One of the most helpful and fun aspects of writing a book was a monthly gathering with two others in a writing group. The three of us were at various stages in writing projects when we decided to share parts of our project with each other on a monthly basis for feedback and critique. Here’s how we did it:

We shared portions that ranged from an outline to a chapter to several chapters. We tried to share the portion about a week before meeting, but sometimes it was only three or four days before we met. There was no hard-&-fast rule about the length of selections to share, other than not to overwhelm each other.

We’d plan to meet for about two hours: A half-hour to catch up and joke around, and then 30 minutes on each selection. Usually, the author would send specific questions they wanted to be answered, such as: How was the dialogue? Was Character A believable in the scene with Character B? Was there too much or not enough description?

We’d give feedback both in written notes on a Word or GoogleDoc, as well as through the conversation.

When we met (on Zoom because of the pandemic), we’d discuss things we liked, things that didn’t work, and things we had questions about. We didn’t care about grammar and spelling – we focused on the substance. We made sure to praise things that flowed really well. I remember being jealous of one in the group because of how well he did dialogue, which inspired me to up my dialogue game.

The best part of the group is watching someone else’s novel grow and evolve, and the ability to help out others who are doing the same thing. Plus, I got great feedback. One of my favorite characters came directly out of a suggestion from one of these writing groups.

Are you in a writing group? If so, what makes it work well? Lemme know in the discussion.