It takes some skill and effort to learn to step back from your own writing and ask yourself why something doesn’t work. A critique done by a sympathetic friend and/or writer can more quickly flag the problem and that act alone will teach you a great deal.
Writing groups help you meet other local writers, make friends with similar interests and informally share experiences in the real world. In this day of cyberspace, it is nice to get away from the computer and actually exchange ideas with some real people.
With the right critique group, you can learn quickly what is working in your writing and what isn't, shaving years off the learning curve. Not only do you get some quick and honest feedback on what you’ve written, but the act of critiquing someone else’s manuscript can teach you a great deal about what works and what doesn’t in your own.
As writers, we are generally avid readers as well. All of the reading you have done in your life has honed your instincts about other people’s writing. You can spot it immediately when something isn’t working. It feels awkward or off somehow and it interrupts your involvement in the story, jolting you out of the story and back to reality.
Gondor Writers' Critique Group first meeting: April 26th at 7 pm.
The first meeting will set out the way the critiques will be done and make decisions of the timing, frequency, and format of future meetings. Please bring some samples of your writing to read if you want.
Those in attendance on Wednesday night can help us decided what will happen from there. There will be no cost for these meetings and no joining fee. If, as a group, we decided to invite guest speakers or workshop presenters we will all have to share the cost of their fee.
If you are interested joining the fast growing, dynamic group who are coming, please email me before the 26th. elaine@gondorwriterscentre.com