Best Online Writing Groups/Workshops?

July 16, 2013 7:25 AM

What are the best online writer's groups or workshops, especially for genre (scifi/fantasy) fiction? Active community of geeks wanted. Help a writer get serious about her stories.

I'm looking to join a writing group with two primary goals: to get feedback on my existing writing and get encouragement to get back into the habit of daily writing.

I've actually got two published non-fiction books under my belt, but I'd really like to go back to my first love of novel writing. I have two completed novel manuscripts that I wrote a decade ago in college. They are....well, let's just call them true sh*tty first drafts. I'd like to work on rewriting them and also work on brand new stories that are tumbling around in my head. I tend to write what would be classified as genre--magical realism, urban fantasy, soft sci fi, etc. I have plenty friends who are avid readers and love to be my advance readers...but none of them are writers.

So I'd really, really like to find a good writing group to build a network of fellow writers. I'm open to all suggestions, but I guess if I had to describe my ideal writing workshop group, it'd have some of the following characteristics:

- Feedback for partial or completed writing which is professional and honest, but also isn't too hostile to inexperienced storytellers. Friendly, but not fluffy. (Newbies welcome, but Twilight would be ripped to shreds here.)
- Active community with more than just a prominent mod or two giving feedback
- Friendly to genre fiction: urban/modern fantasy, scifi, and techno-themes like steampunk or cyberpunk worlds wouldn't be too weird. Think Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman-type stories.
- Friendly to self-publishing or non-traditional publishing efforts.
- Bonus: has weekly or monthly writing exercises/contests/events to participate in, or challenges to encourage a daily writing habit.
- Bonus: might also have a small sub-sect for non-fiction projects too. (But that's really optional.)

I'm an active GoodReads author/reader, but the number of writing "groups" on there is so overwhelming with no way to sort through what's good and what's not. So...help me find a home and we'll tell some really good stories together. Thanks!

posted by ninjakins to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

I haven't actually used it myself, but just from observing it, I think the writing subforum on SomethingAwful is very active and gives honest critiques.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:41 AM on July 16, 2013

Best answer: Absolutewrite is absolutely terrific--it's where I forged most of my closest writer friendships. My recommendation would be to use AW to find people willing to form a dedicated writers group.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:10 AM on July 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Camp Nanowrimo is going on this month.
posted by heatherfl at 8:15 AM on July 16, 2013

Best answer: I haven't joined myself, but I've heard good things about the Critters Writers Workshop. Some talented authors have used it (Eugie Foster, Leah Bobet, Ken Liu, and Tobias Buckell, among others), and if you check out this list, you can see that members have sold to some of the top-tier spec-fic magazines.
posted by xenization at 11:04 AM on July 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Critters is very good. I was a member for a while. (About a year?) Be prepared to do a lot of reading and critiquing. It's worth it.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:28 PM on July 16, 2013