Six Tips to Form a Writers’ Group That Lasts

Today’s post is written by Lindsey Lee Johnson, whose debut novel, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, was recently released to rave reviews. I asked Lindsey her thoughts on how to build a writing community. She shared six ideas on building a writers’ group that lasts.

In the writers’ group I’ve attended weekly for the past five years, we have a motto: READERS FIRST.

This motto came about organically—at first, we didn’t know we needed one—but now it feels integral to the success of our writers’ group. It’s a way of reminding ourselves why we continue to meet, and what values we share. We are writers, yes, and we do discuss each other’s writing in the context of craft. We point out nice metaphors and dig into theories of plot.

But we are readers first. This means that, when evaluating one another’s weekly pages, we always begin with a very simple question: Would anyone actually want to read this?

I’ve belonged to many writers’ groups and workshops over the years, and it’s amazing how few of them ever address that question. I believe it’s the main reason why my current group has been so successful—and why I’ll only ever leave it kicking and screaming. (Really. It’s getting to the point where I don’t remember how I wrote without these women.)

Because my group’s primary concern is readability, the feedback we give is consistently honest and, therefore, invaluable.

Here are five more tips for creating a writers’ group that lasts:

1. Keep it small.

Our group used to have six members. Now there are four. This seems to be our magic number—large enough that we get diverse opinions on our work, small enough to hold each of us accountable. Because there are so few of us, each of us knows we are essential to the group. We know that when we have to miss a meeting, it will make a difference to the others. And we know that we’ll have time each week to both give and receive feedback. We show up for the group not just because it matters to us, but because we matter to it.

2. Keep it consistent.

We meet on Sundays. That’s it. The time may vary depending on family football games and children’s nap times, but it’s usually sometime around noon. This schedule is crucial. Without it, each week would be a new discussion, a new chain of those crazy-making group emails that make you hate not only your writers’ group but also everyone and everything else in the world. As it is, our group emails are minimal. We don’t always make our Sunday meetings—sometimes a group member has to drop out at the last minute, sometimes we have to cancel altogether. Once, while out of town on a work assignment, I had to miss three full months of Sunday meetings. But the meeting doesn’t change. It’s always there, waiting, when we come back.

3. Align your goals.

The women in my group are interested, primarily, in writing novels of literary quality. Our manuscripts may fit into different genres, and they differ widely in terms of character and theme, but they all aspire to be full-length works of fiction. Having this common goal helps us to connect and focus. Because we’re all trying to make the same kind of art, we can discuss broader topics that apply to all of us, such as three-act versus four-act plot structure. We can learn from each other’s successful query letters and suggest published novels that might help our fellow group members solve a literary problem. And we all keep moving forward, at the same steady pace.

4. Include a project manager.

In this respect, I simply lucked out. One of my group members is a retired corporate project manager, and she excels at keeping us on track. By this I mean: she sends out emails asking who can attend that Sunday’s meeting and manages a Dropbox file where we submit our weekly pages to be read. I’m not sure she even realizes it, but these small actions make a major difference to our group.

5. Work with people you like!

Duh.

Lindsey Lee Johnson holds a master of professional writing degree from the University of Southern California and a BA in English from the University of California at Davis. She’s taught writing at USC, Clark College, and Portland State University, and has served as a tutor and mentor at a private learning center, where her focus has been teaching writing to teenagers. Born and raised in Marin County, she now lives with her husband in Los Angeles. The Most Dangerous Place on Earth is her debut novel. You can learn more about her at www.lindseyleejohnson.com