Writing and Writer's Workshops

The dog ate my homework.

I have a writer's workshop coming up soon, so I've been going through my notes and reminding myself of what it is I wish to convey and how to best go about communicating it to my students. I can't stand waffling and hot air, so I tend to give very short very concentrated workshops. They last a week maximum ( sometimes in the case of workshops given to schools, the week is spread out in little pieces over a month or more) I don't tend to focus on 'voice' or 'finding your story' or any of the other more esoteric subjects. My aim is simply to bring the participants back to the basics and to have them build themselves up from that base level, a piece at a time, until they've explored what it is they are writing and how they are writing it.

Often folks turn up with their own work in hand ( sometimes entire novels) thinking that they are joining a critique group. I hate to see the disappointment in their faces when they realise that they are not going to have the chance to share their baby with the class. It's a very understandable disappointment. Writing is possibly the loneliest job in the world and sometimes the need to share is so bad it hurts. READ THE REST