Create a shared vision

A successful group starts with a shared vision. You’ve already started this process by thinking about your own goals and what you want out of a writing group.

If you have group mates in mind already, sit down and discuss your individual goals and what you’d like to achieve together. Write down the goals you share. You can distill this into a set of group goals or a mission statement. These should in part drive how you organize your group.

Here are some examples. You can make yours as simple or complex as you want.

• To provide one another critiques and support on the path to publication.
• To support and encourage one another to share our stories.
• To write consistently.
• To become stronger writers and better editors. To support one another as we grow in our individual writing journeys. To make our manuscripts strong enough for publication.
• To give each other a leg up by sharing information on writing craft and market information.
• To be beta readers for one another and give general feedback as we work on rough drafts of our debut novels.
• To get to know other fantasy writers, their stories and their worlds. To discuss the art of writing fantasy.

You may be starting this process without group mates in mind. Many people do, maybe even most. In this case, use your personal goals and what you are looking for in a group as a “rough draft” for the process. Likewise, pick a general group structure—writing practice, critique, support/social or accountability. This will give potential joiners an idea of what you are looking to do. Once you’ve got some interest, you can refine the goals together and make them into a shared group vision.