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creative writing workshop critique

Unsilencing the Writing Workshop

Students might learn more and hate it less if they talk about their own work.

If you’ve taken creative writing classes then you probably know what it’s like to sit in silence while everyone else in the room discusses your work as if you aren’t even there. This is called workshop, the traditional foundation of creative writing programs.

When I asked a group of writers how they would describe their workshop experiences, responses included: crushing, nightmare, hazing ritual, test of endurance, awful, ugh. I’ve heard of students drinking before their workshops; I’ve heard of students crying in class and after it; I’ve heard of students never looking at their workshopped pieces again. The word brutal is often used, as if honesty must necessarily be brutal. All of this seems to be viewed as inevitable, just part of the workshop experience, because it’s balanced by the positive: detailed critiques, solid suggestions, real ideas for revision, and validation from peers and professors. We are told that this is how workshop goes: praise and critique, praise and critique. Throughout, the student who is “up” for workshop sits in silence.

But is this format really the most effective way to go? Perhaps it’s time—way past time—to rethink how we workshop. To make it less a test of endurance and more a space of open discussion. Perhaps it’s time to undo the silence of workshop, to let students be part of conversations about their work rather than mere witnesses.

Here’s a story from my own MFA experience. I had submitted a piece in which characters were on their way to dim sum. In the workshop, people wanted to know what dim sum was. They couldn’t ask me directly because it was workshop; the writer was supposed to stay silent and take notes. They spent some time talking about how dim sum must be something Asian but it was confusing and it made the whole piece confusing—they were distracted, you see, by not knowing what dim sum was. Of course the whole time I was thinking, really, you don’t know what dim sum is? Also, why didn’t you find out before workshop? But again I was supposed to stay silent, and everyone knows that at the end of workshop when you’re asked if there’s anything you’d like to say, it’s better just to say thanks and not much more because otherwise you’re just going to sound defensive.

In this workshop format, the idea of what constituted basic knowledge did not include dim sum. They, the rest of the people in the workshop, decided what constituted basic knowledge. And yes, they were white except for one other person and I was not (though you already knew that). The group’s knowledge was knowledge. I was the outsider, the strange Asian who needed to adapt my work to what they understood. This wasn’t intentional malice; it was baseline assumption.

This is also the kind of unchecked, micro-aggressive yet forceful imbalance of power that is the typical workshop environment. It is undoubtedly experienced in some way by everyone but profoundly so for writers of color, especially since creative writing programs, nationally, are 74 percent white.

I got my MFA in 1998, which feels like a very long time ago because it was. Yet workshops are still conducted in the same way. I have participated plenty in the typical language of traditional workshop—I wanted to see more of this or that, what are the stakes—the usual starting with praise then quickly turning to critique. I also know that, more often than that, I left workshop feeling some combination of demoralized and uncertain; I left wanting more validation, no matter how much I’d already received. But I didn’t question the overall system. It was just the way things were done.

As I became a workshop leader myself and a professor of creative writing, I perpetuated the same ideas about workshop space: the silence, the barrage of praise and criticism, the feeling of not knowing what to do with all the conflicting comments. I did this because it’s what I knew; it’s what I had learned. This system is so powerful, so much the core of what some call the creative writing industrial complex, that even today the majority of creative writing instructors adhere to it.

And so most of us end up getting through workshop with endurance stories that we go on to tell our friends. Like the story I just told you, about dim sum, which is minor compared to countless horrible workshop stories I have heard from other writers. But we do endure; we get through it; often we do it in order to get somewhere else—to the end of the semester, end of the program, to the other side of the classroom.

But I think that a system that relies on silencing and skewed power and endurance is a terrible system. Possibly it begins in how we’re taught literature and writing in elementary school through high school: the idea of thesis statements, textual evidence, and the emphasis on texts. The author—intention, context, biography—is made to disappear, as if in their disappearance we can reach some kind of objectivity. Students are trained to think about texts and in workshop they are trained to think of their classmates’ works as texts.

But a text doesn’t exist without its author or without the time, place, and circumstances—political, cultural, and more—in which it needed to be created. Which is why workshops are always, always personal, no matter how often we’re told not to take it personally.

I began rethinking workshop space in earnest years ago when I started teaching nonfiction. Here the personal is real. There is no scrim of fiction. This makes the space more delicate: when you talk about a “text” that is true, and the author is in the room, then you are also talking about the author. No way around it. For underrepresented students especially, this can quickly become a tense, stressful environment.

I was also tired of workshop spending so much time talking about a plot point or logistical matter that could easily be cleared up by simply asking the writer what was intended. So one day I did just that: started asking the writer what they meant. And the entire workshop shifted. The mood lifted. The writer and the rest of the workshop could talk about intention—what carried through and what didn’t. The writer could engage in process during workshop.

When we unsilence workshop, when we invite students to participate in the discussion of their own work, everything changes: the writer is no longer passively accepting comments. Rather, they become who they should be: the creators and navigators of their own work.

The workshoppers, in turn, are asked to do less prescribing (I want to see more of this; I want this or that to happen; I didn’t want that character to be here) and more questioning. Why did you use first-person? How important is the sister character supposed to be? Instead of a typical old-school workshop comment such as “I want to see more about the mother,” there’s a question: “We don’t see much about the mother—how important of a character is she?” The former is a demand; the latter is an opening.

When the writer gets to talk about what they’re trying to do, they discover something more about what they actually are doing. Almost always, they reveal information that they’d been holding back. In other words, their talking within workshop, rather than at the end of it, helped them process their own process.

I remember, when I first started opening up workshop space, that it felt very rebellious and transgressive. I was letting the writer talk! Letting them answer questions! The students were shocked by this too. That’s how well-trained we are in the traditional system. But it didn’t take long to get used to an open space because, it simply feels more productive. It simply makes more sense to have a conversation.

Here’s an overview of how I ran a recent fiction workshop in which MFA students were writing novels and short stories:

I began the semester with a few classes devoted to talking about workshop and craft. I did this because most of the students had never before been in workshops that hadn’t followed the traditional format. Crucial essays we read were Matt Salesses’s “Pure Craft is a Lie” series at Pleiades, and Joy Castro’s “Racial and Ethnic Justice in the Creative Writing Course” in Gulf Coast.

These essays also helped establish how the semester was going to proceed: that we were rethinking and revisioning our way of talking about story-making. That we respected each other’s individual histories, backgrounds, and experiences and understood that our critiques and suggestions were informed by our own backgrounds and experiences.

When a student distributed their stories for workshop, they were encouraged (but not required) to include a brief written overview of what they hoped the workshop would address. For example, students would say they were particularly concerned about structure, or not sure about the point of view, and so on. Some students wanted particular attention paid to certain paragraph or sections. The workshoppers’ feedback letters focused on how they interpreted the story, what they thought it was about or what they thought the story was doing, and included questions around areas that seemed unclear, confusion, or particularly tense.

On workshop day, the writer who was “up” began discussion by talking about how they wrote the story. Where ideas came from, why they wrote it, what they were trying to do. They got to set the stage for their own workshop. From there, workshop moved in the direction of conversation, with questions and suggestions supplied by the rest of the class. For example, a typical comment of praise we might hear—“I love the images in the first paragraph and I thought it was a great way to being the story”—would be reframed into a question like: “I love the images in the first paragraph and I thought it was a great way to being the story—how did you decide to begin with that?”

Of course, students sometimes fell into habits of traditional workshop critique, and sometimes that worked fine, integrated into our more open approach, and sometimes some additional steering on my part was needed. My steering often returned the conversation to the writer, asking them to consider their own work. In the first few weeks students often said, I’m not used to talking , almost cautiously, as if they were breaking a rule. It took practice to adapt to this more open system but it didn’t take long, probably because this unsilenced method creates a greater level of comfort in the room.

What I have found is that an unsilenced workshop is a more invigorated and healthy space. There is conversation rather than everyone waiting to take a turn to speak their critique. Numerous students have told me that they’d never actually enjoyed a workshop before. That they felt less worried about on how their peers would react—and thus more free to take risks.

My goal is for students to leave feeling heard and feeling motivated to keep working and revising, with ideas (rather than demands) in hand. The traditional, silenced workshop tends toward tension, competition, a sense of failure. The unsilenced workshop tends toward encouragement, generative discussion, a sense of possibility. The critiques are not directives but perspectives.

The creative writing workshop has always been about doing workshop more than being up for workshop; you spend far more time considering the work of your peers than hearing comments on your own. This process helps teach us how to be better at revising and editing. A more open, unsilenced, dialogue-focused workshop space continues this benefit while also allowing writers to be more actively involved in their own process. They aren’t watching the critique of their own work, but rather central to the conversation. In talking out loud about their work, writers often find their own answers.

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Beth Nguyen

Beth Nguyen

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Writing Effective Workshop Critiques

Produce effective writing workshop critiques—and improve your own work in the process.

For the uninitiated, the critiques or reader's notes required of an MFA writing workshop, or any other workshop, can lead to heart palpitations. After all, you won't only be writing them—you'll be receiving them too. Read on to learn how to develop effective writer's workshop notes that not only support your fellow writers, but help you improve your own craft.

Letter Format

I prefer giving notes in letter form because it's a reminder to both the recipient and myself that the exchange between author and critic is a deeply personal act. I've just received a piece of art that came from the writer's heart, and the format encourages me to deliver the critique with compassion, empathy, and respect. (And by letter format, I mean, quite literally, that you begin with, "Dear Katie," and end with "Yours, Seth.")

With that said, writers expect, and should receive, frank and objective criticism based on elements of craft, in addition to thoughts of appreciation for the work . As a note-giver, if you're not daunted by the task at hand, you should be. I get a little nervous writing notes because it's a big job with which my friend or client has entrusted me. There's a lot of ground to cover, and your communication has got to be effective, thorough, and respectful. Deliver on only two of the three, and the work has been for naught.

Your communication has to be Effective, Thorough, and Respectful—deliver on only two of these dimensions, and your work has been for naught.

Critiquing is as much a matter of personal style as authoring a story itself. What follows is my own method for providing notes with maximum impact. (This guide t o participating in workshop as an effective reader will also help set the stage.)

Start with a Brief Summary

Start by summarizing the piece you've just read, and try your best to include elements of both the outer and inner stories . For a short story, the summary might be a three-line recap; in a longer work such as a novel it might be a paragraph; in screenwriting, it's called a "log line."

The summary is important because it invites a comparison between the reader's takeaway and the writer's original intent. They're not always aligned; sometimes the recap raises an immediate flag that the reader and writer don't agree at all on what the story is doing. But a misalignment isn't necessarily a bad thing. Quite often the reader will pick up on an interesting element that the writer wasn't even aware of—and now the writer can deliberately cultivate that nugget in the next draft.

The exercise of writing a brief summary also helps you as a reader, especially if you're not sure how to begin your critique. It'll jog some memories about what worked and what didn't—and refine your thoughts on the author's intent.

What You Loved and Why

creative writing workshop critique

After tackling the summary, you’re now ready to talk about what worked in service of the inner and outer storylines. What did you love and why? Be specific, and use the language of craft. Instead of "I really dug the opening passage" or "I couldn't stop reading,"talk about the author's facility with building tension or earning turns. Pick out a few examples from the text. I don't recommend going overboard, but if you're truly feeling effusive, go for it! Your enthusiasm for the work will encourage the writer and help prepare them for the less-fun stuff to come.

Because many early drafts are quite fine loaves of bread that simply need more time in the oven, I like to present many of my "criticisms" in the form of questions. I might not understand the dynamics of certain characters' relationships, or why a particular passage was necessary; I might be curious about the protagonist's motivations, or I might question the author's decision to shift the POV partway through. Asking questions is an implicit way of pointing out general areas of murkiness that need more work.

Strategic vs. Tactical Commentary

A student once approached me about how to frame and apply my notes to his second draft. He was a physics major who happened to be a skilled writer of speculative fiction; the draft he'd turned in had promise but it needed work. I proposed that he separate my comments into two stacks: the hard stuff and the easy stuff. Of course, nothing in a rewrite is easy, but he understood my advice to mean that some of my comments were strategic in nature,"big-picture"issues that would take time to figure out, while others were more tactical—issues that, while not "easy," were easi- er to fix. The writer should tackle the big-picture issues first, because the big decisions will have a cascading effect on the smaller ones.

Examples of strategic issues: structure, plot, dialing in a protagonist's motivation, a weak character arc, lack of a consistent through-line, or uncertainty regarding what the story's really about.

Examples of tactical issues: Thin secondary characters, POV infractions, word choice, imprecise detail, loose management of time, or confusing "stage direction."

A note on the biggest strategic question of all: Sometimes the writer might tell a clear and detailed outer story, but you can't figure out the inner story. You finish the story and think: So What? Asking the writer to explicitly answer the question, "Why is this story being told now?" will help her figure out the "So What?" or the Big Idea—the story's primary intent.

Why is the story being told now?

Just to be clear, this is a strategic, big-picture question. Perhaps the most strategic, biggest-picture question there is. Make sure the text answers it—and if it doesn't, let the writer know. It might be a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it she must.

The Critique Lives Inside the Story

creative writing workshop critique

While I encourage you to pepper your critique with the language of craft, especially when addressing tactical issues, most of your big-picture comments will require a deep-dive into the particulars of a story. For example, rather than saying, "I thought Charlie's character arc wasn't believable," you might say, "By page 15, Charlie was focused on cleaning up his life—going sober, working out, finding a new job, and moving out of his mom's basement—then he decides on page 16 to participate in a bank heist, seemingly out of the blue. What motivated him to take such a drastic measure? Did he miss the feeling of freedom of his bad-boy days? Was he self-sabotaging? And if so, why?" Asking questions in this context will encourage the writer to think about the particulars of the story. Charlie seems underdeveloped, and his goals aren't clear...but a brief note to "develop Charlie" and "give him a clear goal" wouldn't have been helpful. Avoid the abstract, and commit yourself to going deep inside the story.

Relatability and Authenticity

Be wary of the words "relatable" and "authentic." The concept of relatability is controversial because one of the very goals of fiction (and poetry and screenwriting) is to introduce the reader to different lived experiences. While the reader might relate to some portion of the characters' lives, by and large it's not the writer's job to create characters you'd want to befriend because they resemble you.

Similarly, the notion of "authenticity" is problematic because it assumes that a writer should adhere to some unwritten law of character "type"—and that politicians, athletes, fishermen, professors, children, and grandmothers should appear, speak, and act along prescribed lines. Writers are meant to create nuanced characters, not cartoonish tropes.

Prescriptive Suggestions

It’s OK to give prescriptive suggestions but do it sparingly—and only if you point out the reason for the suggestion first . Instead of suggesting that "Charlie should start drinking again on page 10," advise the writer first that "Charlie's bank heist seems sudden and unearned—and showing him sliding off the wagon is one possible way of suggesting his growing discontent. Or you might revisit Charlie and write more deeply into his character—and see what emerges organically." I don't think you want to get anymore prescriptive than this. You wouldn't suggest, for example, that "Charlie should sneak sips of Irish whiskey from a bottle in his desk at work."

creative writing workshop critique

The danger with being too prescriptive is that you might be making suggestions that reflect your idea of the story—not the author's. One of the most important rules of critiquing is to keep the author's intent in mind. The last thing you want to do is wrestle the story into the ground and turn into your story. If the story is about a haunted baseball dugout on the off-season, told in quiet, moody prose, don't ask the author to turn it into a tale about an epic underdog win at the World Series...just because you love baseball.

The danger of prescriptive advice is the impulse to turn the story into your own—not the author's.

Arranging Your Comments

I like to give each issue type a heading—for example, if I feel Charlie's character is underdeveloped, I'd write about his issues under a heading called "Charlie" or "Charlie's Character." If the writer has a repeated craft-related issue, I'd create a section naming the craft element. For example, if the writer has trouble writing intros and outros of her expository flashbacks, I'd create a section called "Managing Flashbacks." I might also organize my comments according to chapters or passages. How you arrange your comments is up to you—as long as the arrangement scheme helps the writer to receive and comprehend those notes. In general, however, a big block of text is more difficult to navigate than clear sections arranged by subject.

In general, however, a big block of text is more difficult to navigate than clear sections arranged by subject.

Then, I'll save the last section for a list of any short, sentence-long "orphan" comments that don't belong under any particular header. These are, by nature, minor comments that don't require more than a few words.

Before signing off, I like to recap things I loved. Whether it's an inventive plot line, a unique or authoritative voice, particularly lovely details, or characters who jump off the page, I always find something to appreciate about the work. Above all, I remember to be respectful in my tone, objective in my interrogation, and specific in my guidance, especially since I'll be on the receiving end the next time around!

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Writers.com

Writing workshops are a wonderful way to grow and expand your writing skills—provided you know how to workshop creative writing. There are different writing workshop models, both online and in person, each with their own particular ways of benefiting your writing journey. What are those models, and how do you engage in proper critique writing?

This article is all about making the most of your writing workshops. Whether you’re taking a course with Writers.com, entering your first workshop in undergrad, or putting together your own private writing group, the tips and models in this article will help you learn how to workshop creative writing.

There are a couple of different definitions of writing workshops. For the purposes of this article, we will examine writing workshop models under the university definition, which is the process of sharing your work in a setting where you receive writing feedback and suggestions for improvement. 

If you’re looking for the best multi-week creative writing workshops, here are some tips for finding the best on the internet:

The Best Online Writing Workshops: How to Succeed in Creative Writing Workshops

Different Creative Writing Workshop Models

There is no singular way to workshop a piece of writing. Different schools, universities, and institutions have developed different models over time. Even at Writers.com, some of our classes use different writing workshop models.

Here are a few common models you might see employed around the web. Note: this list only applies to adult writing workshops. Youth-focused writing spaces tend to use some form of the model developed by Lucy Calkins .

1. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop Model

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is one of the most prestigious writing programs in the United States, having produced dozens of Pulitzer winners, National Book Award finalists, and poet laureates. It also developed the standard writing workshop model for universities, specifically under the directorship of poet Paul Engle.

The writing workshop rules are pretty simple: the writer’s work is distributed to every workshop attendee in advance. Each writer then comes to the workshop with their thoughts on the work. The attendees have a conversation about the piece—how they interpret it, aspects they like, what can be improved, etc.

Most importantly, the author cannot speak at any time. This is the “gag rule” of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and it’s the aspect that’s both the most recognizable, and the most criticized, of this workshopping model.

Pros: The argument for keeping the author silent is that the author should not have to explain anything in the work. If the author is allowed to speak, they will most likely interrupt the conversation to defend the writing, rather than pay attention to what does and doesn’t work, and what readers failed to grasp.

Cons: This writing workshop model has been routinely criticized for the ways it silences the author . While authors certainly shouldn’t commandeer the conversation to defend their work, they also deserve space to explain what doesn’t seem to be clicking for the readers. Writing workshops have historically catered to privileged groups; if you’re the only Asian author in a room of non-Asian writers, and the conversation gets stuck on dim sum , shouldn’t you be allowed to correct course?

Workshops should privilege the author and provide useful feedback to all attendees. The “gag rule” has some merit, but as workshops become more diverse—both in identity and in genre—there have to be better ways to run productive creative writing workshops.

These next models all, in some way or another, correct the deficits of the Iowa Writers’ model.

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2. Liz Lerman’s Writing Workshop Model

Choreographer Liz Lerman developed a feedback model that has been adapted to a variety of settings, including creative writing workshops. It’s a 4 step process that runs as follows:

  • Statement of meaning: Each group member tells the writer what aspects of the piece resonated for them. This allows the session to lead with what’s working, which is important because an author often doesn’t know what’s good about their writing, and an author usually revises based on the best parts of their work.
  • Questions by the writer to the group: The writer asks questions they have in mind about craft elements in the piece. Did this work? Do you understand this? Typically, these are yes/no questions, and the group members shouldn’t elucidate unless asked to.
  • Questions to the group by the writer: Group members then ask questions about the work, including aspects of it they didn’t understand. This is a much more empathetic way to approach creative writing critique, because it uses questions to point to improvements in the writing, rather than stating “X needs to improve because Y.”
  • Opinions: If there’s time, group members then share their overall opinions of the work, highlighting more of what they liked and wish to see improved.

3. The Playwriting Writing Workshop Model

Although this model is specifically used in playwriting workshops, it can be adapted to poetry, nonfiction, and fiction writing workshops, too.

In this model, participants do not read the work ahead of time. Copies are distributed to everyone, and roles are assigned to the participants. (If there aren’t many characters, participants might be assigned pages; for poetry, only one person might be assigned to read the poem.)

After the reading, the workshop leader will host a general discussion of the work.

This model can prove super beneficial, as it allows the author to hear their work spoken aloud. Where did the reader stumble? What did or didn’t sound natural? Engaging with the work from a distance helps the writer see it more clearly, and they might come away from this reading already with new ideas and opportunities for revision.

And, rather than have students prepare thoughts in advance, a general discussion in the moment reveals how readers will engage with the work in the moment. When you have a book, story, or poem published, the reader probably won’t write out all their thoughts afterwards; eschewing this model gives the writer direct, unadulterated insight into how people engage with their writing.

4. Wild Writing / Writing Circles

The Wild Writing model was developed by Laurie Wagner, and it encourages writers, particularly poets, to produce as much material as they can from their own unconscious minds.

Our instructor Susan Vespoli bases her writing circles off of the Wild Writing workshop model. In these Zoom-based poetry writing workshops, participants do the following:

  • Each participant verbally shares an image with the group. It is an image that has sat on their minds for a few days. They should share it without qualifying it—as in, keeping to visual language, not using words like “beautiful” or “interesting.”
  • The group leader reads a poem twice. They then highlight some striking lines in the poem, which can be used as starting points for the writing session.
  • For 12-15 minutes, each writer free writes, without editing themselves or eschewing certain thoughts. Writers should not cross out words, and they should keep the pen moving. (When they run out of things to say, they can try putting in transition phrases, like “What I mean to say is…)
  • At the end of this, each writer goes around reading from their journals. Writers do not comment on one another’s journal entry . The point is to write and share what’s on the mind in a supportive, encouraging environment.
  • Typically, a Zoom call will repeat this process twice, for 3 sessions in total.

Unlike other workshops where participants give each other writing feedback, this model produces work in a supportive community space. The opportunity to read work aloud allows writers to have deeper insights into their own writing and thinking. In this model, writers grow as writers not by giving feedback, but by being vulnerable in a safe writing space and encountering new ideas from both their brains and the minds of other writers.

When paired with lectures and written feedback outside of the Zoom call, writers come away with rich material for their own work, as well as a new, generative writing practice.

5. Other Modifications on Writing Workshop Models

Writers love to tinker with form, and this includes the form of writing workshops. This article by Jim Nelson offers one such way to modify the workshopping space so that each writer is treated with respect, dignity, curiosity, and encouragement.

How to Workshop Creative Writing: 15 Tips for Success

If you’re participating in online writing workshops, you will be presented with opportunities to give and receive writing feedback. Regardless of genre and the writing workshop model, here are some tips to get the most out of every workshop you attend online.

How to Workshop Creative Writing: Giving Writing Critique

  • Share your own experience. How the work is impacting you as a reader. Readers are very different, so how the piece is landing for you is more helpful than general statements. “I read this as X,” not simply “this is X.”
  • Praise what’s working in the piece. Writers need to know what resonates and where to build from. Every piece of writing has something working well.
  • Keep all writing feedback constructive. Use encouraging language to frame your suggestions, such as “simpler dialogue tags might help this passage flow more smoothly.”
  • Be specific in your feedback. For example, “I love this” is less helpful than “I love how your description of the character’s clothing gives a sense of his personality.”
  • Consider the author’s intent with the piece. Don’t try to shape the work into something you would write; try to advise the writer based on their vision for the piece. If it’s unclear, ask!
  • Consider asking questions when you have them. Instead of “X’s decision doesn’t make sense,” try “Why does X make Y decision?” Talking through ideas in this way can help writers consider new possibilities for the work, without making them feel like they’re doing something wrong.

How to Workshop Creative Writing: Receiving Writing Feedback

  • Ask questions. The best writing workshops give you the space to work through what you don’t know how to do. Come prepared with questions about your work, and don’t be afraid to follow up with the suggestions people give you.
  • Consider your ideal reader. Is the person giving you feedback the person you intend to read this piece? Ideal readers will probably give you the most useful creative writing feedback. That said, readers who have different backgrounds than your ideal reader will also have ideas you might not have considered, which can be useful for both your current project and future ones.
  • Leave your ego at the door. All writers are protective of their work. It’s understandable! But if you enter the workshop space with walls up, you will prevent yourself from seeing the work through other points of view. Don’t let your pride, your vision, or your sense of artistic value prevent you from seeing ways to improve your writing. And remember, we’re all insecure in some way about our work. Workshops give us the chance to improve together, in both our craft and confidence.
  • Know what you want to achieve. At the same time, it’s good to have a vision for what you want your piece to be. Coming into a writing workshop with this vision will help you ask questions and lead a more productive workshop session. It will also help you filter through the writing feedback you receive.
  • Advocate for yourself. It is rare for a workshop to go south, but it happens. When the conversation doesn’t seem to be helping you (for example: non-Asian writers getting stuck on dim sum), you should be able to correct course and make the workshop work for you.
  • File it away. After workshop, file the feedback away for a little while, and don’t try to fix your piece all at once. Rushing into revision is a recipe for regret, as it takes time to absorb and incorporate feedback into your writing. Be slow, methodical, and careful. Above all, don’t let workshop change your vision for the piece—creative writing workshops are stepping stones, not boulders, to your ideal work.

How to Workshop Creative Writing: Improving as a Writer

  • Pay attention to other workshops. The workshop space isn’t yours alone. Often, engaging with other writers’ work and listening to other writers’ critiques will help you grow as a writer yourself. You will encounter dozens of ideas in one workshopping session. File these ideas for later, and pay close attention to everyone’s craft so you can later steal like an artist .
  • Experiment. Writers who experiment with ideas often achieve the most. While it’s good to have an ideal sense of where your piece is headed, it doesn’t hurt to copy your work into a new document and try using ideas you disagree with. What happens when you try writer B’s suggestion over writer A’s? How about vice versa? The more time you spend tinkering with your work and experimenting with ideas, the more insights you have into the craft and into your own vision as an artist.
  • Be patient. Writing is a craft that takes a lifetime to master—and even the masters want to write better. Most writers hate the work they wrote a year ago, and that’s good—it means they’ve grown, sharpened their skills, refined their tastes, and gotten closer to the kind of work they want to achieve. Above all, be diligent and consistent in your writing. It might not be this month, or even this year, but you will one day write stories and poems you feel genuinely proud of.

Find Useful Creative Writing Feedback at Writers.com!

The courses at Writers.com are designed to give you useful creative writing critique. Whether you write poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, you’ll receive expert creative writing feedback from all of our instructors, and learn how to workshop creative writing in the process. Take a look at our upcoming course calendar !

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Sean Glatch

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This is such a valuable article! The advice here has made me much less nervous about signing up for workshops in the future. Thank you so much!

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A Message from Jeanne Cavelos, Director, about Critique Services:

To further our mission of helping writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror improve their work, the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, provides writers of all levels, from beginners to successful pros, in-depth, insightful, professional-level critiques on their work.

One of the most effective methods of improving your writing is to discover how others experience your work. A critique that explains the reader’s experience, why the reader had that experience, and how that experience can be strengthened, helps the author gain perspective and provides valuable direction for revision.

The Odyssey Critique Service provides an honest assessment of your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses are then explored in depth, so you see very specifically which elements aren’t working well, why they aren’t, and how they might work better. The critique is also instructional, explaining concepts and techniques relevant to your work as needed.

How in-depth are the critiques?

You’ll receive your manuscript back with significant line edits and marginal comments written on it. This will be accompanied by the critique. Critiques average over 8,000 words each.

How much of my work can I submit?

The Odyssey Critique Service offers three options:

• Short story writers may submit up to three stories, with a total word count of no more than 20,000 words.

• Novelists may submit the opening chapters of their novel, and if they want, a synopsis of the remainder. The synopsis can be no more than 1500 words, and the total of excerpt and synopsis can be no more than 20,000 words. The chapters should be consecutive.

• Writers can submit more material if they want, up to an entire novel.

All material must be submitted at once.

What is the procedure?

1. Print out the stories or chapters/synopsis. Make sure that your work is in standard manuscript format . This provides the critiquer room to write comments.

2. Calculate the appropriate fee, or contact me  for help. The fee for the first two options listed above is $300. If you are submitting more than 20,000 words, the cost is $15 per 1,000 words. So, for example, if you are submitting a novel of 80,000 words, the cost would be $15 x 80 = $1,200.

3. Make your payment. You may pay via US personal check, bank draft in US dollars, or PayPal , a service that allows you to charge the cost to a credit card.

4. Mail the following four items to this address:

Odyssey Critique Service P. O. Box 75 Mont Vernon, NH 03057

  • The printed copy of your submission.
  • If you are paying via check or bank draft, include that in your package.
  • An unaddressed envelope large enough to hold your submission, with $7.50 postage on it. We will use this envelope to mail your submission to your specific critiquer. Those outside the U.S. should simply add $15.00 U.S. to the critiquing fee. This will cover the $7.50 postage as well as the additional postage cost involved in returning your edited manuscript to you.
  • Your regular address, email address, and phone number.

5. We will email you to let you know the date we received your package and who will be critiquing your work.

6. If you have submitted 20,000 words or less, you will receive your critique within 60 days. If you have submitted a longer work, we may need up to 90 days. Once we’ve received your work and identified an available critiquer, we can let you know whether this extra time will be required. You will receive via regular mail the critique and your original manuscript marked with line edits, comments, and suggestions.

7. After reviewing your critique, if you have any questions for your critiquer, you may send one follow-up email with those questions. Email your questions to me , and I will relay them to your critiquer. The critiquer will respond as her schedule allows.

Can I email my submission instead?

Scientific studies have shown that revising or critiquing on an electronic document discourages major re-conceptualizing of a text. The author or critiquer sees only narrow windows of the text rather than the whole. While this can allow for very useful line edits and minor comments, it hampers the ability to compare distant passages of text or to consider big-picture issues, such as whether a scene is necessary, whether a character or plot is developing in a strong arc, or whether a change in the order of scenes might benefit the story. We work on print documents to maximize the help and insight we can offer to you.

If exceptional circumstances require electronic transmission of your manuscript, or require that you receive line edits and marginal comments within an electronic document,  contact me .

If a critiquer makes an edit or a suggestion, can I use it, or is that suggestion the property of the critiquer?

You are the author, and whatever changes you make to your work, including ideas or wording suggested by the critiquer, are yours. Our critiquers operate very much like editors at publishing houses function, suggesting ways to make the work stronger. Those suggestions are for you and belong to you, just as the original work you submitted belongs to you. An editor at a magazine or publishing house doesn’t own any part of the copyright of a work that she edits; your Odyssey critiquer doesn’t either.

Is the Odyssey Critique Service a substitute for the Odyssey Writing Workshop?

Unfortunately, no. The Odyssey Writing Workshop is a unique and powerful experience. Getting away from your “real life” and focusing only on your writing for six weeks allows you to make progress at a much accelerated rate.

The Odyssey Critique Service can’t substitute for that experience. But it can provide you with key insights that will help you see your work in a new light and make major steps toward improving it. The feedback you receive will give you a clear sense of your strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and it will provide you with direction. You will know where to focus your efforts to make the greatest improvement and conquer your greatest problems.

Will using the Odyssey Critique Service guarantee that I'll be admitted to the Odyssey Writing Workshop or to one of Odyssey's Online Classes?

No. Using the critique service can certainly help you to improve, but how much you improve depends on how you use the feedback you receive. For years, I dismissed all the criticism I received on my writing, thinking,  These people just aren’t smart enough to understand my work.  That made me feel better, but it didn’t help my writing at all. Only after many wasted years did I finally begin to listen, and learn, and improve. Even so, it sometimes takes me months or even years to understand the underlying problem in my work and how to solve that problem.

While using the Odyssey Critique Service in no way guarantees admission to one of Odyssey’s programs, one of the reasons I wanted to start the service was to help applicants. Many writers apply year after year. Some of them improve each year and are ultimately admitted to the workshop. Others struggle, their skills remaining the same. I’m unable to give more than a few sentences of personalized feedback when I respond to applicants. I’ve often thought that if I could give a full critique of each application story, perhaps I could help the writer. But time doesn’t allow that. With the critique service, though, a writer can receive assistance.

The journey to become the best writer you can be is an unending one, and it’s not easy—that’s why I chose the name Odyssey. How much a writer will improve and how quickly he will improve are different for each person. We’ve set up the critique service to be as helpful as possible. I hope it will help you to make significant progress down that road toward making your work as vivid, powerful, and moving as it can be.

MEET THE CRITIQUERS

Vaughn-Carrie

Carrie Vaughn

Bestselling author Carrie Vaughn graduated from Odyssey in 1998 (the year Harlan Ellison was Writer-in- Residence). She returned in 2009 as Odyssey’s Writer-in-Residence and in 2020 as a guest lecturer.

Her latest novels include the post-apocalyptic murder mystery,  Bannerless , winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, and its sequel,  The Wild Dead . She wrote the  New York Times  bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty, along with several other contemporary fantasy and young adult novels, and upwards of 80 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She’s a contributor to the  Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado. Visit her at  www.carrievaughn.com .

Carrie’s been in various critique groups almost continuously for over ten years, where she’s critiqued novels and short stories across all genres. She’s critiqued beginning, unpublished writers, as well as award winners.

Barbara Ashford

Barbara Campbell

Barbara Campbell has been praised by reviewers and readers alike for her compelling characters and her “emotional, heartfelt” storytelling. Her background as a professional actress, lyricist, and librettist has helped her delve deeply into character and explore the complexities of human nature on the stage as well as on the page. Her musical adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd  has been optioned for Broadway.

Barbara’s first published series was the dark fantasy trilogy  Trickster’s Game  (written as Barbara Campbell). Published by DAW Books,  Trickster’s Game  was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Society’s 2010 Fantasy Award for adult literature.

She drew on her musical theatre roots for her second novel series (written as Barbara Ashford), the award-winning Spellcast  and its sequel  Spellcrossed , set in a magical summer stock theatre. DAW Books released the two novels in an omnibus edition:  Spells at the Crossroads .

A 2000 graduate of the Odyssey workshop, Barbara has taught eight online courses for Odyssey and has served on the staff of the Odyssey Critique Service for more than a decade. You can visit her dual selves at  barbara-campbell.com  and  barbara-ashford.com .

Barbara believes that thoughtful, in-depth critiques are vital to becoming a better writer. “It’s hard to get enough distance from your work to view it critically. Whether it’s a scene that provokes a response you weren’t expecting or prose that muddies the impact you’re trying to achieve, the critique process can highlight strengths as well as weaknesses, and provide insight into aspects of your writing that may be interfering with your story-telling.”

LaneRobins

Lane Robins

Lane Robins is a 1999 Odyssey graduate who has her bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. She is the author of  Maledicte (Del Rey) and its sequel,  Kings and Assassins . Under the name Lyn Benedict, she wrote the Shadows Inquiries series, which includes the novels Sins & Shadows , Ghosts & Echoes, Gods & Monsters , and Lies & Omens . She attributes much of her success to critiquing. Critiquing allows the writer to have new eyes on a manuscript, highlighting that often crucial gap between what the writer intends and what’s actually on the page. Critiquing can be an extremely useful diagnostic tool that has the potential to expose rough spots in a writer’s repertoire beyond the needs of a single story or manuscript, that improves not only the critiqued manuscript but the ones that come after. Visit her website at authorlanerobins.com .

creative writing workshop critique

Elaine Isaak

Elaine Isaak writes knowledge-inspired adventure fiction, including The Dark Apostle series about medieval surgery (as E.C. Ambrose), The Singer’s Legacy fantasy series (as Elaine Isaak), and the Bone Guard international thrillers (as E. Chris Ambrose). In the process of researching her books, Elaine learned how to hunt with a falcon, clear a building of possible assailants, and pull traction on a broken limb. Her short stories have appeared in  Fireside, Warrior Women , and  Fantasy for the Throne , among many others, and she has edited several volumes of  New Hampshire Pulp Fiction . A 1997 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, Elaine has returned there to teach, as well as at conventions and writer’s groups across the country. She has judged writing competitions from New Hampshire Literary Idol to the World Fantasy Award.

Elaine dropped out of art school to found her own business. A former professional costumer and soft sculpture creator, Elaine now works as a part-time adventure guide. In addition to writing, Elaine creates wearable art employing weaving, dyeing, and felting into her unique garments. To learn about all of her writing, check out RocinanteBooks.com .

A founding member of the Poet’s Unbound workshop, Elaine also belongs to the Science Fiction Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network of Romance Writers of America, and Novelists, Inc. She has run an invitational genre critique group locally and worked with teen writers as part of the Young Writers’ Conference. Writers at all points in their careers benefit from thoughtful and timely critique of their works in progress, geared toward the needs of the writer and the goals of the work. While there are many public writer’s groups and on-line resources, it can be hard to get the sort of in-depth reading that can help to advance your work to the next level. Aside from the direct benefit to the work at hand, receiving an insightful critique helps to train the mind of the writer—transitioning from reading for pure pleasure, to reading with an understanding of the tools and techniques that top authors use to win your attention and earn your loyalty.

Eric James Stone

Eric James Stone

A Nebula Award winner, Hugo Award finalist, and winner in the Writers of the Future Contest, Eric James Stone has had dozens of stories published in  Year’s Best SF 15, Analog, Nature , and Kevin J. Anderson’s  Blood Lite  anthologies of humorous horror, among other venues. His first novel was released by Baen in 2016.

One of Eric’s earliest memories is of seeing an Apollo moon-shot launch on television. That might explain his fascination with space travel. His father’s collection of old science fiction ensured that Eric grew up on a full diet of Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke.

While getting his political science degree at Brigham Young University, Eric took creative writing classes. He wrote several short stories, and even submitted one for publication, but after it was rejected he gave up on creative writing for a decade. During those years Eric graduated from Baylor Law School, worked on a congressional campaign, and took a job in Washington, DC, with one of those special interest groups politicians always complain that other politicians are influenced by. He quit the political scene in 1999 to work as a web developer in Utah.

In 2002 he started writing fiction again, and in 2003 he attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp. In 2007 Eric got laid off from his day job just in time to go to the Odyssey Writing Workshop. He has since found a new web development job. From 2009-2014 Eric was an assistant editor for  Intergalactic Medicine Show .

In addition to attending critique-based workshops, Eric has actively participated in several critique groups since 2003 and believes they are extremely helpful in getting his work ready for publication. He says a good critique is not just about finding mistakes and weaknesses in a manuscript—it’s about understanding what story the author is trying to tell, so that the manuscript can be improved to best convey that story to the reader.

Visit his website at www.ericjamesstone.com .

barbara-a-barnett_1058x1420

Barbara Barnett-Stewart

Barbara Barnett-Stewart (or Barbara A. Barnett, as you’ll usually find her credited) is a Philadelphia-area writer, musician, and orchestra librarian. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and has had over 60 short stories published in magazines and anthologies such as  Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Fantasy Magazine, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online,   Black Static , and  Wilde Stories: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction .

Barbara earned her Bachelor of Arts in music and English literature from the University of Maryland and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University. A 2007 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, she currently serves as managing editor of the workshop’s blog and spent several years as Resident Supervisor for The Never-Ending Odyssey (TNEO), a workshop exclusively for Odyssey graduates.

Since 2005, Barbara has participated in both online and in-person critique groups. She has found critiques—giving them as well receiving them—to be an invaluable part of her growth as a writer. She values critiques that are truthful yet constructive, detailed yet not prescriptive, that recognize what kind of story the author wants to tell and what tools might help them get there, and that acknowledge what the author is doing well, not just what needs improvement.

You can find Barbara online at  babarnett.com .

CLIENT COMMENTS

quote

“I really appreciate what I think of as the mini-lessons—reminders or introductions to concepts, such as how to evaluate a scene, pacing, secondary characters, and structure, and then an analysis of these in relation to my manuscript. The report is invaluable not just for this novel but also for my future novels.

“The most important element is that I received feedback on what is wrong that is expert and well-considered. It’s very valuable, too, to know what has worked (so I don’t end up removing it, not realizing it’s fine) and I’m glad to have received that feedback, too. Other services are not as knowledgeable or rigorous.”

—Karen McKenzie

—Gavin Grant

—Andrew Chamberlain

—Lee Wee Leng

—Walt Mutschler

—James Breyfogle

—Larry Hodges

—Karen Lacey

—C. R. Steevens

—Michael Damon

—Suzanne Y. Truong

—John Berks

—Ronald Kaiser

—Sylvia Saxon

“I received an incredibly comprehensive critique. Everything in my stories, from concept, character and plot, to grammar and punctuation, was thoroughly examined. The Odyssey Critique Service is a wonderful resource: I will use it again.”

—Jay Doolittle

—Steven Wheelock

—Thompson Parker

—Zoe Zygmunt

—Marques Dillard

—Josh Roberts

“Many services say they critique fantasy but after investigation they really don’t know fantasy. Odyssey knows fantasy and has the reputation to back it up. The service did provide me with a very thorough genre critique.”

—Cheryl Carter

“Well worth the price! I will definitely use this service again.”

—Barbara Bowen

—P. Matt Kimme

—Justin Monroe

—Erik Bundy

—Michael Kessinger

—Larisa Walk

—John Iovine

—Steve Thomas

—Steve Clancey

“The critique broke my story down into manageable bites so I could digest all the information and start to work on my story to make it stronger, to make it publishable as a work of fiction.

“The line edits, and I am sorry to Barbara Campbell for this, were throughout the novel and were instructive. They showed me the faults I was blind to in my writing, showing me how to tighten up the scenes and sequences I had while giving wonderful, truthful feedback. And that is a rarity.

“Try getting this kind of feedback from a community college or even a four-year college. It won’t happen.”

—Joe Hanzlik

creative writing workshop critique

BOLDFACE 101: THE CREATIVE WRITING PEER REVIEW

Workshops are an integral and exciting part of the Boldface experience. At first, however, they can seem intimidating. Don’t worry! This week’s installment of Boldface 101 introduces you to the process of giving and receiving peer reviews.

First and foremost, we urge you to prepare in advance. Thinking deeply about your critiques and making meaningful comments is important. Your classmates are there for the same reasons you are—to improve their writing. Don’t dismiss your role as peer and colleague, what you say matters! We hope you’ll check out the following pointers on giving and receiving feedback.

Giving Feedback to Fellow Writers

The golden rule is universal. Treat your peers and their writing with care and respect. Take this part of the writers conference seriously. You wouldn’t like it if others were inconsiderate of you or your work, so be mindful of how you present your comments. Beyond that, requirements are flexible. Your workshop leader will provide guidance in advance regarding how they want you to approach the process, but here are a few best practices to consider in the meantime:

  • Avoid saying what you did or didn’t “like.”  These kinds of statements have more to do with opinion and less to do with what is or is not successful in a given piece of writing. You don’t always have to “like” something to see whether it’s worthwhile or whether it’s accomplishing its goal as technique or craft.
  • Provide constructive criticism AND reinforcement.  It’s always nice to hear what you ARE doing effectively as a writer. Remember to encourage your peers when you spot something you think is especially effective, rather than letting it go unsaid and focusing 100% of your critique on what still needs improvement.
  • Be specific.  Generic and vague comments aren’t very helpful in a creative writing workshop. Your peer review isn’t going to be useful unless it contains detailed analysis and examples of what is/isn’t working in a piece of writing. Make sure to be specific and elaborate on your ideas.
  • Check for author notes.  If your peer has asked for feedback on a specific issue, make sure to address their concerns!

creative writing workshop critique

Don’t forget—you’ll be receiving feedback, too! Here are some things to remember when receiving constructive criticism:

  • It’s not personal.  So, don’t take it personally. We understand this is easier said than done, especially when it comes to your writing. But that’s just it. It’s your writing, not you, that’s being critiqued.
  • Listen actively and to understand.  In other words, don’t just give in to your first reaction, which may be purely defensive. Let your peers complete their thoughts and explain what they mean. Take some time to consider things before deciding whether to incorporate or leave out suggestions.
  • Stay open-minded.  You might receive some radical insights, but sometimes it’s helpful to try unexpected ideas! Perhaps your short story is the beginning of a novel, or a plot twist reveals itself. Writing is a magical process that can lead you down new paths if you let it. So, try to remain open to possibilities!
  • Ask questions!  If you don’t understand something, don’t hesitate to ask your group to clarify. That is, after all, why they’re there!
“Imagine spending the day at a coffeeshop filled with unique, passionate, intelligent writers who want to share their knowledge—and listen to you in kind. Now imagine doing that for five days in a row. That’s Boldface.” -Boldface 2017 Participant

We think you’ll find that meeting with the same group multiple times throughout the week makes for a close-knit and supportive environment. Hopefully, this brief guide to the creative writing workshop eliminates any uncertainties you may have. If not, let us know! Reach out anytime to  [email protected] , or better yet, get involved in the conversation on  Facebook ,  Twitter , and  Instagram !

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Boldface blog for the scoop on our awesome visiting writers and other useful information. Happy writing (and reviewing)!

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How to Critique Creative Writing

creative writing workshop critique

A Few Thoughts on Critiquing or One Size Doesn’t Fit All

One of the difficulties in trying to establish some guidelines for critiquing manuscripts in a creative writing class or feedback group is the vast array of differences we see from piece to piece.  One piece may be whole and nearly perfect as it is presented to us (whether from a lot of revision or because it sprang fully formed the first time) whereas another may be just struggling into existence, a virtual embryo compared to the full term birth above. Obviously we cannot approach these two manuscripts in the same way. Likewise, what a piece may need is a macro approach, where we talk about large issues such as themes or the overall structure; or it may need a micro-approach, attention to the language in the first paragraph, say, which establishes a certain voice and tone–or doesn’t.  It may be a combination of these two.  There is also our sense of the writer, whether she wants and need a lot of criticism or needs basically affirmation in order to proceed, or permission to engage in a lot more process as opposed to rushing a product.  And of course there’s the possibility that we feel either blank in terms of our own response or overwhelmed and disorganized about how to address the issues.  In other words, one size does not fit all.  We have to be sensitive and adjustable regarding every piece of writing.  At the same time, we need some general ideas and approaches to guide us.

What follows are my suggestions for how to go about critiquing:

1.  Read the piece through the first time as a pure consumer, for interest and hopefully enjoyment.  Try to give yourself over to the piece.  See what is there.  After finishing the piece note how you feel about it.  What is your overall feeling or impression?  What are the first things that come to your mind about the piece?  Write these first general impressions at the end of the piece for the writer.

2.  Now consciously read the piece through more critically.  Even though you may have been very enthusiastic about the piece initially, that doesn’t mean that now on the second pass, you can’t see some ways to improve it.  This second effort really requires critical thinking.  Some people take the word “critical” to mean something negative.  But it really just means that you’re applying a different way of thinking about the piece.  This way of thinking is still based in your feelings and responses, but now instead of simply consuming the piece, you’re actively looking for things which, now that you think about it, didn’t work so well for you.  Or it may be that your initial reading left you feeling very unsatisfied with the piece.  Now, on this second reading you try to figure out why.

Some people combine these two stages or steps, and process their response to a piece very quickly.  This certainly may be appropriate in some cases.  The danger it is that you may stop at the first stage and not want to do the harder work of actually critiquing a piece.  It may be that you don’t feel trained or qualified as a critic.  But you’re not being asked to be the final word on a piece or to write it for the writer.  You’re only being asked to be what you already are, a good reader.  The writer has reached the point where he or she can no longer “see” the piece, and so needs your eyes and ears and heart and mind to know what is really there.

One thing I always ask myself in responding to a piece of writing is What are the terms of this piece?   In other words, what is the writer trying to do?  What is the writer’s intent here?  It’s nearly impossible to have a helpful response if you don’t understand the terms of the piece.  For example, let’s say someone is writing a short story which tries to capture a character who is very analytical, very cold, someone who intellectualizes everything in his life.  The writer writes a first person story in this character’s voice using very abstract, intellectualized language throughout.  Unfortunately, because the language is so abstract and distanced, the story never engages you.  To critique this story, you go through step No. 1, noting your initial reactions, and then you move to step 2, in which you try to grapple with why the story doesn’t engage you and what might be helpful to the writer.  You have figured out what the writer’s intentions were, and determined that the technique didn’t work.  But because you know what the writer is after, you might have some useful ideas that go beyond simply saying It didn’t work for me .  In this case, the writer might need to try a different approach to the material, such as trying it in third person, rather than simply revise here and there.  In another case, you see, for example, that the writer is attempting to be humorous or lighthearted.  Those of the terms of the piece.  You need to address the piece in light of its terms.

So the questions become, What are the terms of this piece?  Does the writer meet them?  It’s not why not, or are the terms themselves off in some way?

Here are some useful questions to ask yourself as a reader:

1.  Did this engage me?  Why or why not?

2.  Did this hold my attention throughout?  Where was I most engaged and why?

3.  Are any things confusing to me?  Could I follow the piece, or were there gaps, or need for more information?  What else did I need to know?

4.   What about the opening?  Did the piece draw me in?  How effective is the first sentence and first paragraph and why or why not?  Did I want to keep reading?

5.  Do things move along?  What is the pace of the piece, and why?  Again, come back to the terms of the piece-what is it trying to do and how well does it succeed, and do you question the terms?

6.  What about language?  How would you describe it?  How does it function in terms of what you feel the writer is trying to do?

7.  What are you “getting” from the piece?  This could be any number of things, but it’s really helpful for you to feed back to the writer what is coming across for you, story or meaning or themes or emotional impact or enjoyment or whatever-wise.  The writer is really hungry to hear what is coming across.

This raises the question of how to receive criticism.  Let it be said that we all want to hear, “I loved it!”  That would be nice every time, wouldn’t it?  But sometimes, often in my case, I sense that my piece is not all it could be, but I’ve reached a point where I don’t know what to do to make it better.  At this point I ask for criticism.  I’ll probably be a little defensive, whether I want to or not.  I’ll certainly want to explain what I was trying to do, and maybe even what everyone is missing!  But I do better if I simply listen, at first, before I “pollute” the conversation about my piece with my explanations, apologies, defenses.  After I’ve heard some initial responses, I may want to enter into the dialogue about the piece.  I try keeping an open mind, and also not to react too strongly to things that are said.  I recognize that the dynamic of the workshop is oblique, mysterious, indirect, and I’m not to take suggestions too literally, at least a first.  I know from my own experience as a critiquer that I can’t really tell another person how to write his story or memoir. I have to trust my own feelings and authority ultimately, but I also recognize that other people can “unstick me” sometimes, give me new energy, open my eyes to something I’m blind to, or look at the piece much more objectively.  Usually it takes some time before the value of the criticisms sink in.  David Huddle puts it this way: “stories yearn towards a state of perfection. It is up to an author to give the story what it wants or needs, and it is up to a critic to help the author discern the story’s desires.”

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What the Reader Needs…

What the Reader Needs…

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This list of considerations for critique work is helpful. I used it step by step in my review.

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This is excellent. I would like to use it for my writing students who are new to the critiquing process.

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Creative Writing Workshops

Chsk. playwriting workshop: writing plays in the 21st century.

Instructor: Heidi Schreck Monday, 3:00pm - 5:45pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This workshop-based class explores the pleasures of writing for the stage through in-depth readings, class discussions, and writing exercises designed to guide students through the process of creating their own one-act play. We will investigate the fundamental principles of dramatic writing through texts such as Aristotle’s Poetics and Elinor Fuchs’s The Death of Character , and explore how some of the greatest playwrights have embraced or deviated from these principles. Readings will also include the work of contemporary playwrights such as Clare Barron, Aleshea Harris, Amy Herzog, Sam Hunter, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, as well as established playwrights María Irene Fornés, Caryl Churchill, Lisa Kron, Harold Pinter, Adrienne Kennedy, Lorraine Hansberry, and Tennessee Williams. Students will be expected to attend two live theater events during the semester, or watch two filmed productions if in-person attendance isn’t possible.

Supplemental Application Information:  No experience in writing in the dramatic form is necessary. Please submit a 5–10 page writing sample (preferably a play, but all genres are acceptable and encouraged). Also, please write a few sentences about a significant theatrical experience (a play read or seen) and how it affected you. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CMFG. Past Selves and Future Ghosts

Instructor:  Melissa Cundieff Please login to the course catalog at my.harvard.edu for meetings times & location Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site As memoirist and author Melissa Febos puts it: “The narrator is never you, and the sooner we can start thinking of ourselves on the page that way, the better for our work. That character on the page is just this shaving off of the person that was within a very particular context, intermingled with bits of perspective from all the time since — it’s a very specific little cocktail of pieces of the self and memory and art … it’s a very weird thing. And then it’s frozen in the pages.” With each essay and work of nonfiction we produce in this workshop-based class, the character we portray, the narrator we locate, is never stagnant, instead we are developing a persona, wrought from the experience of our vast selves and our vast experiences. To that end, in this course, you will use the tools and stylistic elements of creative nonfiction, namely fragmentation, narrative, scene, point of view, speculation, and research to remix and retell all aspects of your experience and selfhood in a multiplicity of ways. I will ask that you focus on a particular time period or connected events, and through the course of the semester, you will reimagine and reify these events using different modes and techniques as modeled in the published and various works we read. We will also read, in their entireties, Melissa Febos's  Body Work: The Radical Work of Personal Narrative,  as well as Hanif Abdurraqib’s  They   Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us , which will aid our discussions and help us to better understand the difference between persona(s) and the many versions of self that inhabit us. Supplemental Application Information:  Applications for this class should include a 2-3 page (double-spaced if prose, single-spaced if poetry) creating writing sample of any genre (nonfiction, fiction, poetry), or combination of genres. Additionally, I ask that students submit a 250-word reflection on their particular relationship with creative writing and why this course appeals to them. This class is open to students of all writing levels and experience. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CMDR. Creative Nonfiction: Departure and Return: "Home" as Doorway to Difference and Identity

Instructor: Melissa Cundieff Please login to the course catalog at my.harvard.edu for meetings times & location Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site

In this workshop-based class, students will be asked to investigate something that directly or indirectly connects everyone: what it means to leave a place, or one's home, or one's land, and to return to it, willingly or unwillingly. This idea is inherently open-ended because physical spaces are, of course, not our only means of departure and/or return-- but also our politics, our genders, our relationships with power, and our very bodies. Revolution, too, surrounds us, on both larger and private scales, as does looking back on what once was, what caused that initial departure. Students will approach "home" as both a literal place and a figurative mindscape. We will read essays by Barbara Ehrenreich, Ocean Vuong, Natasha Sajé, Elena Passarello, Hanif Abdurraqib, Alice Wong, and Eric L. Muller, among others. Supplemental Application Information:  Applications for this class should include a 2-3 page (double-spaced if prose, single-spaced if poetry) creating writing sample of any genre (nonfiction, fiction, poetry), or combination of genres. Additionally, I ask that students submit a 250-word reflection on their particular relationship with creative writing and why this course appeals to them. This class is open to students of all writing levels and experience. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CCDP. Found Poems, Erasures and Other Adventures in Documentary Poetry

Instructor: Tracy K. Smith Tuesday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site

In their quest for clarity, revelation and consolation, poets engage with, reflect upon and speak back to the world in a range of ways. In pursuit of these very same aims, poets also listen closely to what has already been said by others at registers spanning intimate exchange, public discourse and sacred utterance. In this poetry workshop, we’ll engage in an exploration of archival and found materials—letters, news articles, historical texts, police reports, photographs and more—to see what new forms of dialogue they might invite, and what light they might shed upon the questions, concerns and apprehensions of our current time. With readings by Reginald Dwayne Betts, Robin Coste Lewis, Solmaz Sharif, Jay Bernard and others. It will be helpful to enter into the semester with some pre-existing material that you wish to revise (a short story, several chapters of a novel). Previous experience with workshopping writing is encouraged but not required.  Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CGOT. The Other

Instructor:  Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah Thursday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site

In this class, we will consider how literary non-fiction articulates or imagines difference, disdain, conflict, and dislike. We will also discuss the more technical and stylistic elements present in strong non-fiction, like reflection, observation, retrospection, scene-setting, description, complexity, and strong characterization. As we read and write, we will put these theoretical concerns into practice and play by writing two or three profiles about people you do not like, a place you don’t care for, an idea you oppose, or an object whose value eludes you. Your writing might be about someone who haunts you without your permission or whatever else gets under your skin, but ideally, your subject makes you uncomfortable, troubles you, and confounds you. We will interrogate how writers earn their opinion. And while it might be strange to think of literature as often having political aims, it would be ignorant to imagine that it does not. Non-fiction forces us to extend our understanding of point of view not just to be how the story unfolds itself technically–immersive reporting, transparent eyeball, third person limited, or third person omniscient--but also to identify who is telling this story and why. Some examples of the writing that we will read are Guy Debord,  Lucille Clifton, C.L.R. James, Pascale Casanova, W.G. Sebald, Jayne Cortez, AbouMaliq Simone, Greg Tate, Annie Ernaux, Edward Said, Mark Twain, Jacqueline Rose, Toni Morrison, Julia Kristeva, and Ryszard Kapuscinski. Supplemental Application Information:   Please submit a brief letter explaining why you're interested to take this class. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CVLF. Archival Fictions

Instructor:  Valeria Luiselli Wednesday, 12:45-2:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site How do fiction writers interact with official narratives and the archives that support them? This is a course both about fictions created by historical archives, and a course about using fiction to intervene historical archives. If the archive is often historically bound to power, perhaps fiction can act as a destabilizing force, throwing official narratives off balance and offering alternatives to how we can imagine possible futures. In this course we will be examining a series of works –literary, acoustic, photographic, hybrid, and others– that have worked with archives and offer insight into the relationship between document and fiction. Among others, we will be looking at work by Svetlana Alexievich, Michael Ondaatje, Layli Long Soldier, Zoe Leonard, Arlette Farge, Alice Oswald, Humane Borders, and Ecologies of Migrant Care. We will also be working directly with a selection of archives, thinking (and practicing!) ways to intervene and question them. Supplemental Application Information:  Please submit a letter telling me about yourself, and your interests as a reader and writer. Tell me about the reasons why you are interested in this course, including what you expect from both the course and from yourself as a writer working with archives.

Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CPY. Fiction Writing: Workshop

Instructor:  Paul Yoon Monday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students. Course Site

An introductory workshop where we will learn to read as writers and study all aspects of the craft of fiction writing, including such topics as character, point of view, structure, time, and plot. The first weeks will focus heavily on writing exercises and reading contemporary short fiction. Writers we will study will include: Daniyal Mueenuddin, Haruki Murakami, Jenny Erpenbeck, and Tom Drury. As the semester progresses, the focus of the workshop will shift to creating and discussing your own work at the table, along with submitting a final revision project.

Supplemental Application Information:  Please submit ONLY a letter to me. I want to know what your favorite work of fiction is and why; and then tell me something you are passionate about and something you want to be better at; and, lastly, tell me why of all classes you want to take this one this semester. Please no writing samples. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CCSS. Fiction Workshop: The Art of the Short Story

Instructor:  Laura van den Berg Wednesday, 9:00-11:45 am | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This course will serve as an introduction to the fundamentals of writing fiction, with an emphasis on the contemporary short story. How can we set about creating “big” worlds in compact spaces? What unique doors can the form of the short story open? The initial weeks will focus on exploratory exercises and the study of published short stories and craft essays. Later, student work will become the primary text as the focus shifts to workshop discussion. Authors on the syllabus will likely include Ted Chiang, Jonathan Escoffery, Lauren Groff, Edward P. Jones, Ling Ma, Carmen Maria Machado, and Octavia Butler. This workshop welcomes writers of all levels of experience. Supplemental Application Information:  Please submit a letter of introduction. I’d like to know a little about why you are drawn to studying fiction; what you hope to get out of the workshop and what you hope to contribute; and one thing you are passionate about outside writing / school. A writing sample is not required; you will be writing entirely new work for this course.  Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CBW. Fiction Workshop: Bending Worlds

Instructor: Laura van den Berg Tuesday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: TBD Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site Julio Cortázar: “The fantastic breaks the crust of appearance … something grabs us by the shoulders to throw us outside ourselves.” This workshop will explore the art of writing literature that unsettles our understanding of reality, that splits open the world as we know it, allowing us to encounter new possibilities. The initial weeks will focus on exploratory exercises and the study of published short stories and craft essays. Later, student work will become the primary text as the focus shifts to workshop discussion. Authors on the syllabus will likely include Julio Cortázar, Mariana Enríquez, Sofia Samatar, Yoko Ogawa, and Jorge Luis Borges. This workshop welcomes writers of all levels of experience.   Supplemental Application Information:  Please submit a letter of introduction. I’d like to know a little about why you are drawn to studying fiction and to “world-bending” in particular; what you hope to get out of the workshop and what you hope to contribute; and one thing you are passionate about outside writing / school. A writing sample is not required; you will be writing entirely new work for this course.    Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm ET on Saturday, November 4)

English CMCC. Covid, Grief, and Afterimage

Instructor: Melissa Cundieff Wednesday, 3:00-5:45 pm | Location: Barker 269 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site In this workshop-based course we will write about our personal lived experiences with loss and grief born from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as how grief and grieving became a collective experience that is ongoing and persistent, like an afterimage or haunting. As part of our examination, we will consider intersections with other global, historical experiences and depictions of loss, including the murder of George Floyd and the AIDS epidemic. Readings will include essays by Leslie Jamison, Arundhati Roy, Susan Sontag, Eve Tuck and C. Ree, Matt Levin, and Alice Wong, among others. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26) Supplemental Application Information:  Applications for this class should include a 3-5 page (double-spaced if prose, single-spaced if poetry) creating writing sample of any genre (nonfiction, fiction, poetry), or combination of genres. Additionally, I ask that students submit a 250 word reflection on their particular relationship with creative writing and why this course appeals to them. This class is open to students of all writing levels and experience.

Instructor: Melissa Cundieff Wednesday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: Barker 316 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site As memoirist and author Melissa Febos puts it: “The narrator is never you, and the sooner we can start thinking of ourselves on the page that way, the better for our work. That character on the page is just this shaving off of the person that was within a very particular context, intermingled with bits of perspective from all the time since — it’s a very specific little cocktail of pieces of the self and memory and art … it’s a very weird thing. And then it’s frozen in the pages.” With each essay and work of nonfiction we produce in this workshop-based class, the character we portray, the narrator we locate, is never stagnant, instead we are developing a persona, wrought from the experience of our vast selves and our vast experiences. To that end, in this course, you will use the tools and stylistic elements of creative nonfiction, namely fragmentation, narrative, scene, point of view, speculation, and research to remix and retell all aspects of your experience and selfhood in a multiplicity of ways. I will ask that you focus on a particular time period or connected events, and through the course of the semester, you will reimagine and reify these events using different modes and techniques as modeled in the published and various works we read. We will also read, in their entireties, Melissa Febos's  Body Work: The Radical Work of Personal Narrative,  as well as Hanif Abdurraqib’s  They   Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us , which will aid our discussions and help us to better understand the difference between persona(s) and the many versions of self that inhabit us. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26) Supplemental Application Information:  Applications for this class should include a 3-5 page (double-spaced if prose, single-spaced if poetry) creating writing sample of any genre (nonfiction, fiction, poetry), or combination of genres. Additionally, I ask that students submit a 250 word reflection on their particular relationship with creative writing and why this course appeals to them. This class is open to students of all writing levels and experience.

English CVLL. Art of Listening. The Politics and Aesthetics of Sound

Instructor: Valeria Luiselli Wednesday, 12:45-2:45 pm | Location: Lamont 401 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This is a course for anyone who is interested in the politics and aesthetics of sound. We will work on developing listening literacy as writers, thinking of it as a source of narrative craft. We will likewise explore listening as a collective practice that allows for intentional solidarity and creative resistance, both environmental and political. Some of our explorations will include: acoustemology, soundscaping, sound and gender, noise vs sound, archives and voices from the past, aural phenomenology, or the geophony-biophony-anthropophony triad. We will be engaging with a wide range of work from different fields, including: Anne Carson, Alice Oswald, Svetlana Alexievich, Layli Long Soldier, Fred Moten, Gloria Anzaldúa, Steven Feld, Roland Barthes, Arlette Farge, and the Ultra-red International Sound Collective. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26)

English CRGS. The Surrounds: Writing Interiority and Outsiderness

Instructor:  Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah Thursday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: Lamont 401 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site

The essayist, the writer of non-fiction, has historically been an oracle of opinions that most often go unsaid. They do not traditionally reinforce a sense of insular collectivity, instead they often steer us towards a radical understanding of the moment that they write from. The best essayists unearth and organize messages from those most at the margins: the ignored, the exiled, the criminal, and the destitute. So, by writing about these people, the essayist is fated, most nobly or just as ignobly, to write about the ills and aftermaths of their nation’s worse actions. It is an obligation and also a very heavy burden.

In this class we will examine how the essay and many essayists have functioned as geographers of spaces that have long been forgotten. And we read a series of non-fiction pieces that trouble the question of interiority, belonging, the other, and outsiderness. And we will attempt to do a brief but comprehensive review of the essay as it functions as a barometer of the author’s times. This will be accomplished by reading the work of such writers as: Herodotus, William Hazlitt, Doris Lessing, Audre Lorde, Gay Talese, Binyavanga Wainaina, Jennifer Clement, V.S. Naipaul, Sei Shonagon, George Orwell, Ha Jin, Margo Jefferson, Simone White, and Joan Didion. This reading and discussion will inform our own writing practice as we write essays.

Everyone who is interested in this class should feel free to apply.

Supplemental Application Information:   Please submit a brief letter explaining why you're interested to take this class. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26)

English CNFD. Creative Nonfiction

Instructor: Maggie Doherty Tuesday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: Sever 205 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site This course is an overview of the creative nonfiction genre and the many different types of writing that are included within it: memoir, criticism, nature writing, travel writing, and more. Our readings will be both historical and contemporary: writers will include Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Audre Lorde, Hilton Als, and Carmen Maria Machado. During the first half of the semester, we will read two pieces closely; we will use our class discussions to analyze how these writers use pacing, character, voice, tone, and structure to tell their stories. Students will complete short, informal writing assignments during this part of the semester, based on the genre of work we’re discussing that week. During the second half of the semester, each student will draft and workshop a longer piece of creative nonfiction in the genre(s) of their choosing, which they will revise by the end of the semester. Students will be expected to provide detailed feedback on the work of their peers. This course is open to writers at all levels; no previous experience in creative writing is required. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26) Supplemental Application Information:  Please write a letter of introduction (1-2 pages) giving a sense of who you are, your writing experience, and your current goals for your writing. You may also include writers or nonfiction works that you admire, as well as any themes or genres you'd like to experiment with in the course. Please also include a 3-5-page writing sample, ideally of some kind of creative writing (nonfiction is preferred, but fiction would also be acceptable). If you don't have a creative sample, you may submit a sample of your academic writing.

English CLAR. Getting the Words Right: The Art of Revision

Instructor: Laura van den Berg Tuesday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: Barker 222 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Course Site A promising draft is of little use to us as writers if we have no idea what to do next, of how to begin again. This course aims to illuminate how revision can be every bit as creative and exhilarating as getting the first draft down—and how time spent re-imagining our early drafts is the ultimate show of faith in our work. We will explore the art of revision—of realizing the promise of that first draft—through reading, craft discussion, exercises, and workshop. Students can expect to leave the semester with two polished short stories (or 40-50 polished novel pages), a keener understanding of their own writing process, and a plan for where to take their work next. Texts will include  How to Write an Autobiographical Novel  by Alexander Chee,  Refuse to by Done  by Matt Bell, and  Craft in the Real World  by Matthew Salesses. It will be helpful to enter into the semester with some pre-existing material that you wish to revise (a short story, several chapters of a novel). Previous experience with workshopping writing is encouraged but not required. Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Saturday, August 26) Supplemental Application Information:   Please submit a brief letter—1-2 pages—that discusses your interest in the course and in writing more broadly. What are you interested in working on and learning more about, at this point in your practice? Please also submit a short—2-3 page—writing sample (the first 2 pages of a short story or novel, for example).

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Creative Writing Workshop

creative writing workshop critique

This event will take place in person at the 53rd Street Library.

This workshop is designed to help patrons unlock their creative potential.  

We will engage in fun idea generating exercises and work together to get results and find joy in the writing process.

All writers of any experience level are welcome. If you're curious, come check it out!

This workshop, the fourteenth in an ongoing series, will continue to explore foundational writing techniques and best practices.  Prior attendance is not required.

We will also investigate alternative, non-traditional narrative forms, as well as read and discuss short stories and poetry.

Online registration required.

  • Audience: Adults

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  • Words Will Set You Free Creative Writing Workshop
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Join UK Health and Wellness mental health therapists, Eric Wilkinson and Rhonda Henry, for an online creative writing workshop!

Creative writing is a unique form of play that expresses core conditions of being human and can generate feelings of joy, connection, compassion and healing.

Whether you have experience with creative writing or not, this workshop will help you liberate yourself from the daily habits of the mind and welcome some flow.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

12:00pm - 1:00pm, eric wilkinson, msw, lcsw.

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Rhonda Henry, MSW, LCSW

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Fire at coke and gas plant near Moscow

An explosion has occurred in a workshop belonging to the Moscow Coke and Gas Plant in the town of Vidnoye near Moscow.

Source : Kremlin-aligned news outlet TASS, referencing the press service of the regional directorate of the Russian Emergencies Ministry

Quote: "Town district of Vidnoye, 13 Belokamennoye highway (coke and gas plant), a bang in the workshop. A petrol hand pump is on fire <...>. A 20-by-10-metre, 20-metre-high building is on fire," the source said.

Details: According to a TASS source in the emergency services, the fire has engulfed an area of 200 square metres, that is, the entire building.

For reference: Moscow Coke and Gas Plant JSC (Moskoks) produces coke, benzene and coal tar. The company is part of Mechel PJSC.

Ukraine included the company in its sanctions list on 29 January 2023.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron !

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Moscow Coke and Gas Plant

Moscow Coke and Gas Plant’s base in central Russia provides it with an advantageous geographic location and easy access to stable consumer markets, which make the plant one of Moscow Region’s best enterprises.

creative writing workshop critique

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  3. One-Day Writing & Critique Workshop

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    creative writing workshop critique

  6. 😝 Critique format example. How to write Critique With Examples. 2022-10-30

    creative writing workshop critique

COMMENTS

  1. PDF Workshop Critiques

    Creative Writing: Workshop Critiques Creative Writing Workshop Critiques A Brief Overview of Written Critiques Writing workshops are beneficial for everyone involved; authors have the opportunity to gain insight on readers' responses, without trying to explain and/or defend the work. The author is to silently observe the class discussion

  2. Deep habits: Workshop as critique in creative writing

    Abstract. The creative writing workshop, involving peer critique of manuscripts in progress, is deeply connected to many writerly habits of mind. As such, this article examines workshop as a signature pedagogy in creative writing. Through workshop, students develop awareness of their readers, understanding of how texts are created by readers ...

  3. Unsilencing the Writing Workshop ‹ Literary Hub

    This is called workshop, the traditional foundation of creative writing programs. When I asked a group of writers how they would describe their workshop experiences, responses included: crushing, nightmare, hazing ritual, test of endurance, awful, ugh. I've heard of students drinking before their workshops; I've heard of students crying in ...

  4. Writing Effective Workshop Critiques

    Produce effective writing workshop critiques—and improve your own work in the process. For the uninitiated, the critiques or reader's notes required of an MFA writing workshop, or any other workshop, can lead to heart palpitations. After all, you won't only be writing them—you'll be receiving them too. Read on to learn how to develop effective writer's workshop notes that not only support ...

  5. Scribophile: The writing group and online writing workshop for serious

    Improve your writing,at any skill level. Our writing group welcomes writers of all skill levels — from beginners to published authors, and every writer in between. Each critique you receive on your manuscript is a fresh perspective for you to incorporate. Our bustling writing forums feature writers discussing the craft twenty-four hours a day.

  6. How to Workshop Creative Writing

    Praise what's working in the piece. Writers need to know what resonates and where to build from. Every piece of writing has something working well. Be specific in your feedback. For example, "I love this" is less helpful than "I love how your description of the character's. Consider the author's intent with the piece.

  7. Critique Services

    3. Make your payment. You may pay via US personal check, bank draft in US dollars, or PayPal, a service that allows you to charge the cost to a credit card. 4. Mail the following four items to this address: Odyssey Critique Service. P. O. Box 75. Mont Vernon, NH 03057. The printed copy of your submission.

  8. Deep habits: Workshop as critique in creative writing

    Ways of seeing through desk critique: intertextuality as a pedagogical... 'Things living in the cyber-universe': facilitating peer workshopping ... Signature Pedagogies in Collaborative Creative Learning in Advanced Mu... Shifting the power dynamics in the Creative Writing workshop: assessin... If you have access to journal content via a ...

  9. Deep habits: Workshop as critique in creative writing

    The creative writing workshop, involving peer critique of manuscripts in progress, is deeply connected to many writerly habits of mind. As such, this article examines workshop as a signature pedagogy in creative writing.

  10. How to Give Feedback in a Writing Workshop or Critique Group

    How to Give Positive and Negative Feedback on Creative Writing. Make your comments specific. Use the STAR method to comment. Be prepared to accept criticism yourself. Be fair and balanced in your comments. Keep emotion out of the equation. Be generous with compliments. 1. Make Your Feedback Specific.

  11. Boldface 101: the Creative Writing Peer Review

    Don't worry! This week's installment of Boldface 101 introduces you to the process of giving and receiving peer reviews. First and foremost, we urge you to prepare in advance. Thinking deeply about your critiques and making meaningful comments is important. Your classmates are there for the same reasons you are—to improve their writing.

  12. How to Critique Creative Writing

    To critique this story, you go through step No. 1, noting your initial reactions, and then you move to step 2, in which you try to grapple with why the story doesn't engage you and what might be helpful to the writer. You have figured out what the writer's intentions were, and determined that the technique didn't work.

  13. Critters Writers Workshop

    Critique.org is an on-line workshop/critique group for serious writers, singers, musicians, songwriters, filmmakers, photographers, artists, web developers, app developers, etc. - think of an online creative writing course (or online songwriting course, singing course, photogrphy course, film course, etc.). Critters is the on-line workshop/critique group for serious Science Fiction/Fantasy ...

  14. Critique Circle

    England. "Critique Circle is my new favorite writing workshop! I might just make it my new Home Page!". E. Madison Cawein, Wenatchee,WA. 98801 USA. "Critique Circle has a wide variety of writers who are happy to share their knowledge and experience.

  15. Creative Writing Workshops

    Creative Writing Workshops. CHSK. Playwriting Workshop: Writing Plays in the 21st Century. Instructor: Heidi Schreck. Monday, 3:00pm - 5:45pm | Location: TBD. Enrollment: Limited to 12 students. Course Site. This workshop-based class explores the pleasures of writing for the stage through in-depth readings, class discussions, and writing ...

  16. Creative Writing Workshop

    Online registration required. This event will take place in person at the 53rd Street Library. This workshop is designed to help patrons unlock their creative potential. We will engage in fun idea generating exercises and work together to get results and find joy in the writing process. All writers of any experience level are welcome.

  17. Deep habits: Workshop as critique in creative writing

    The creative writing workshop, involving peer critique of manuscripts in progress, is deeply connected to many writerly habits of mind. As such, this article examines workshop as a signature ...

  18. Creative Writing Workshop to Spotlight Local History

    The Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County will host a creative writing workshop led by Hopkinsville Community College English professor Elizabeth Burton on Tuesday, February 27. Burton will guide participants in using historical objects from the museum's collection as a catalyst for creativity. People will be allowed to explore ...

  19. Deep habits: Workshop as critique in creative writing

    The creative writing workshop, involving peer critique of manuscripts in progress, is deeply connected to many writerly habits of mind. As such, this article examines workshop as a signature pedagogy in creative writing. Through workshop, students develop awareness of their readers, understanding of how texts are created by readers and through process, and abilities to problem-solve in drafts ...

  20. Vidnoye Map

    Vidnoye Vidnoye is a city and the administrative center of Leninsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located 3 kilometers south of Moscow city limits. Population ...

  21. Writespace on Instagram: "You're already a writer. You've got a

    9 likes, 0 comments - writespacehouston on February 19, 2024: "You're already a writer. You've got a manuscript of some kind you're trying to get down on ..."

  22. Critters Writers Workshop

    Critique.org is an on-line workshop/critique group for serious writers, singers, musicians, songwriters, filmmakers, photographers, artists, web developers, app developers, etc. - think of an online creative writing course (or online songwriting course, singing course, photogrphy course, film course, etc.). Critters is the on-line workshop/critique group for serious Science Fiction/Fantasy ...

  23. Words Will Set You Free Creative Writing Workshop

    Creative writing is a unique form of play that expresses core conditions of being human and can generate feelings of joy, connection, compassion and healing. Whether you have experience with creative writing or not, this workshop will help you liberate yourself from the daily habits of the mind and welcome some flow. Registration will open.

  24. Fire at coke and gas plant near Moscow

    An explosion has occurred in a workshop belonging to the Moscow Coke and Gas Plant in the town of Vidnoye near Moscow. Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet TASS, referencing the press service of the regional directorate of the Russian Emergencies Ministry Quote: "Town district of Vidnoye, 13 Belokamennoye highway (coke and gas plant), a bang in the workshop.

  25. Moscow Coke and Gas Plant

    Moscow Coke and Gas Plant's base in central Russia provides it with an advantageous geographic location and easy access to stable consumer markets, which make the plant one of Moscow Region's best enterprises. All the coke the plant produces is meant for metallurgical use and is successfully marketed both domestically and internationally ...

  26. FLASH on Twitter: "⚡An explosion occurred in the workshop of a coke and

    ⚡An explosion occurred in the workshop of a coke and gas plant in Vidnoye near Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported. Then the fire started. The cause of the incident is unknown. There is no information about the victims. 👉 @Flash_news_ua . 05 Mar 2023 20:14:32