24 November 2007 3 views One Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I’ve been getting back into the writing lifestyle recently and have been making a good-faith effort to join as many writing sites as possible. One of the forums I’ve joined has an area for non-fiction and since that’s my forte I’ve been reading a few pieces members have submitted for workshopping. Instantly, I was transported back to college, sitting in a circle with people who had no idea of how to take advantage of the workshop to benefit their work. So, for any would-be writer who’s thinking of either joining a writing group or submitting their work to public online forums, I’ve put together some pointers for you. The following list is not meant to be exhaustive in any way. Think of it more as a guideline.

1. UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS AND ADHERE TO IT. In most writing workshops, it works like this: A writer brings his/her work to the group and distributes the proper amount of hard copies. The group takes the piece home, goes over it with a red pen and brings it back the following week for discussion. The author sits quietly and absorbs the constructive feedback, ideally taking notes all the while. Afterwards, the author gets to explain and rebut any anything he/she feels needs to be explained or rebutted. That’s how it’s supposed to work, anyway. You don’t know how many times someone shows up with less copies than necessary or no copies at all and forces group members to print their copy from an email. That’s just tacky. Furthermore, when you’re the author having your work discussed, you really should shut up and listen. On very rare occasions I’ve been OK with authors interrupting discussion to get clarification on vague feedback, but by and large, the author should do his/her very best not to break up the flow of discussion. I know it’s tough when someone is ripping your piece to shreds, but that’s the process.
2. BRING ONLY YOUR VERY BEST WORK. There are two very big reasons for this: First, when you’re confident in your piece it’ll be easier to have people read it, because you know that you’re not being completely judged on incomplete work. If you get squirmy when people read and discuss your piece, then it’s definitely not ready for workshop. Secondly, realize that the writer’s workshop is not there to write the piece for you. Only you know what story you’re telling. The group can only offer feedback on how it affected them and what techniques might serve your story better. The rest is up to you.
3. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IN YOUR WORK. While it’s enough to simply go to a writer’s workshop, have people read your work and then gauge their reactions, you’ll get more out of your time by targeting specific parts of you work. If you have an experimental passage, you may want to address that in particular during discussion by asking questions about it. If you’re not sure about the pacing of a scene, be sure to bring that up. Just because someone doesn’t raise a criticism about that aspect doesn’t mean they thought it was fine. It might have slipped their mind to talk about it or, the worst case, they’re a lazy reader and this is your opportunity to force them to read more closely.
4. FILTER OUT THE NONSENSE. This one is a bit trickier and will have to be developed over time. Writing workshops are made up of people and people, for the most part, suck. Either they’re a moron and have no idea what’s going on or they’re a bad reader and just glossed over your work or they’re having a bad day and just want to destroy something beautiful. You’ll have to learn how to filter the feedback. For my part, I immediately discard praise, because it’s usually empty and does nothing to help improve my writing. When someone tells me that “this flowed well” or “I really liked this paragraph” what am I supposed to do with that comment? How do I integrate that into my revisions? Hearing that something I wrote is “good” is one of my workshop pet peeves, because I already know the piece is good. It’s supposed to be good. It’s my very best work. I just want to know if it’s bad. On the other end of the spectrum are the overly harsh criticisms, which you’ll naturally want to disregard. The only advice I can give for that is to glean what useful criticisms you can out of them.

Well, that was a shorter list than I expected to write. As you can see, being successful in writer’s workshops is simpler than many people may think. If you treat the method with respect, it can be a very handy writing tool.

René Garcia is a professional copywriter living and working in Southern California. He also freelances for regional publications, reviewing restaurants, movies and locales or covering events. René is also an aspiring screenwriter. (Read more about this Author)
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