While writing stories for a wide variety of readers is important for any writer while learning their craft, there are also areas where a more focused group is helpful. Create Great Stories provides a variety of groups to meet specialized needs. These groups can be genre-specific, or local writing groups, or schools, or age categories, or home schooling, or anything else that writers would like.
Community Groups available for any specialized needs. If a community group for a need does not currently exist, a request to the site administrator will start the process to create the new group. Each group will have its own moderator, discussion forum, and the ability to post stories restricted to group members. Groups can be set up as either public groups, available to anyone with a Community membership, or a private group with specific guidelines for membership.
Some writers will only be interested in a specific group. Other writers may have multiple interests. The structure of Create Great Stories allows members to participate in as many groups as they like without any additional costs. There are also no restrictions on being members of both public and private groups as long as the member meets the criteria for each group.
A group’s Moderator will approve all group members. The Moderator also monitors discussion boards and blog posts. Usually, the Moderator of a group is an expert, but there are no restrictions. Anyone with the interest and ability can lead a group as a moderator. The Moderator can send notifications to the whole group, such as meeting notices or upcoming important dates. The moderator can even invite members to join the group, allowing an easy way to grow the group.
One of the main reasons a writer would like to join a group is to have detailed discussions on specific topics. For instance, a hardboiled mystery group will have different emphases on character development than a Historic Romance group. These topics are addressed in the group’s own discussion forum. Topics and replies form a great interaction amongst the group, giving a diversity of views and approaches, all of which help grow the users.
One aspect only found in groups are Blog posts for more lengthy ideas. Any member of a group who would like to post their thoughts on a topic that is more in depth than the typical forum topic can present their ideas as a blog post. These blog posts can readily deepen the group’s participation, allowing complexity and counterarguments and nuances.
Group members have the ability to share stories that can only be seen by other group members. Sometimes this is done because the writer doesn’t want to explain the story’s background or tropes or other aspects that would automatically be understood by the group but not the outside world. There may be other instances where it simply makes sense to keep a story bounded by a group. All Community groups have this functionality available.
One important group of writers are those who need an online platform to share stories and feedback but want everything held in confidentiality amongst the group. For example, many local writers have their own group where they know and trust each other, but are providing stories and plot lines and development that they expect will be published at some point. Some schools and home school groups have similar needs. In such cases, a private group can be created that provides the same features as the public site but has restricted membership. In these groups, not only are the stories and discussions private, but the membership itself is guarded by a moderator.
Groups are an important part of a writer’s growth. By joining one or more groups, writers can participate in very specific development and community.