Comments on: How writing workshops work

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:26:59 +0000

One of the meta-rules, I have learned, is to clarify the rules.

By: Crys

Crys — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:27:26 +0000

“The person being workshopped sits quietly, taking notes. He does not interrupt, question the reviewers, or provide corrections.”

I didn’t realize how important — vital! — this was until I spent a little time in a writing workshop where there turned out to be no such rule. The writer being workshopped just argued against the rest of the group whenever anyone said anything more critical than “and THIS works really well, over on page x.” ARGH. The session was taken up with, “No, you’re not getting it, what I’m saying here is,” and “But it’s MEANT to sound that way,” etc. Frustrating and pointless.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:01:22 +0000

So noted. “What to do with feedback” might be a great supplemental post.

By: Walter Underwood

Walter Underwood — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:36:16 +0000

Hmm, “not to use workshop as a verb” sounds awkward to me. Try “to not use”.

Just a suggestion.

Good programmers do exactly the same thing, but we call it “code review”.

I find that eating together and making things together are very powerful ways to make a group.