10 Most Common Workshop Bloopers

Almost all of the following student comments have some validity. They also, however, invite or promote a number of troubles in any discussion of your poems or stories. At the very least, they are each questionable; a drag, a cop-out, an evasion; a discussion-stopper and a reflection of inexperience. At some point in the semester, we may discuss how and why they cause problems—even though they're not exactly "wrong."

1. “I meant for those lines or that passage to be confusing.”
   
   

Or: “I wanted it to be vague and general on purpose.”

2. “I like this poem because I too had a red bicycle when I was 10 years old.”

Or: “I didn’t care for this story. The characters are all late-middle-aged lawyers and CEOs in Manhattan and I’m a 19-year old livestock management major in North Dakota.”

3. “I don’t revise. My poems [stories] come out a certain way the first time and they’re done.”

4. “This story [poem] is stupid.”

5. Teacher: “Offer some observations about and insights into this poem."
   Student: “I didn’t like it.”

6. “I don’t think we should criticize this poem. Everyone’s got their opinion and poetry’s about whatever you want it to be.”
   
   

Or: “This story means whatever you want it to mean.”

7. “Poetry is writing that is completely free."
   
   
8. “This poem is about a heartbreaking experience and so we shouldn’t criticize it.”
   
   
9. “I just whipped this poem out right before class.”

Or: “I wrote this story in about 5 minutes and don’t really care about it.”

Or: “I had to get something in by the deadline so I turned this poem in. Ha ha.”

10. “This poem was hard to understand so I stopped reading it.”

Other Thoughts

Keep in mind that workshops are not just editing sessions. It's perfectly ok to tell a writer about some mechanical flaw in their work, or to discuss formal problems such as weak plot, flat characters or whatnot. But we're not there just to "fix" a story or a poem. An unfinished story or poem can go in many directions, and I see our task as helping the writer consider and explore the best possibilities. To a large extent, workshop is about understanding the whole muddy, gummy, goofy, groovy world of literary art. That is, we're also there to better understand poetry, fiction, and writing itself. You should expect our workshop discussions to occasionally take some odd and interesting turns, digressions...and to venture out beyond strict attention to what's on a worksheet. These digressions are inevitable, in part because no work exists in a void, separate from social and political considerations. And in part because, well, writers just like to talk. About everything.

And one final thought. Workshops (for the most part, or for our purposes) are about student writing, not students as people. Voicing a reservation about someone's work is not an attack, and certainly not an attack on that person as a human being. In some ways your writing is indeed your "identity"—your writing actually constructs, reflects, or otherwise heavily invests your identity—but for the purpose of successful workshopping, it's usually best to keep your writing and your personal identity or ego separate. If someone's work personally offends another class member, there may be genuinely important issues at stake and we may discuss the problem. But just remember that editorial critique is not the same thing as personal attack.

This is all about making our writing better. And we're certainly not here to just flatter each other and pat each other on the back. Nothing but positive, flattering comments do nothing to help a person become a better writer. Our aim is balanced, useful, thought-provoking feedback, and discussions about issues near and far that relate to the writing life.

I will post a thread in our Blackboard Discussion Board where we can continue workshop discussions from any given session, raise concerns, ask questions, politely vent, etc.

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