Feature

Peer to Peer: Creative Writing Workshops

by John Collins

Creative writers who wish to succeed—that is, get published—use every tool at their disposal when creating their work, including their own skills and talents, reference books, a comfortable desk and chair, and just the right pen, pencil, or word processing software. Probably one of the more important tools, though, is feedback. One of the better ways to get feedback from a variety of talents and perspectives is a writer's workshop.

Good writing—work that touches all the right nerves, moves with believable rhythm, and isn't self-indulgent—cannot be created in a vacuum. Without proper criticism and editing, a much-needed perspective may be lost. Without a mirror against which to reflect your work, you are the fairest in the land.

Who reads your work is as important as having it read in the first place. While it could be argued that your friends and relatives represent the average reader, and are in fact the most appropriate critics for work meant for them, that isn't necessarily true. As anyone who has seriously edited or critiqued fiction can attest, there are certain innate and learned skills required to make that effort meaningful and constructive. Effective criticism requires a sensitivity to the effort that goes into creating fiction; it requires a certain level of skill with the language; it requires impartiality and concern only for the quality of the work, and not the feelings of the author (though not to the extreme of cruelty). All of these things are necessary to ensure that the criticism is not only meaningful, but that it will be taken seriously by the recipient. It requires another writer.

Creative writing workshops are available through most universities and community colleges, either as day or night courses. In my experience, the university-level workshops concentrate more on the artistic aspects of creative writing—inspiration, "freefall" or stream-of-consciousness writing, use of concrete detail, etc.—while the community college-level workshops deal primarily with the mechanics of writing, such as grammar, plot, manuscript format, copyright law, etc. I found the university workshops much more useful. Workshops all operate in the same general way: an established, published writer conducts the workshop; participants bring stories or parts of novels in for review and criticism by the instructor and the rest of the class (usually the stories are handed out one week and commented on the next). While a few exercises are thrown in to fill the time, the bulk of the sessions are spent discussing the work that has been submitted.

If you are not serious about creating literary art, however, do not attend a university-level workshop. The other participants are serious, and expect that you are there to receive criticism. If your work is bad, you will know it without doubt at the end of the day, and this can be disheartening. All criticism, though, should be given weight appropriate to the source. Some of the other writers in the workshop may not be experienced at providing criticism, and may therefore wield it like a rusty sword. Generally, the mediator—usually an accomplished and seasoned writer—can provide the proper encouragement and perspective on any comments contributed by less-experienced writers in the group.

Aside from writing skills, workshops also help to build critical reading skills. When I first attended a writing workshop, my participation from a commenting perspective was minimal, mainly because I did not really know what I was looking for and how to express how I felt about it. I knew whether I liked a particular work or not, but not why. After several sessions, though, I began to recognize in the works I was reading some of the elements others were commenting on, and I was coming to recognize what was good and what was bad (not subjective taste, but objective method, construction, grammar, etc.). The ability to recognize these things becomes most important when you are able to apply it to your own work.

If you want to get the most out of the workshop try some of the following things:

• Bring 25 copies of the first piece you want reviewed on the first day of the workshop. Most workshops operate on a rotational basis, ensuring that everyone has at least one story critiqued before moving on to second submissions. By bringing sufficient copies on the first day, you guarantee yourself at least two submissions, and probably three (depending on the size of the workshop). The disadvantage to this approach is that you are then first on the sacrificial altar; if you are unsure of the reception your work might receive, or want to feel out the tone of the group first, you may not want to do this.
• If the instructor assigns exercises, do them. They may not seem useful to you, or you may want to write "real" things, not do silly exercises, but they work. In fact, they may help you develop a routine for writing that removes pressure, getting you started with a "meaningless" exercise and moving from there to your more serious work.
• When reviewing the work of others, read it through once without making any notes or marks on the page—turn your editor off, and let your feelings carry the day. Do this for two reasons: it is unfair to form an opinion on a piece before you finish it; and fiction is meant to be read, not analyzed, and if you analyze it right away without reading it first you may not be "hearing" the story properly.
• Make your notes on a separate sheet of paper, not on the text itself. When you are finished, read your comments over and consider the author. While it is not necessary to coddle (presumably criticism is desired), it is also never necessary to bludgeon. Point out the problems succinctly and directly, but also find the positive. Once you have balanced your comments to your satisfaction, transfer them to the text.
• Don't ride with the crowd if that's not how you feel. If everyone else in the workshop loved the work and is praising it, that does not invalidate any problems you may have had with it. You are not doing the author any favours by withholding what may be useful commentary, nor are you honing your critical skills by not putting your opinion forward. Maybe the rest of the group will convince you that you are wrong, but that's okay too.

University-run writing workshops are a great starting point, but have one significant down side: they cost money, and it is not really practical to pay for a writing workshop every time you want to have some of your work reviewed. An alternative is to create your own workshop group. It's less structured, but if the right people are involved, the group can remain true to its original purpose: providing a forum for the critical, impartial review of works in progress by like-minded and like-skilled writers.

Irrespective of the forum—university-run or self-organized—workshops can act as both teacher and motivator, encouraging you to write in order to get feedback, and helping you to write well to make that feedback positive.