On-line writers groups

[Danielle/Evie]

*waiting for someone to suggest a writer's group being formed from these boards*

Now that is a REALLY great idea. 

Would anyone be interested in something like that?   

See me here? I'M INTERESTED!

[Danielle/Evie]

I was thinking about it today, and you know, it would be really easy to set up a blog or livejournal as a writers group. Say it was a livejournal....the group could set it up as private, then each story is a journal entry (all the members would be given the password and share the username) then the critiques could be comments. It would be really easy, and more importantly...FREE! I haven't actually participated in a writers group yet, but I thought it might work. I developed the same basic idea last year for my english class (book reviews/other comments on the book...my teacher ended up using the idea for a questions/answer blog that we were graded on).
If anyone's interested, I could set it up?
Or anyone else is perfectly free to just use the idea for themselves.
okay....later then.
-danielle

[Dom]

Not sure if it's relevent to the thread, but I don't belong to any writer's groups.  I tried a few times...and it just doesn't work for me.  Mostly because I feel an obligation to crit something of the people who crit me, and I'm a hard critic, and I focus and write a lot when I sit down to crit someone's work.  I don't just blow it over, I go, literally, line-by-line and note down what I see as both a reader and as a writer.  It takes so much energy out of me, I end up "burning out" because I don't have the energy to keep the crits coming and also work on my stuff at the same time.  I can do one or the other, but not both.  Since I have a choice, I put the energy into my work most of the time, and stay away from circles where I am expected to critique things frequently, unless the person is a personal friend.

I do have people who read my stuff, but they do it because they like my stuff, not because they need to be critiqued in turn.

I'm just mentioning this because writer's groups are pushed very hard as Something To Do.  And it's not mentioned very frequently that there are people who just don't get anything out of them, or can't do them.  So I'm just throwing out an alternate viewpoint.  It does seem that a lot of people do get something out of them.  I'm just not one of them.

[waywardclam]

I have to highly recommend Forward Motion, www.fm-writers.com, founded and operated by author Holly Lisle.

It's 100% free.  Even better, it's mostly free of jerks and idiots.

Also note: Many pro authors, including Wen Spencer, Valerie Griswold-Ford, Lazette Gifford, and (friend of Jim Butcher) C.E. Murphy can sometimes be spotted there in chat...

[waywardclam]

Although I'd ALSO be interested in a writing group here at this forum, if one starts.

[Opalescence]

It's been mentioned already, but Kelly Armstrong's writing group is great. I've gotten more out of it than any RL writing group.

The way it's organized allows for each person to get critiqueing time. Then there's the fact that in teaching someone something, you often learn it better yourself.

[fjeastman]

I think I joined Critters a LONG time ago, or something similar.  Like ... 8 years ago?  I was a late-teens writer, thought I was pretty hot stuff, had torn up the local and regional contests for short fiction and poetry.   All I remember was there was a very strict system in place for reciprocal critting and you had to critique X other works before your work could be submitted for critique, etc etc.

I didn't write a single complete page of fantasy/sci-fi fiction from the time I quit attending until a few weeks ago.

Between that and alot of Doom! and Gloom! in the writings I was uncovering on the industry, I decided that a career as fantasy novelist wasn't going to happen.  The way I read it, if my first book wasn't a break-out best seller I'd end up blacklisted and my second book would be unpublishable. 

I'm back (with a few degrees and some experience), but I'm still wary of online critique groups.  Some published authors swear by them ... some of the best out there think they're crap.  I figure it depends on who you are and what kind of group it is.  I might try one again.  I don't know.

--fje

[terioncalling]

*waiting for someone to suggest a writer's group being formed from these boards*

Now that is a REALLY great idea. 

Would anyone be interested in something like that?   

*raises hand and waves*  Me!

[Darla]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Cherries.  The email critique list is closed and has a waiting list, but there's a lot of good writing chat & advice on the BB:  http://www.cherryforums.com/index.php

[Mickey Finn]

Ok, if I set up an invite-only BB for the authors here to write stories and post for each other, would people be interested?

This is nothing Jim-Official, just us getting together.

Phil Boswell has given us an unintentional challenge:
" How much mileage could you realistically get out of a protagonist who is good at reducing themselves to dripping goo?"

While the board would be open to helping anyone with any story, I was thinking about having writing assignments, to push people...that could be the first one

[waywardclam]

I'd like to sign up.  I already have fourteen chapters of a novel written so far that qualifies for that challenge. 

[WonderandAwe]

I would be interested also.  I have only had freinds read my work and (depending on the freind) they either thing its the greatest thing since sliced bread or they try to rewrite it into what THEY think it should be. 
I also wouldn't mind reading other work and learning from them.