What are the goals of Calliopes Circle?
Calliope’s Circle strives to encourage consistent writing habits, and to provide a forum for practical feedback in a positive, non-competitive environment. This involves a delicate balance between critiques that are too nice and ones that are too harsh. In order to be practical, feedback must be specific and honest. Writers don’t really gain anything from critiques that are gushing with empty praise. However, there is also a psychological tendency toward competition that can be extremely damaging. If the group dynamic revolves around mercilessly shredding one another’s work without objective suggestions, then we’ve failed to create a “safe” forum that will encourage our growth as writers. Calliope’s Circle aspires to create an environment where writers can try out new ideas without fear, receive encouragement, but also obtain effective feedback to improve their writing skills.
