kay ryan is the new poet laureate, i read about her today in the times and liked her poems. so much so that i printed out one and pasted it on my desk at work. i actually got misty a little after finishing one.
that is not what this is about.
what this is about is my long dormant opinion that she and i both share, thus i can feel validated in my opinion. she's the poet laureate, after all.
i hate workshops. she also hates workshops. i hate the fact that "workshopping" is now an acceptable verb nowadays in writing classes. it's not a verb to me. i will now tell you why i believe this, and am beginning with a typical workshopping/peer review mindset:
walking into the class. i know that most people (slackers, not obsessive types like me, etc.) have not prepared a fully completed piece of their writing at all. they probably believe that this is not a time they need to have anything done, because they assume that others will want to rip apart their work and give them an entirely new idea to work with. mostly they just want help with grammar mistakes. their stuff is usually unfinished, which pisses me off- i managed my time well enough to get something decent written down, a complete piece so that you all can read it and give me advice that i won't use. but NOOOOO, they clearly don't understand that this was an assignment. so i'm angry there, and my general distaste for the class session only declines when i have to read an 8 page story about someone's completely forgettable high school swimming career. please, if someone could stab me in the eye with a pen that'd be great.
i hate workshops because the only opinion i really take into account much is the professor's. i have respect for him or her, and i will listen to them. they matter to me because they're smarter than me. much smarter than me. (sometimes i don't listen). so, i don't understand why i have to listen to our unremarkable high school swimmer-friend about how to structure my piece of writing. i am not going to pander to her needs, and i don't think i have to. there are people's opinions i care about, and i will work with those people in my own time. if i want.
i also don't enjoy reading other people's crap. i know they don't care as much as me and that makes me feel ripped off. i could've been writing my own stuff, but now i have to come up with a nice way to say on the back of their paper, "you should probably be a math major...this whole writing thing isn't your cup of tea." that takes a lot of effort. i usually have a smiley face drawn somewhere instead and say something like, "you're on the right track...keep going!" (must add exclamation point in order to make them believe my excitement about their crap).
if i do eventually get to the point of letting other people read my writing, i know that it doesn't suck. it might not be the best in the world, but i know that it's not terrible either. so i take people's criticism with a grain of salt. by the time someone reads my work i also care about it a lot, and am pretty firm in my ways. i'm not going to change my feelings just because someone doesn't like it. oh well, screw them.
mostly though, writing is too personal. i'm too invested to have someone i don't know, don't care about, or don't have respect for give me advice i'll actually use. writing is something to be worked out in your head first: sentences cried over, quotes chosen specifically, words placed and re-placed based on the way they rolled off your tongue. and if it doesn't work out, it's just me i have to worry about, not a grade. your writing should make you want to try something else, learn something new for yourself, not someone else. and when i'm finally done with at least a first draft, i'll let someone read it. until then, though, i'll stay in my own workshop and hide for a little while.
kay ryan was totally right: "It doesn't really matter if their opinions are respectable. I just think the writer has given up way too much inside. Let's not share. Really. Go off in your own direction way too far, get lost, test the metal of your work in your own acids. These are experiments you can perform down in that old kind of workshop where Dad used to hide out from far too many other people's claims on him."
so no, i won't like to workshop with you. you might like it, it might help you- go nuts. but me, i'll hang out here and get lost until i appear with something i like.
6 comments:
yeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh
I had a whole year of writing workshops (music) and the #1 best moment was when this girl came in mid-april after doing nothing all year with a splatter-watercolor painting on manuscript paper that she was planning on notating (size of spatter = volume, location = pitch). What a whore.
I would have to disagree to an extent. It took me a long time to be confident enough to even take something into a workshop (I've had three classes that were workshop based). But since I'm at the point where a lot of the same people are in my writing classes, I learn who I trust and who I yawn through. We're always required to prepare written comments as well as in-class discussion points, and although I would agree that some people are lazy asses and not worth my time, sometimes workshops have been really affirming and constructive. Granted, what I take to workshop is like draft number four...
yeah, it's the people who come in with like a paragraph clearly written on the back of an old handout. those are the worst.
I feel you on that. The one professor that I've had the majority of workshop-based classes with doesn't let those people participate in discussion. If you don't bring in a draft, you don't get to comment on someone else's work.
And to Alyssa's credit, I have sent her more than one piece to look over and critique. She's been a huge help. So props, Alyssa.
we don't really know each other, but we are in the same blogging group.
and i was a creative writing major. and i love writing.
and i love workshops. let me tell you why.
most of what you said is right. people are lazy. people have dreams of becoming the next great american writer but have little time to dedicate to more than a watered down journal entry about those high school days. but i truly believe that being in a workshop is one of the best places for a developing writer. sure, we read to learn the way other writers have succeeded, but by reading non-published writers, we see the mistakes. we see the possible paths, the numerous voices. by reading, even people you wouldn't consider writers, you're learning.
and people do just like to rip others apart. it's fun to some. but out of my workshop classes i managed a few really great pieces of advice from peers about my stories. i met a couple people who are excellent writers, who continued on into mfa programs while i stayed here in the ma program.
i guess all i'm saying is that workshop doesn't have to be completely terrible, and it doesn't have to be all about what the professor thinks. in fact, if the workshop is going right, the professor's comments are the least of your concerns.
i agree with people who like workshops in general. i would have to say that for creative writing majors, they're awesome if you have a group of people you can trust and who earnestly care about your work. for me though, i'm not a creative writing major. i do this for fun, and am a rhetoric major i think to possibly avoid those classes. totally get where you're coming from with great feedback. unfortunately, i have not gotten as much good feedback from workshops as feedback that is unnecessary. if i was a creative writing major, i would probably come around to the idea. good news for me though- i will probably never attend another workshop.
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