The long awaited opinionated non-dictated . . . okay, I’ll stop.  Here’s my list; feel free to share your own insights. 

Pros:

A writing group can be a motivation boost and make you accountable for how much writing you’re getting done.  They cheer for you when success strikes, and understand how even small recognition in the field can be a big boost and come at great personal effort.  Unlike some friends and family, they know better than to say, “So does this mean you’ll have a bestseller soon?”  

They read your stuff, and try to give you an honest opinion.  They may be able to give helpful advice, and at the least they are another pair of eyes to catch the ‘it’s’ when you meant ‘its’ or ‘sell’ when you meant ‘sale’. 

Groups can also share inside info or research in the publishing world, so the effort of finding the right match for your story gets a helping hand.  They also may assign individuals the task of researching books, grammer rules, etc., and share back their findings.  Sometimes short group assignments based on a prompt can help to restart creative juices that have become plugged.

Cons:

They can be a fabulous waste of time, especially if you’re poorly matched with your group, i.e. they are much further along than you, or they are newbies and nowhere near as good.  If the first, the group will have a hard time slowing down to your level, and certain skills will be assumed instead of spelled out, but this scenario is not a problem if the writer has good work skills, confidence, and initiative.  The latter scenario, that your stories are almost pro while theirs are very rough, will mean they spend all their time sighing over your work instead of critiquing it.  While all that flattery will feel nice, it won’t prepare your stories for the harsh reality of the publishing world.

Another problem is the group will give you bad advice.  I’m not saying that they do so intentionally, but they are not omniscient, nor are they (generally) well-established professionals.  They are giving you advice because you asked them to read it, and sometimes because they are required to do a certain number of critiques each week/month.  This means that within the niche of writing groups certain things can become taboo, like waiting to divulge the full plot until suspense has built in the story.  The group can have taboos and still function well, so long as the writer takes it all with a grain of salt, and tries to personally know what the markets are looking for.  After all, your story must be sold to an editor and publisher, not a writers group.

A more common problem, I suspect, is that the group can warp into a hangout place for groupies.  A group for ‘writers’ who spend all their writing time in tasks other than writing.  These are like-minded people who appreciate you and share your passion for writing, so they may become close friends.  But when your time is spent enjoying being a writer more than sitting down to write you need to change your habits or reconcile yourself to anonymity.

Editing and critiquing can take a lot of time, too.  Some editing is good, and will increase the quality of your own writing, but if all your writing time is taken with editing you are training yourself to be an editor, not a writer.

Overall:

I highly recommend writers groups, and love mine.  But we keep it professional, and stay on task.  Any references to our personal lives are kept short and infrequent.  We are also divided into groups, so the beginners can study with a moderator/teacher and work through the most glaring errors, then rise in skill and join the advanced class.  Not a perfect system, but it seems to work well.  My time in the group (an online ‘room’) varies, but I’m always grateful to have the niche, and be able to borrow their eyes when something needs a look over.

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