john august has a great post on his site about writing groups. he makes a very interesting suggestion which is to put an expiration date on the group at the start, and i think that’s a brilliant idea.
i’ve been in several writing groups in the past and they’ve all fizzled out, but they’ve all had some value because they gave me feedback on what i’d written. it’s really hard to write if you know nobody is going to read it. i also agree with trying to find other group members who work within the same genre if possible.
i’m currently part of a writing group that’s been going very well for the past several months. part of the reason why the group works so well is because we’re not only writers, we’re also artists, and so we bring any creative project we’re working on.
i’ve brought my concept art, tv specs, and pitched short film ideas. projects by others have included animation, a novel, and a short film.
our group is very small but everyone is very driven and always has new work to show. even if you’re not lucky enough to find a good group of creative people that mesh together well, you still need to find a few people that you can send your work to for some good honest feedback.