Wandering Around the Workshop

While this is not my first workshop, it has been quite a long time since the last one I had been involved with. So let me begin by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed partaking in it.  It was a fun process and by following it, it actually offered me ideas of what I might be able to do better.

I often find that when most people think of a critique that associate it with the idea of ripping someone’s work apart making fun of mistakes and generally writing a scathing review or there is the lofty praise comparing a work to some other persons work that has won the affections of the person doing the critique.  If any of them had the chance to sit in on a true workshop critique then I think that there would be a very different opinion on the matter.

I believe that requiring a solution to every point you made in the story was a great idea.  I think is pretty easy for someone to say that you can do something better, but justifying how it could be done better is definitely a good point.  It also allows the writer to hear ideas that they may not have thought of.  I personally have a problem with thinking it out in my head and then realizing that because I said it in my head that I did not say it in my own writing.

The atmosphere of the workshop was relaxed, and that helps when you are on the receiving end of a critique.  When you are not on the defensive you do tend to be more open to advice, or at least that has been my experience.

I am kind of looking forward to my peer review; I am interested to see what people thought of my work and what they could suggest to offer my story a more character and depth.