Writing Groups

One of the main things I hope to get out of working with peers is the feedback; it’s one thing when you and your teacher are the only ones with the red pen in concern to your writing, but if you have someone with similar opinions or a knack for finding gramatical errors, your final draft will be more powerful. I also hope to develop a stronger side to every point I’m arguing by paying attention to the points/counter-points of the people in my group.

I think I could contribute a lot to my group when it comes to vocabulary and grammar; also, sentence formation. I could also contribute by sharing my ideas on their blogs, ie if they’re writing on politics I could share my views and hopefully help them form a stronger argument. I think I would be a good asset to a group where their writing means something, and has a strong point of view. If I can’t convince them of my opinions, I could at least help reinforce their own by argument.

I think that it is more important to work with your friends than with people who write similarly to you. Yes, writers can collaborate better with somebody who understands their writing skills, but I firmly believe that if you are in a group of strangers, your ideas will be more supressed and you would be less willing to ask for help. Having a comfortable environment that revolves around people who can freely speak their minds around you can really help with writer’s block.

Lastly, I would be very loose on the guidelines I suggest for the group. I would, of course, banish negative comments, but I think that stifling critisism is as bad as stifling freedom of writing. How are we going to evolve as writers if we don’t have somebody standing over our shoulder, saying that this point is meaningless or that sentence is distracting. I would also make it mandatory for people to contribute: it might not be useful to that indivisual, but it could be useful to somebody else in the writing group.