Queer Writing Group

In fall of 2012, along with Ella Boureau of In the Flesh Magazine, I co-founded a queer writing group based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. We welcome new members. If you or someone you know would like participate, have a look at the description below and email me to let me know you’re interested (alexis AT alexisclements DOT com).

We meet once a month at a group member’s apartment—most of us are in Crown Heights or nearby, so we’ve been meeting primarily in that area and will probably keep that as our central orbit.

We have four slots during each session for people to get 20 minutes of feedback on their work. The ideal situation being that those four people send the work around by email a few days before the meeting so that everyone has a chance to read it beforehand. Then, if other people (beyond the four) want to share short pieces we can do shorter 5-10 minute feedback sessions. Each person receiving feedback can say what kind of feedback they want and choose how they want to participate in the feedback session. That said, we’re pretty loose with this and each meeting has its own dis/order.

We’ve also gotten into the habit of starting off with some sort of get-your-creative-juices-flowing exercise or writing game at the beginning, just for fun.

All of which is to say, we’re pretty casual, but everyone is committed to their writing in their own way.

All queer-identified genders and sexualities are welcome. And all writing genres—we’ve read everything from plays to novel excerpts to chunks of grant proposals to poetry. The subject matter of the writing doesn’t need to be queer, we just want to provide support for queer stories/narratives and writers in all their manifestations. The only caveat is that we ask people to come with some experience and prefer not to have people currently in school for writing.

We’re also planning a special project or two for members of the group who want to participate.