Image source: Free-Photos on Pixabay, edited with GIMP
The Value of “Workshopping” Your Writing and Receiving Feedback
There is an expression among writing communities that is rather sardonic: Kill your darlings.
Terrible, isn’t it?
But there’s a reason for this expression. It means we must not get too attached to our precious words, or turns of phrase, or even certain scenes. Their only real purpose may be to engage our vanity. Since one of the primary challenges with writing is that it is a very solitary pursuit, we typically need others to tell us when something doesn’t work. And yes, this may mean that we have to kill our darlings.
That brings us to the topic of “workshopping.” This is the process of getting peer reviews of your creative writing so you can improve it.
How Do Writing Workshops Work?
Writing workshops are groups of people who get together to support one another in the writing journey and critique one another’s work. They can be in-person or virtual, and can be very informal or part of a university or other program.
I have been in a virtual workshop for several years with members from various places around the world. We have never met in person, and likely never will. But these are people I trust to tell me the truth. I wouldn’t have it any other way. If something I have written doesn’t work for them, they tell me so.
Why Is It So Hard to Receive Critique?
It can be very hard at first. We love our words. They sprang from the muse, didn't they? This is artistic expression! Doesn’t that mean we should leave those words alone, just as they were when they were born?
No. It doesn’t. Trust me.
The best thing you can do for yourself as a writer is to welcome feedback. It is gold!
What Can You Learn from Critique?
Words are fickle. They might make sense in your mind, but leave someone else wincing in an effort to “get” what your story is trying to say. You need someone else to tell you that, or you might not ever know:
Here are some things that you might learn from critique of your writing:
- Whether the plot makes sense to readers.
- Whether they can “see” the setting of the story as they read.
- If your characters are interesting, and if the reader can related to them.
- If your dialog seems realistic or cheesy.
- Whether your story arc is strong, and the resolution is a satisfying payoff.
- If you have sentence structure to correct, grammar issues, spelling, or other errors that you can’t see because you’re too close to it.
The most important thing is that other people will see things that you don’t. They are reading your work with fresh eyes.
You don’t need a formal workshop to get the benefits. You could turn to a fellow writer you see here in The Ink Well and ask if they want to exchange stories prior to submitting them to a contest. If you and another writer each take one day to read one another’s stories and provide ideas for improvement, you may be surprised how this one simple step can make all the difference.
Getting Feedback from The Ink Well Team
We have a dream of growing The Ink Well into a truly flourishing writing community. Currently, we do not have the resources to provide critique services in a formal manner. However, you may find that we provide suggestions on your story for things to think about that could help you improve your writing.
It may sting sometimes, but if you welcome that feedback and learn from it, you will find that it can help you grow!
Happy writing!
@jayna, writer and moderator at The Ink Well.
If you're looking to up your fiction game and reach that next level, check out my past writing tips linked below.
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There is really a lot of truth to this, and it reminds me of college and having people proof-read your papers and essays. For the most part, when you yourself write something, you know exactly what it is you're trying to say, and it makes perfect sense to you. Maybe not so much to anyone else, and that's where the critique comes in.
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.Yes, exactly. We have fully formed ideas in our heads, but they may not have translated to the page in a way that another person can follow.
Absolutely right. Honest criticism, the one that often hurts your ego when your writing has errors, is the best food for continuing to write and doing better in the future.
!ENGAGE 25 :)
ENGAGEtokens.Receiving feedback also toughens up our egos, so we can truly improve and grow.
I agree with you!
Oh please, I want to have your critique so I can grow. I want to know as you mentioned above if my story will be interesting or the story arc and etc.
That is awesome to hear, @mrnightmare.net. We are currently sprinkling feedback onto stories as time allows. Thank you for being open to learning and growing as a writer! That will help you more than you can imagine.
Writing Prize? The closing date is Monday 7 September - still time!Hello @mrnightmare.net, have you entered the
I'm still thinking about what kind of plot I'm going to write. This is a contest so I should think it carefully. Thanks for the reminder by the way.
😁
!ENGAGE 25
You're doing great at commenting on posts - keep going!
ENGAGEtokens.I would love to participate, criticism is not easy, but to improve one
Hello @yolimarag, have you posted in The Ink Well yet? Perhaps have a look at some of the posts by other writers in the community and leave them a vote and a comment. That will help build your confidence :)
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.I have gotten a lot of feedback since writing every day on Steem/Hive for 15 months ... it DOES make a difference and help you improve!
It really is great, especially once you get used to it. It can take a bit of an adjustment, but when you open you mind to hearing about what you can improve it can make an enormous difference!
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.I really want to participe.
That's great! One way to build your network and get feedback is to visit posts by other writers in The Ink Well and leave them a vote and a comment. It's easiest way to grow your audience and get feedback from them!
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.👋 Hi @theinkwell, I was flipping through the blockchain and stumbled on your work! You've been upvoted by Sketchbook / a community for design and creativity. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon.
✅ Join the Sketchbook Community
I remember @carolkean mentioning something about some of the lines coming off awkward. Thanks to that feedback alone I realized how much I force rhymes sometimes, so I switched to free writings while I work on that.
Having a feedback is great, especially from people with such literature arsenal on this community.
@carolkean is wonderful at providing useful feedback! Good for you for being open to it!
Yes, she is. And of course, how else to improve?
And who am I to talk, when I look to Joyce Carol Oates as a role model, she who breaks the rules, writing in a breathless rush of sentence fragments and purple prose.
"Literature arsenal" - now there's a great image!Thank you, Jayna and @amirtheawesome1 ... in the past I may have been too opinionated or too severe with feedback, and now I worry I did it again, but I always add the disclaimer that English as a second language is formidable. Even native English writers produce awkward syntax, "under the age of 50" in particular, I often lament, blaming our school systems for failing to teach command of the language as our last-century teachers did.
Feedback and criticism, to me at least, are the highest form of caring. Be it about a person through seeing value in their work, or just about the community in search of improving it. I post all different type of posts in all different communities. I continuously find myself, almost automatically, coming to post here before I even have an idea what is on my mind due to the engagement from the members as well as the mods. Only on this community have I seen mods actually caring about their members.
I could go on forever at the risk of coming off as bootlicking, but long story short, thank you.
Boot licking - LOL!! - first, you're most welcome, and thank YOU for your kind words. You have no idea how much I needed them on this day. I've been a recluse, withholding comment, seeking to practice The Mortification of Silence, having caused too many friends and peers to slam doors in my face when I dared to offer my honest opinion on something, even things that seem impersonal or random (e.g., a neighbor would get defensive and angry with me if I mentioned garlic mustard, as if I were accusing her of failing to fight an invasive species and making a character judgment--how could she think that of me? Imagine I was directing a public rant about an invasive species just to her? It's not as if I tagged her--this was Facebook--but some people are always spoiling for a fight).
BUT, but, but, some writers actually do welcome feedback, not just praise and upvotes, but actual, honest responses, with suggestions for how to (maybe, in my opinion) improve their writing.
Thank you again for your kind words. Maybe I'll start venturing out of hibernation more often!
I think overall the world is angrier. I do these long posts where I dive deep into a subject and talk about. Like the one about "The Story" I posted here, you can see my blog for more examples. Anyway, it seems like social media, T.V and even movies are leading the world into depression and in turn frustration and anger. It is why I moved into a site like this.
I have a LOOONG theory about why people assign intent, but they do. Long story short, that reaction overall is more about them than about you. I am a Muslim, but if someone near me says something like "I hate Islam" or even "I hate Muslims" I don't get offended because it is not about me and they have reasons that I could either pursue to change his mind or overlook them. Getting angry in the end is SO easy.
Just upvotes and praise means your work is perfect basically, feedback means it is not. The only way to improve is the latter. And you should be venturing out of hibernation more often.
I'd love to read your theories about how people assign intent! People hear me say stupid things and ascribe it to malice, but I have never knowingly offended; just thoughtlessly, stupidly; and yes, with a degree in English and decades of living, I should by now be able to comprehend how things I say will sound to the listener. But I never anticipate the slammed doors, the anger, the reactions to things I say. How can I be so inept? "Mortification of Silence" is what I must practice, but I forever keep offering feedback instead, not just to writers and bloggers, but friends and family. People don't really want to know what we think. They want affirmations. They want trophies, upvotes, rewards, but not constructive criticism. The occasional exception (a writer like you) is what keeps me from remaining in hibernation. Thanks for your thoughts on this. You sound very wise! Getting angry is the usual knee-jerk reaction. Trying to see where the commenter is coming from: who does that? You do! And that gives me hope. :)
"We have never met in person, and likely never will. But these are people I trust to tell me the truth. I wouldn’t have it any other way."
Yes!
(And sometimes, rarely, we do somehow meet face to face.)
"Never!" he barked angrily.
I've spent thousands of hours reading and commenting on other people's words, and I had to step back and try to regain my stories, but they are still in hiding. They cower in a dusty cupboard, remembering the harsh judgments and forgetting the praise. And in workshops you may get both ridicule and praise in equal measure, which makes it all the more confusing and hard to discern: what to use, and what to lose (so much advice! so often conflicting advice!).
And now I have used up my exclamation points for a month. :)
Thank you Jayna for these thoughtful writing tips! #Kill your darlings - words, scenes, phrases, even certain characters, may need to be weeded out of your story or poem. We are told to write what we'd want to read and ignore those who don't like it, but that has to be balanced with being blind to our own shortcomings and not the best judges of our own work. A thin line to walk. Some writers will never part with their semi-colons, their head-hopping or omniscient POV, their exclamation marks (only one! per book! should ever! be allowed!). Some writers love -ly words and variations on said: