ISO teen writers for a creative writing critique/study group

[CarrieBishop]

Hello,
I hope this ok to post here.   I'm hoping to connect with a few other teen writers (and, ideally, their parents) to form a small critique/study group focusing on creative/fiction writing skills using the writing exercises/prompts from Season 10 of the podcast "Writing Excuses".   For those not familiar with this podcast, it's hosted by four published authors: Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Taylor, and Dan Wells.  The podcasts themselves are only 15 minutes long, so it's a quick listen.  Season 10 was designed as a 52 week "Master Class".  Here's a link to their website, which talks about their plan for season 10:

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2015/01/04/writing-excuses-10-1-seriously-where-do-you-get-your-ideas/

And here's a link to the full season 10 archives, so you can see what the topics and exercises are for all 52 weeks:

http://www.writingexcuses.com/category/season/season-10/

What I'm hoping for would be a supportive group of kids to encourage each other to keep going, to support each other in the discipline of daily writing, and, ideally, for a group of parents who could offer constructive feedback to all of the kids.  This would be geared toward enthusiastic, self-motivated writers, rather than students who are more reluctant.   Ideally group members would  be able to commit to the full 52 weeks.  
 

I'd love to hear from anyone interested in this!  :-)
Thanks,
Carrie
 

[Chrysalis Academy]

My dd might very well be interested, I'd love to help her find a group of writing peers, especially now that her Bravewriter creative writing class is wrapping up. Can you tell me more about what you have in mind? What kind of format/platform will they use to communicate?

[8filltheheart]

My 9th grader might be interested.

[JoJosMom]

My dd might very well be interested, I'd love to help her find a group of writing peers, especially now that her Bravewriter creative writing class is wrapping up. Can you tell me more about what you have in mind? What kind of format/platform will they use to communicate?

 

:iagree:

[CarrieBishop]

So glad to hear there's some interest!  :-)  My daughter, Eleanor, also just finished up a Brave Writer course.  

 

As far as what we have in mind, and platform for communication, I'm very much open to suggestions.  Since we're intending for this to be such a small group, I imagine that regular email could work.  Or perhaps a yahoo group?  I have never been in charge of a Facebook group, but I think this might work well on that platform.  I know that not everyone uses Facebook, though.   Thoughts?  Any other platforms I'm not considering that you think would work well?

 

I'd like to start up either the first or second week of January, if that works for everyone.

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I like the idea of something where they can all share, but that it's private. I don't know if that's possible on Facebook. And Facebook doesn't show posts in order, does it? It seems like it could be hard to find the specific post you're looking for. I'm not a big fan of the idea of using Facebook for this. But something like a yahoo group would work, I think - there could be a thread for each Master Class topic, and they could share other pieces they wanted to and get and give feedback on it.

[Kassia]

My dd (9th grade) might be interested also.  She just finished NaNoWriMo.  

 

[hopskipjump]

I just saw this post for the first time and have a dd (10th) who may very well be interested if it's still being planned! I love Writing Excuses, but haven't been able to remember to have dd listen to the podcasts, so this would be great motivation.

 

Google email and Google docs might be worth considering. The kids can leave notes on one another's stories via google docs... and have an email for each week's topic (dd's google email threads the emails into threads that are in order...). DD's worked with some other groups via this format and it's worked well.

[Rosepetal]

My children would be interested. They have done Landry Academy and WTMA Writing courses and right now taking Writing Research Paper from Erin Sipe. 

[KarenNC]

Did this group actually start or is it still forming? 

[CarrieBishop]

Hello again,
Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for a bit there.  
I'm thrilled to see so much interest in this group.  I think our young writers will get a lot out of having the encouragement and feedback from their peers.
 

While I recognize that Facebook might not be a venue that everyone is comfortable with, we have made the decision to run this group as a Facebook group.  One of our goals for this is for our kids able to form friendships with other young writers, and we feel that this will most easily be facilitated through Facebook.  

We have created the group, "Writing Excuses Master Class for teens 2017"

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1022206484631491/

As of right now, it is a closed group.  We'll leave it closed, but accepting new members, though February 4th.  At that point, we'll change it to "Secret", and we'll start with Week 1 of the Master Class.

 

This group is open to teen writers, and their parents.  Parent participation and feedback is encouraged, but not required.  
While we're following the Writing Excuses Master Class, this will not be operated by us as a class, in the sense that we will not be following up on due dates or grading anything.  If you wish to use this for high school credit, you'll need to work those details out on your own.

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of things.  I've directed an in-person co-op before, but never an online forum.  I apologize in advance for when things don't run perfectly smoothly.  

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours,
Carrie Bishop