Writing Together [Paperback]

D. Haines (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Writing may be a solitary art, but most writers still crave some sort of community. Thus the proliferation of the writing group, a source of camaraderie, encouragement, criticism, inspiration, and calorie-rich munchies. Unfortunately, many such well-intentioned writing groups disintegrate after a time, due to lack of attendance, squabbles, other commitments, or plain old inertia.

In Writing Together, Dawn Denham Haines, Susan Newcomer, and Jacqueline Raphael--members of a writing group in Tucson, Arizona--offer lots of fine advice on how to form a group and keep it together. What separates their writing group from most others is that rather than solely critiquing finished pieces, the group emphasizes "generative writing" by writing together from a "prompt" (a word, group of words, or sentence that gets them started). Thus the group nourishes both the creative product and the creative process. Doing so, the authors say, "encourages, enlivens, and emboldens each of us in ways we never anticipated." Still, they do not belittle the benefits of group critiques, and they present some useful guidelines in that direction. They also devote quite a few pages to keeping the spark alive: they have found that occasional group writing on the subject of the group itself (what is working, what isn't) and overnight retreats work wonders. --Jane Steinberg

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1st edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399523383
• ISBN-13: 978-0399523380
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,658,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, whether you start a writing group or not!, January 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing Together (Paperback)

This book contains writing exercises that can be useful to you whether or not you join (or start) a writing group.
I enjoyed this book because it discusses the writing process, and how the group experience can help/hinder it. Also, the authors point out the obstacles to maintaining a group over time, and give suggestions on how to handle such situations based on their own experience as members of the same women's writing group.
Entertaining, if you want to find out what a writing group might be like before you join one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what I hoped, but still a good book, June 4, 2002

By 

Mary Chrapliwy (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Together (Paperback)

When I purchased this book I was looking for more instruction on the basics of forming a writing group & keeping it together, as well as discussion of the group critique process. There was a very small amount of info on the above. The majority of the book focuses on the group writing together at their meetings using a word or sentence prompt. There is no discussion about outside work being brought into the group -- the way most writing groups operate. It was still worth the read, but lacked a well rounded presentation on writing groups -- related only to the one the authors' were members of. Sadly, not a keeper. I did give this book 4 stars though since it was well written and informative on other aspects of writing groups.