Essay 1: Option 1z: Describe and evaluate workshops / draft exchanges.

Rachel Davis

Helping Others to Help Yourself

            Creative Writing was my first experience with a class formatted around the model of a workshop, while also incorporating draft exchanges. Needless to say, on the first day of class when these concepts were explained in detail, I felt very anxious about sharing my work with an entire classroom full of my peers. I found myself sitting next to a very friendly girl who I recognized from a few of my other classes. I immediately requested to work with her on the draft exchange process so I would not have to venture too far out of my comfort zone by working with a complete stranger. I also decided, based on the assumed vulnerability of being the center of a workshop, that the thought of sharing a piece of poetry with the class would be more difficult than sharing a fiction piece. My personal experience with writing poetry taught me that poetry can be very revealing of a person’s true character, and the idea of putting myself on display for the class was daunting.

However, after the first workshop experience I was intrigued and, in many ways, comforted by the newfound dynamic of group work within the creative writing process. Throughout the semester, I continued to thoroughly enjoy and believe in the power and productivity of the workshop atmosphere. My understanding of the impact of the workshop and draft exchange processes evolved continually through the semester as my experience effectively broadened my opinions. The workshop and draft exchange processes proved to be a very effective tool in organizing our Creative Writing course, and completing the course objectives outlined in the syllabus. Usually, the student looks at course objectives on the first day of class as the syllabus is being reviewed, but does not give them any thought after that. However, the workshop and draft exchange processes actually emphasized and reincorporated the course objectives into our nightly learning experience.

            The conventional image of the creative writer as a lone soul, working for hours to perfect their treasured manuscript, almost seems to limit the availability of creative writing as an outlet for anyone who is inspired to write. This conventional image was directly contradicted and proven untrue within the context of the workshop and draft exchange processes. Despite personal differences, backgrounds, morals, or interests, every class member was able to explore creative writing in a way that worked for them. Although members of the class probably entered with varying levels of experience, interest, and skill in creative writing, it was through working together that we all expanded and developed ourselves as creative geniuses. By cooperating together, each individual was able to draw upon the knowledge, ideas and experience of the class as a whole within a very positive, yet technically critical, environment.

Not only is the idea of working together to produce the best possible product great practice for everyone in positively participating in group dynamics, and mutual respect, but the process of group work also greatly increases confidence in one’s work. It can be difficult for some to muster the courage to read aloud any creative work, which is potentially very personal. However, by overcoming this obstacle, students learn to trust their peers as well as their own abilities in addition to generating a deeper sense of pride for their work. The workshop and draft exchange process also fosters the idea of wanting to help others with their writing ventures. Editing drafts, brainstorming ideas, and working to help someone improve their draft are all techniques that can help the individual hone their own skills in creative writing.  In other words, helping others to perfect their work is a way in which one can improve their own creative skills through practice.

One of the most essential impacts of the workshop and draft exchange processes is the emphasis on revision. Revision is a process that most people are familiar with, but not experienced in. Revision is not simply one step in the writing process. Revision is a process in itself and has to be repeated many times to be effective. The workshop and draft exchange processes illustrated this idea by promoting multiple revisions by multiple editors. In fact, I personally experienced a greater desire to revise, revise, and revise again after participating in the workshop because so many new ideas were brought to my attention. According to the Three Genres text, that provided a valuable resource throughout the course, revision is one of the most important aspects of the writing process. It is through revision that a piece is refined and fully developed. The workshop and draft exchange processes proved to be the most effective avenue of revision because through each process flaws in the piece are recognized and hopefully corrected. The difference between revision through the draft exchange or workshop processes and individual revision is very important. It is much easier to recognize weaknesses in a draft when it is read aloud or read by another student. If a draft is confusing or misleading to peers who are also involved in creative writing, it will probably be even more so to the average reader.

My interpretation of the workshop and draft exchange processes is that they are overall very effective in fostering the creative writing process. I feel, however, that the workshop is actually more effective than the draft exchange on its own. I submitted my poetry piece for the draft exchange and received great feedback from Amanda that proved to be very helpful. I liked that the draft exchanges were done via email, because it makes it much easier to edit someone’s work on a critical level when you do not have to deal with the face to face pressure of avoiding being overly-critical. Also, it seemed easier to accept, or reject, criticism and ideas on paper as opposed to face to face. However, after revising my piece from the feedback I received in the draft exchange, I wished I could have had the opportunity to workshop the piece as well. I noticed in his essay “It Takes a Workshop,” author Jonathan Moeller agrees with this idea, stating, “ I found the draft exchanges were not as helpful as the workshop. … In the workshop, ideas build on top of each other to create powerful suggestions.” The draft exchanges were productive, but not as effective as the workshop. The main difference being that through the draft exchange we are more limited in the number, and variety, of opinions and ideas because it is a one on one process. The best solution, in my opinion, is to combine the workshop and draft exchange processes, requiring both from each student to further the development of their piece. 

The workshop experience was at first intimidating, but ended up being a truly enlightening process. I really enjoyed watching the class work together on each piece to provide a multitude of options or opinions for development. My favorite aspect of the workshop was watching how quickly ideas bounce back and forth between students, and especially how easily one idea could spawn a myriad of other ideas from other classmates. I feel as though the workshop atmosphere depends, in large part, on the attitude of the professor and students involved. I was fortunate to experience the workshop with a professor who believed in trusting the students to determine the pace of the workshop, to inspire original ideas, and to be responsible for helping each other perfect our work. Taking a step back is, in my opinion, essential for the professor to do in a course like this to eliminate, or alleviate, the pressure of scrutiny by a professional in creative writing. Creative writing is not necessarily a science, and if the classroom was dominated by an overbearing professor, the workshop atmosphere would not foster into as productive an environment as I experienced. Further, I feel I was also very lucky to be put in a class with peers who were creative, confident, passionate and most importantly, respectful of everyone. It would be easy for the workshop to falter if the students did not believe in what they were working towards. This semester, our class entire class was made up of students who respected and enjoyed creative writing. This drive to fully experience the creative writing process through workshops was entirely fueled by the dedication of my classmates, which I am very grateful for.

A second aspect of the workshop process that I felt was essential to its success was the role of the discussion leader. The discussion leader is responsible for maintaining a good pace within the workshop by inspiring the class with questions for them to answer about the piece being worked on, or with questions for the author to answer, which may spawn more ideas from the class. However, I feel the true importance of the discussion leader lies more in their role as an ally to the writer than their actual participation in leading discussion throughout the workshop. I noticed that these sentiments were echoed by former student Melissa Jones, who feels that “having a peer sit at the front of the room with me was reassuring. It was as though that person was on my side no matter what the rest of the class said about my piece…” I personally found a lot of comfort with my discussion leader, mainly because she had prior exposure to my piece and was able to give some positive words of encouragement before I nervously read it to the entire class. My experience was that the discussion leader was not really needed to keep the class on track with the workshop, mainly because our class was very into the process anyway. However, I think the discussion leader is an essential piece in the workshop puzzle because they help take some of the pressure off the author who is in the spotlight.

If I were to make any changes to the draft exchange or workshop process they would be essentially minimal. First, I would require draft exchanges and a workshop for each student’s piece. However, since time constraints are obviously a concern, requiring the student to do a second or third draft exchange with a peer from class could possibly mediate between just doing a workshop and just doing a draft exchange. This option would give the author more opinions on their piece that would not be workshopped by the class. Second, I would think about changing the responsibilities of the discussion leader to include having that person read the piece that is being workshopped. This could be more effective than the author reading his own piece, because when someone else reads your work out loud it is easier to recognize if things do not sound how you intended. Finally, I would always require the class to do the workshop at their desks, while facing each other in a circular form. The idea of editing drafts on the computer as we workshop seemed like it would be productive but I felt that it didn’t really work well. In addition, I would also require the pieces to be printed out and given to the students to make edits or notes on. Receiving ten copies of my fiction piece from my classmates with all kinds of different edits and ideas was very useful when I sat down to work on revision. Plus, for shyer students it is much easier to write out their comments on the draft and give it to the author instead of voicing all their opinions aloud.

Overall, I feel that the biggest benefits to structuring a creative writing class around workshops and draft exchanges are the emphasis on revision through the use of collective editing, as well as the promotion of confidence in oneself and ones abilities as a writer. I could not imagine another format for a creative writing class that would prove as effective as the workshop and draft exchange processes. I also could not imagine another class where these processes would work as well as they did. The organized, yet free-flowing atmosphere of the workshop is an experience I gained immensely from, will never forget, and hope to implement somewhere in my future to further working together in a group setting to achieve a goal and increase confidence in one’s abilities when being critiqued by their peers.