Jonathan Riley's picture
Jonathan Riley from Memphis, Tennessee is reading Flashover by Gordon Highland January 18, 2015 - 3:54pm

I enjoy reviewing online with the fine folks at LitReactor and a couple other great online writing Communities, but I'm looking to break out of my reclusive shell and find some local writers to meet with and exchange writing/critiques with.

I live in Memphis, TN so it's not exactly the writing capital of the world or anything. Do any of you from smaller cities have good local critique groups? How did you go about finding the local writers.

I have found a Memphis Writer's Collective club I'm thinking of joining. They meet once of month and it's more to discuss all things writerly, but I specifically would like to find a local critique group to meet up with once or twice monthly.I'd love advice on the best way to do that?

Thanks.

Seb's picture
Seb from Thanet, Kent, UK January 18, 2015 - 5:20pm

I just found a local group on Facebook and joined, then asked about meeting up. They'd done it before, but not for a while, but they liked the idea. Now we meet once a week at a pub that used to be a bookshop (and is still full of books) to discuss each other's work and critique when a member needs it. If there isn't one near you that you like then start a Facebook group, accept all requests, and set meetings. Pick somewhere regular, maybe a coffee shop or bar where writer types might go. Ask if you can put up a poster. Hand out flyers. Whatever you need to do, it's worth doing.

Chacron's picture
Chacron from England, South Coast is reading Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb January 22, 2015 - 12:42pm

JR! I was beginning to think you'd vanished...

I don't know Memphis at all; it's not a part of the states I've been to, but back when I wrote fanfiction I had a bit of a superfan for my writing who was from there. He wrote himself sometimes (although at one point he spent so much time telling me about books he was GOING to write I said 'Are you ever going to actually WRITE anything?' and I never heard from him much after that), and I just wonder if he ever joined that club you mentioned. Could be a small world. 

My advice: join that club and start there. You could always start your own if you meet like minded people there and suggest the idea of a workshop rather than just a discussion group. I've tried this a couple of times and never got one going yet, but it works if you find the right people. I simply haven't yet.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated January 23, 2015 - 8:52am

Do searches on sites like Meetup, some of that doesn't show up on Google. Use other search engines like Bing (they fixed it) and DuckDuckgo. Maybe Yahoo Groups? Email groups you wouldn't join like whatever they call that Memphis Romance one, ask if they have a sister group that isn't dedicated to romance. Unless you want help with a romance, then hey good on you. Check the NaNO Wrimo stuff for Memphis. I know a lot of writing groups are sort of a off season NaNO thing. Check with local libraries and bookstores and if there is a writing based organization there check with them. Search Genre. Do searches on Tenessee, some groups come up as being the whatever whatever Tenessee whatever group and then list themselves as meeting in such and such town.