A Rose or a Dandelion?
Writers’ groups can be an invaluable tool. I am particularly fond of mine because it has few people like me, many different world views, and is willing to point out writing that DOES and DOESN’T work. A good writers’ group should not be a mutual admiration society.
We all need critics to help us see our work as the world sees it. Your group should be the “audience” your high school teachers told you to try to hook. They should be bright enough to explain why they wriggled off the hook and why they stayed. Their laughs, their “oh, oh’s” can make your day. Not everything they say will be right for you, but you will see your work better.
Then there is your role. Nothing makes you learn a craft, skill, or idea, like having to teach it. As you read someone else’s writing and you don’t think it works, you have to figure out why. You just can’t say “This sucks” and walk away. (OK, editors do that with form rejection letters.) When you define what sucks in their writing, you will soon find something similar in your own and fix it before anyone sees it.
While you might fear that you are hurting someone’s feelings, don’t you get a rush when some editor scribbles a note on that rejection letter? His/her criticism might bite, but it encourages your thinking. You have an idea what to fix.
Flowers need rain and sun and dirt and a little fertilizer to grow to their best. Does your writers’ group cultivate your best work?
