The Danger of Writing Workshops

Many people have considered writing workshops to be an optimal tool in harnessing their writing abilities. You receive feedback, usually have someone more experienced as a leader or facilitator of discussions, and learn 'tools of the trade.' However, few people consider the danger associated with this groups to your writing ability, and how they can lead you down a dangerous road to monotony.

Consider for one, the many things you hear from writing workshops. When there is a part that is bad they will say, "it doesn't flow right." "It's not believable." "This doesn't sound good." It is great that now you have an honest opinion. However, consider it's source and what they are really saying. You are most likely hearing this from someone who has never published before. A friend once said this to me about working out, "look at the person's body before taking their advice." I suggest the same here. If they have not published before, then this meaningless advice is just that, meaningless.

But they are a potential reader and they have pointed out something wrong. OK, but what really is it? The "flow" of it? A very ambiguous term, and normally when pressed they find it difficult to give a true answer about the real problem they heard. So you know there is something wrong, but you have no idea what is it and thereby cannot properly fix it. You are now in a dangerous land where everything second guessed and you keep going back, asking yourself "is this alright now? Does it flow correctly?" Instead of worrying about the real point of the story, the story itself.

There is also the danger of the teachers at these workshops. Most of them are commercial writers. For those of you who do not mind have rising action, falling action, climax, and other conventional tools shoved down your throat, then there is no problem here. For those making art out of writing, this is dangerous. You are inducted now into the norm, and with others under the stigma that these tools are the only proper ones, you have indoctrinated yourself and are trapped within the clutches of normal writing.

While workshops can be good for those looking to be the next Stephen King, for those who wish to create art and test the true levels of writing (I would say people like James Tiptree Jr. and Paul Auster belong in this category) this workshops are traps. The best way to learn writing is not a workshop, but to sit down and write. A great writer is almost always a voracious reader, and you know when something sounds bad. Edit your piece, and you can make perfection of it without the use of workshops telling you where to go and what to write.