Poets & Writers Groups

Franz Kafka’s huge insects and unreachable castles. Shirley Jackson’s haunted houses and Angela Carter’s reinvented fairy tales. At Coven Critique Circle, we specialize in the opposite of realism. We workshop the weird. 

This critique group focuses on creating a supportive and inspirational environment for creating stories that are surreal, speculative, dreamlike, ghostly, and unconventional. We like authors such as Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, George Saunders, and Sayaka Murata. We like stories that make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. Writing is a kind of magic, and we practice it together.   

I was interested in starting Coven Critique Circle because I couldn’t find any workshops that focused solely on surreal fiction. The group is brand new and I’m just trying to get it off the ground, so meeting cadence, structure, and general practices aren’t set in stone. I’ll be sure to update this posting when that changes. This is how I’m currently thinking things will go: 

• Meetings Saturday or Sunday mornings either bi-weekly or monthly over zoom or google hangouts. 
• Writers will submit work beforehand with a block of text at the beginning of the section requesting the type of feedback they’re looking for/questions they’d like answered. 
• Stories or excerpts submitted will have a page limit (but it will depend on what the meeting cadence turns out to be).
• Feedback and discussion during meetings must be thoughtful, considerate, specific, and constructive.  

You will be welcomed into this group regardless of age or experience level. However, you must be serious about becoming a better writer, and you must be serious about publishing your work to join this group. Previous workshop experience is preferred. 

If the above sounds interesting to you, please email Madison at Covencritique[at]gmail.com introducing yourself and expressing your interest. I’m unlikely to respond to P&W direct messages. Thank you!   

Hello hello, 

DFW for the W is intended to bring together those of us that dwell in the DFW Metroplex. The intention is to provide an informal, encouraging and eccentric environment for us to let ourselves be heard through our writing. There won't be a format of formal critique, rather, the goal is to provide creative, constructive and encouraging thoughts and ideas for each other. I would like to cultivate a fun, relaxing environment for us as writers to simply exist within our own space. After all, the world usually looks at us sideways, thinking of us as oddballs and black sheep. Which, they're right, so let's come together as our own herd and be heard for once, in our entirety. Let us speak our piece in peace within the company of those who seek to understand through writing. Not only through what is written or said, but through the mirror of what is left in-between the lines. I hope to meet you soon and welcome you to DFW for the W!