Fernhill Writers’ Group is a local writing support group based in Bayswater North, Victoria, Australia.
We meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month.
During our meetings each attendee has a chance to read out some of their work – usually around 1,000 to 1,500 words – so a short story or a chapter from a novel or major work.
Other members then provide feedback; what they liked, areas of punctuation or grammar issues, and any points that may be confusing or that could be restructured.
Often the discussion expands into broader aspects of writing craft, so each piece that is shared provides a benefit to all members, not just the author. Depending on how many members attend the meetings will run for 2 to 2.5 hours.
It is usual practice to provide printouts of the piece to be read out – around ten copies. The members will mark up their copies and hand them back so individuals have a more detailed copy of punctuation and grammar issues particular to their piece.
It is also encouraged to provide an electronic copy which is distributed to the wider group. Not all members attend the meetings but they are given the opportunity to provide feedback later, directly to individual members via email. This is optional.
It is well understood that all copyright is retained by the author.
To stimulate the generation of a short story for the following meeting, a theme is usually nominated. It is not compulsory to write something to that theme but it does allow a diverse range of perspectives and approaches to be displayed. More details can be found here, or email the Facilitator.