Small Groups |
Why Join A Small Group? By Larry Lesser, WIW Member I like WIW's Small Groups, and presently belong to two of them. One is dedicated to personal essays and related forms; the other to working on novels-in-progress. Each month at meetings of the Personal Essays Group, we read members' works, which average about 1,500 words, and then discuss them with an eye toward helping the author polish the draft to increase its chances for publication. The core membership of this group had remained steady for 10 years, but then, during the last two years, it began to suffer attrition. Of course, we were concerned—but then came WIW's Small Groups Camp Night, which took place last July. To our elation, we recruited several new members, who have since given our group the shot of fresh energy it needed. This group continues to meet monthly, with anywhere from four to 10 members, most of whom bring new or revised essays to discuss. We congratulate members each time an essay is published, and are especially proud if we had the privilege to provide some input. The Personal Essays Small Group was the only one I belonged to until—again, during last year's WIW Small Groups Camp Night—I discovered the Working Novels Group, which concerns itself mostly with suspense thrillers. This group was also becoming moribund, and thus had chosen to market itself at Camp Night. I joined along with several other writers, and the group is now going great guns. In this group, we circulate electronically a decent-size portion of a couple of the novels-in-progress a week or so before each meeting. Then we devote the meeting to in-depth discussions of these works. As a result, each member can receive the group's full attention several times a year. This is generally an appropriate pace for aspiring novelists, most of whom also have day jobs. Both of my Small Groups comprise a mixture of professional writers (who work outside the genre of the Small Group) and relatively inexperienced writers. The key element in both is that all group members are good and serious readers who are willing and able to analyze the work of the others in the group and give constructive criticism. Membership in these Small Groups has inspired me to write more and to write better—while also better understanding how to market my work. Reading others' works-in-progress in a constructively critical spirit, and preparing drafts for comment from other members can also yield big rewards. I'm convinced that small groups offer the ideal structure for us as working writers to broaden our reach and continually polish our craft.
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