Merits of Writing Workshops

Dear Calamitous Crustaceans,

Ever taken part in a writing workshop? They can be fraught with anxiety and uncomfortable situations. I mean, you put yourself out there, in the literary sense, and have others pore over your writing, picking out all the imperfections. It can be a harrowing experience in some ways. But it could be the best thing to ever happen to your writing.

I've been participating in the online writing workshop at Zoetrope for a few years now and it's hard to describe how much it's done to help tighten up and improve my submitted pieces. I wouldn't necessarily say it dramatically improved the quality of my writing. I think that comes with writing; doing it more inherently improves it. But what it can do for you is what a familiar reviewer can't. Give you story to a friend and they'll say they liked it, but not much more, even if they didn't really like it. There's no emotional distance, and as a result, objective feedback is diminished.

But from my experiences so far, when you have that writing workshop, reviewers will be honest. Sure, you're polite. We're not monsters after all (at least not all of us). But you will point out inconsistencies in plot. You will find grammar errors, typos, dialog that just doesn't seem authentic. You'll make stylistic suggestions. You'll tell the writer if you just "don't get" what's going on.

100% of the time, the stories that I put through the workshop end up better that they were, even if by a little bit and that can make all the difference when you start submitting it (if you think it's good enough for submission).

Now, I'm about to try a live writing workshop in about a week. I'm not sure how it will be, but I'm willing to give it a try. I'm wary of how useful it can be since it becomes harder to tell someone the difficult truths when they sit across from you, even if they're just a stranger. And of course, it's almost paid, as opposed to free.

So we'll see! At the very least, it will give me something to do for two hours every two weeks.

Until next time.