Hi, am about to start a writers group in my home town. Any suggestions on guidelines for the group? Want to ensure it is fair, fun and everyone gets something out of it. Are any of you members of actual group and what works best?
Hi, am about to start a writers group in my home town. Any suggestions on guidelines for the group? Want to ensure it is fair, fun and everyone gets something out of it. Are any of you members of actual group and what works best?
Hi Rosie,
This is for you if I manage to post it successfully.
It is good to give your group an official name and perhaps invent a logo.
It is a good idea to have a Constitution so that everyone knows where they stand. This will record the aims of the group. You may think this is a bit old fashioned but we have found it useful..
Our aims are to explore all aspects of the craft of creative writing, to exchange information and idea, to study markets and to offer constructive feedback and mutual support.
We aim to invite two speakers annually but it doesn't always happen.
Subscriptions. We have found it convenient and fair to have an annual subscription of £10 and a meeting* sub of £2. This* pays for hire of the room and , the annual sub pays for speakers etc. you may find you have to become involved with public liability insurance.
We have a double fee for visitors// £4..
All members are encouraged to be active, contributing to discussions, taking a turn at setting an assignment at the end of each meeting, critiquing the work brought in and read out.
We limit our membership to 22. This usually means we have about 16 at each meeting and we find this a manageable number for reading and critiquing at each meeting.
Interaction with the community at least once a year in order to get yourselves known.
Readings and/or display of your work. Production of an anthology biennially?
Committee and officers should be appointed by consent.
If you have a room in a public building eg community centre it may be necessary to have a register so that in the event of fire everyone can be accounted for.
I think this is enough for you to be going along with and you will be able to add to or eliminate as you choose. Don't make too many decisions alone. Much better to share the burden.
This has been our plan of campaign since 1993 and it has worked well enough for us.
I hope it helps.. No I have to press the precious button and say a little prayer. This is in fact the third time I have written this out for you. I don't know where the others have gone.
best wishes to you and all your members,
rosa.
There are some fabulous points here and I can't really add any tips. The group I meet with is very informal (which suits us). We all met on a course and are writing in completely different genres. I like the informality and wouldn't want exercises etc. I used to meet with a group like that but now I just want to concentrate on my novel. We meet once a month and email for support and advice in between. One thing I will say though is that we do sometimes fall into the chatty trap but, like I said, ours is very relaxed!
Good luck. Btw I'm a bit jealous that you live in Ilkley - gorgeous place! Lots of inspiration there! :)
There are no writing groups near where I live. Even if there were I'd struggle to attend on weekdays.