While many have a New Year’s resolution to slim down their body shape, the Chattanooga Writers Guild is aiming to beef up its body count.
The informal group, open to all, will ring in the new year by increasing the number of critique groups it offers to members and working to diversify membership in an attempt to get more people writing around the city.
“What we do is help give people the bicycle so they can get where they want to go,” said Guild president Lantz Powell. “If someone is writing science fiction, let’s help them make it the best science fiction out there. The way you keep learning is by doing.”
A group of writers with a variety of backgrounds, the Guild is a nonprofit organization that works to develop the craft of writing for anyone who wants to improve their work, said Powell.
“It really is an organization to support the craft, like those of the Middle Ages where people took other people under their wing, taught them to improve their craft and helped them find work,” he said.
The group’s general meeting takes place the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Chattanooga Bicentennial Library downtown. In addition, a variety of critique groups meet throughout the month, bringing together a group of people who focus on a particular type of writing.
“We advise if someone comes to join that they attend a couple of groups and pick which one that they think fits their style best,” said Powell. “The people are different and the processes are different in each group.”
For instance, in the fiction group Powell leads he said each participant sends him 10 or fewer pages of work. He then sends those out to other members of the group, and at the meeting they go over each piece and critique the work with the author, he said.
“After about six months in a critique group, people start to realize they’re getting good information,” he said.
In order to attend both the general meeting or participate in a critique group, a writer must become a member of the Guild, said Powell. Membership costs $25 annually.
Even though writing is the main focus, Powell said the group is very social and a good way to make friends with people who share a common interest. The group includes doctors, lawyers, business professionals, people with no secondary education and former teachers, he said.
“We have a lot of professionals who like to stir the creative side of their brains,” said Powell. “Some of them like to write just to help relax intellectually.”
For more information, visit www.chattanoogawritersguild.org.