i love writing groups - i love being in them, i love facilitating them, i love teaching people how to facilitate their own. and i also love breathing a little bit of fresh air into existing, or new, groups - especially as the work goes on, and the pandemic rages, and we all are hitting (or well exceeding) our capacity for on camera interaction.
most writing groups are structured around the sharing of works in progress - some specify the kinds of feedback wanted, and have a schedule and guidelines for who will share writing, how much, and when. i’ve written about some ways to think about structuring those activities here - but here are 5 new things to try with your writing group to shake things up a little bit!
writing co-working sessions! - sometimes, you just really need the coffee shop vibe. i’ve been really enjoying Gather, a virtual world where you can have a character and walk around to work with people - as a lower stakes, non zoom coworking option. sometimes, it just helps to work with people, and this is a good way to build some accountability around scheduled writing sessions.
summarize the main point - you never really know how your writing is landing until someone else summarizes it for you! this is a great activity to do with early drafts that you share - it’s less time intensive than giving line comments, but it’s useful and effective for the writer to see how their argument is landing.
interview the writer - an especially good activity for those who need some practice talking about their research, or who are in the early stages of working out an argument, having group members interview the writer (whether they ask questions based on a draft, or not) is great. you can imagine it like a conference presentation, or ask questions about the argument to get further clarification. this is an especially good kind of session to record - great practice for other interviews down the line.
make an outline - normally, this is an activity i recommend writers do with their own writing (reverse outlining, in that case!), but it can be really helpful to see how someone else interpreted the structure of your argument, and how the examples link up. it also can take less time than traditional line-specific feedback, so it’s great for early drafts and busy group members.
workshop a revision - got a revise and resubmit that has you spinning? really tough feedback from your chair that you need help deciphering? if you trust your writing group, you can bring that piece (and the feedback!) and work together to make a revision plan. this is particularly useful if you are feeling really sensitive about the feedback (who isn’t??) or if you are lost about where to start.
writing groups are so valuable - writing, after all, is taking thoughts that live in our brains and putting it into a form where they can be shared, and so inviting community into that process can only help you check the translation from inside to out.