality that counts in friendships or writers’ groups is certainly true. Try to keep it close at hand if you start out on your own adventure of finding or establishing a group. And let us know what you discover along the way.
Mohana
(Reading & Writing Development Director)
Your welcome, Mohana. As always, I'll try to do the best.
Very insightful, Mohana. It is good to get ideas from personal experience and even better when you share them as you have in this blog. Fitting end to a great series.