Workshops can be tricky! Despite their usefulness, it is very easy for them to become something that writers dread. I have been in workshops wherein my peers made me cry. I have also been in workshops that were incredibly validating, but too praise-heavy to be useful. So how do we find a balance?

Some of this information I included in Saturday’s Daily Prompt in the hopes of jumpstarting our own little workshop community, but I wanted to go into it in more detail here.

Start with something that works for you.

It is very rare to encounter a piece that is 100% horrible. Even if there is no plot, no punctuation, and awful grammar, maybe the descriptions are vivid. 

Something that helps me avoid the negatively-dominated state of mind that leads to hurtful criticism, is to use my first read-through of a piece to look for things that work. Does the description pull you into the scene? Does the pacing serve the progression of the story? Do the characters feel real? 

Avoid over-simplified statements like “I don’t like” or “I like.” 

These are generally non-specific and therefore unhelpful. Instead, try to explain why you like or dislike something. “I like this character because his dialogue voice is so specific and strong that I can almost hear it as I read,” tells me a lot more about elements of my craft practice that work than “I like this character.”

“I don’t like voice,” makes me wonder why? What about it is bad? Am I a bad writer for not being able to see it? “I think the voice of the narrator in this piece strays into the overdramatic, which makes me believe that what is happening isn’t all that bad and the narrator is just being dramatic,” tells me that I need to work in more scene and imagery–more showing rather than telling.

Try to remember to refer to the narrative voice of the piece as “the narrator” rather than assuming it is the “you” of the author. 

Some workshops will be about pieces of fiction, some non-fiction, some poetry, and we can quickly stray into the unproductive realm of hurt feelings if we accidentally get too personal. Yes, writing is inherently very personal. However, a little empathy can go a long way toward making workshop a productive place of collaboration rather than a personal attack. 

“You’re being overdramatic in this section,” is much more likely to make a writer defensive than, “The narrator’s emotional response here doesn’t feel quite earned, making it sound overdramatic. What more can you show us about what’s happening to make that response feel more natural?” is more constructive. Yes, it takes more effort. That effort is worth it, I promise. The more thoughtful you are in your critique of others’ writing, the more you start to be able to see in your own writing.

 

The name of the game with critique is constructive criticism. 

“This is bad” isn’t constructive. “The repetition in this piece doesn’t feel purposeful, and therefore is a distraction, rather than helpful” is a much more constructive statement. This reiterates a lot of what is in earlier points, but it bears saying again. 

As much as we love Stephen King’s, “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings,” that decision is for the writer to make, not us in the workshop. Our job is to point out if those darlings aren’t serving the piece. This isn’t helpful if we say it in such a way that the writer gets defensive of their darlings. 

Keep in mind, what you put into workshop is what you get out of it. If you foster a thoughtful, constructive environment by giving that kind of feedback, that is the kind of feedback you are likely to receive.

Writing is collaboration. 

Authors have whole teams of readers, copyeditors, editors, and publishers. Some are lucky enough to hire professionals for these things, while others only have their spouse, or friends. With the Saturday Daily Prompt Workshop, I’m hoping to build us a little community of like-minded individuals so that we all have at least someone to share with. 

Fresh eyes see things about our writing that we don’t. 

Have fun!

Remember we write because we love it, and we are sharing because we both want feedback, and because we are proud of our darlings. Be proud of your darlings! Enjoy getting to share, and getting to provide the opportunity for others to share.