i have submitted a writing sample to Long Island Writer's Group. Has anyone had any experience w/this school

Question

is it a scam?

Answer 1

The Long Island Writers Group is an expensive course. A better one (still expensive) is the school offered through Writers Digest. They have some excellent qualified teachers in a number of genres.

You can also get a lot of benefit from books offered through the Writers Digest Book Club and it's a lot cheaper. I recommend the Fiction Writing Series to start.

Dialogue by Lewis Turco will teach you how to handle dialogue.
Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card is my favorite. It teaches you about character development and how to handle viewpoint.
Plot by Ansen Dibell shows you how to write a story that doesn't fizzle out.
Conflict, Action & Suspense by William Noble shows you how to keep your readers turning those pages.
Setting by Jack M. Bickham helps you to create a sharp sense of time and place in your book.

There are more books available in this series and there are other helpful books on writing romance, mystery, and science fiction. I've actually learned more by reading these books than I did in any course. The ones by Card and Turco are very interesting reads.

Try self-study programs before you shell out for a very expensive writing course.

Answer 2

Groups of this type usually take any and everyone who is willing to pay money to join their group. You don't have to be a good or bad writer. I don't know about this group specifically, however the most prudent course of action would be to take some writing courses in school, at your local community college, or join the school newspaper.