Creating Your Virtual Book Club
Whether you’re reading with neighbors or friends on the other side of the world, a virtual book club is an easy way to discuss stories without the extra hurdles of time and distance. In a virtual book club you have the flexibility to form with people you already know or meet new people with similar interests. Together you can discover new stories and share meaningful discussions.
Circles on StoryForge
By creating a circle on StoryForge you now have a dedicated conversation space for you and your book club members. Post your thoughts and share stories to discuss. On the platform you can find completed and ongoing stories by writers working towards publication. Together you can leave feedback for the writer to further develop and refine their story. A collaborative setting like this is sure to create incredible discussion and encourage everyone to share their thoughts and experiences.
When you have chosen a story to discuss, be sure to comment on the author's story to let them know! Having several readers dedicated to discussing and leaving feedback on their work is exactly why writers love to share their work on the platform.
Why Choose StoryForge for your Virtual Book Club?
You’re supporting indie writers and taking part in the development process. How cool would it be to see their work on shelves later and know you had a part in making it!
Not only are you helping writers but you also get to design your own virtual library. Everyone designing their libraries and showing them off would be an exciting first meeting to break the ice and get everyone familiar with each other.
Getting Started
Define Your Goals: Determine as a group if you will focus on specific genres or themes or if you will explore a variety of stories.
Set a Schedule: Choose how often your club meets. Discussion can be asynchronous or everyone agrees to be online at a specific time to chat together. Optionally, if everyone is in the StoryForge Discord community, members can join the voice chat channel to hold discussions there.
Create a Discussion Framework: Agree on a way discussion will be organized so that everyone’s voice is heard, conversation stays on topic, and everyone feels safe and encouraged to share their thoughts. Choose specific topics to cover beforehand whether it’s a certain set of chapters or other aspects like pacing, perceived theme, or character development.
Choose the First Story: Have everyone search the site for interesting stories, taking into account the length of the story, and any topics that might be triggering. Once everyone makes their suggestions, hold a vote!
Tips for Leaving Constructive
FeedbackIn-Line comments: Share thoughts on specific sentences or scenes using the in-line feature. Whether it’s a “omg that’s such a funny line” or “The pace of this scene felt too fast, I would love to see more detail”, that feedback is so helpful for the writer.
Overall Feedback: Using the comments at the bottom of the page, summarize your thoughts on the story as a whole. How did it make you feel, what did you like, and what could be improved. Remember to balance encouragement, what you like, and what could be done differently.
Be respectful: Keep a supportive tone, avoid sounding judgmental and consider what others have already left feedback on. If you see detailed feedback on one aspect it’s a good idea to mention you agree and then if you don’t have something additional to add on that detail, move on to a different bit of feedback.
Make Meetups Fun!
Whether you’re meeting in Discord for voice and video chat or meeting in Circle to chat through text, make it fun by encouraging themes like dressing up as your favorite character, or suggesting a song that fits the story's vibes to create a shareable playlist! Create polls on favorite characters, quotes, and guesses as to how the story will end. Let the author know when you meet so they have the option to attend.
There are so many stories to choose from and ways to create exciting discussions around reading on StoryForge! Have you created your circle? Looking for new members to join? Share in our Discord Community to let others know! We can’t wait to see you there!
