by Randy Petersen
For the past several years, I’ve met about once a month at a local diner with two fellow playwrights. We spend some time in smalltalk, just catching up with each other, but then we pull out our “pages”—scenes from the plays we’re writing. Playwrights need to hear their work out loud, so we divvy up the roles and do the lines. Other patrons often wonder what’s going on in our booth.
When we finish reading a scene, we let the writer ask questions. Did this work? What did you think of this character or relationship? Was there anything you didn’t understand? And we respond honestly, but sensitively. We’re friends, after all. We’ve learned to use “I language”—this didn’t work for me. We may make suggestions, but we honor the autonomy of the playwright.
And through the years, we’ve seen some of those plays get staged. It’s a real kick to attend a performance and hear lines that we first heard over Cobb salad.
Writers of all sorts can benefit from getting together with other writers. Groups meet in diners, but also living rooms, church basements, and even online. These gatherings, according to one participating writer, “develop writing and editing skills, provide objectivity, suggest new markets for your writing, and nurture supportive friendships.”[1] Let’s take a look at these key takeaways.
Friendship
Writing can be a lonely business. Human connection is valuable, especially when those humans are writers too. They understand your joys and challenges.
In many cases, writers have a unique perspective on life. We’re always looking for the angle, the hook, the “man bites dog” factor in any news we encounter. We dig for the underlying issues in any conversational topic. We take care to express ourselves well. To many others in our lives, these seem like idiosyncrasies, but when we’re with others who share those tendencies, we feel at home.
Networking
The editors of this blog are part of a networking group of freelance writers involved in the Evangelical Press Association. Once a month we have a Zoom call in which we all have opportunity to say what we’re working on. Frequently, one writer will mention that a particular magazine is looking for articles. After hearing about someone’s research project, another writer might say, “You ought to contact such-and-such an editor. They print that kind of thing.”
A networking group goes beyond friendship to share practical connections. They might also swap tips and tricks of the trade—how to market your work better; what computer programs will help with your writing business, or how to set boundaries.
Specifically, groups like this can help a beginning writer set standards and expectations. How much should you get paid for certain pieces? How soon should you expect a reply from an editor? What can you do if an editor ghosts you? The collective wisdom of the group can help each member chart a better course for their writing business.
Feedback
In some groups, writers read their work to others (or send it around in advance) and receive positive or negative criticism. This is not for the thin-skinned, but it can be an extremely helpful process of “iron sharpening iron” (Proverbs 27:17).
Editors generally don’t have the time or inclination to comment on pieces they reject. (They legitimately fear that writers will resend it, saying, “I fixed that thing you criticized; now you have to accept it!”) But a feedback group is designed for that purpose.
It’s important to meet with people you trust. You’re trusting them to know what they’re talking about, but also to “speak the truth in love” regarding your work (Ephesians 4:15). You don’t want to trudge away from the meeting in defeat, but rather to rush to your keyboard and make your work better. The right combination of encouragement and challenge is elusive but essential.
Of course, you’ll need to practice the same values when giving feedback to others. If you’re starting to feel proud of your own brilliance in improving the work of others—stop talking immediately. This is not about you. If you sense that a person is getting crushed by negative comments, ease up. Help them find a way forward. Always be sure you understand the writer’s purpose, the audience, and whatever publication is involved. Whatever disagreements you have with their point, their style, or the sources should be filtered through that understanding. Again, this is not about you.
Use I-language. I didn’t understand this. This didn’t connect for me. I once tried this in an article; maybe it could work for you.
It might take several tries before you find a group you’re comfortable with, giving and receiving feedback. Publishing pro Terry White says, “A critique group is something like a marriage. If you find the right people, you’ll get the most out of it and put your best into it.”[2]
Established Critique Groups
A writer’s group can be as simple as hanging out in a diner with a couple of friends. But there are some established organizations creating more extensive opportunities for writers to connect. Word Weavers International (https://word-weavers.com/ ) is one such group, with 31 chapters and 500 members. This group picked up the critique function of the Christian Writers Guild in 2010. There is a fee to join, and if you want a professional critique of something you’ve written, there’s a fee for that. But Word Weavers also has groups that meet regularly, online or in person, seriously committed to helping one another improve their writing.
Writing is usually a solitary occupation, but at some point we all hope to share our work with a world of readers. That’s why it helps to expand our solitary process and interact with others, whether a few friends or an organized critique group. Their eyes can help us see how our words can affect the wider world.
[1] “Growing a Critique Group,” by Joyce K. Ellis, Christian Communicator, November-December 2016, p 3.
[2] Quoted by Ellis, Ibid.