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The Writer Workshop Weekly News #1! View this email online
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| | January 20, 2020
Issue #17 |
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Hello Writers!
This week has brought novelists, storytellers, essayists, and a playwright to The Writer Workshop. I love getting to work with so many talented writers.
A shout out and welcome to the many new writers who have joined the mailing list over the past few weeks. I look forward to meeting you and helping you with your Work-in-Progress.
In addition to the four weekly workshops and two prompt writing events, this week also includes a Writer Q&A Round Table night on Thursday (7pm). For over a decade I've been helping writers become better at their craft, as well as building an audience and readership. Come armed with your questions about anything related to writing, publishing, audience building, author self promotion, or building an online presence and I'll share all my knowledge and information with you.
Just a reminder: Join us on Meetup for all the latest offerings and to RSVP for workshops and classes.
As always, please reply to this message and introduce yourself and let me know what I can help you with. What types of events are you most interested in attending? What king of help would you like with writing or your road to publication?
Enjoy the journey!
Gregory
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Events: January 13-19
Monday, 1/20: 7pm Writer Workshop ($5) Tuesday, 1/21: 7pm Fiction through Prompts ($10) Wednesday, 1/22: 1pm Writer Workshop ($5) Wednesday, 1/22: 7pm LGBTQ+ Writer Workshop ($5) Thursday, 1/23: 7pm Author Platform Building ($10) Friday, 1/24: CLOSED Saturday, 1/25: 12pm Writer Workshop ($5) Sunday, 1/26: 2pm Fiction through Prompts ($10)
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| | What Works...and What doesn't
by Gregory A. Kompes
When I teach my English composition students how to begin critiquing their peer's work they are often hesitant. So many of them don't feel "qualified" to offer critique or feedback because they're new to writing themselves. I'm often asked, "How can I critique someone when I don't feel I know what I'm doing with writing."
It's a good question.
But, we all know far more than we give ourselves credit for. We've been reading books and articles and textbooks and cookbooks and blogs and letters and emails and all sort of written work almost our entire lives. We also watch television shows and movies. And, hopefully, we were read to as children. All of this consumption of content gives us a foundation in storytelling...and thus a foundation from which to offer feedback to others.
So, to help my students learn to critique, I offer two statements as prompts to get them talking about the work-in-progress:
1. What Works?
When offering feedback and critique, it's important to let the writer know what's working well. What do you like about their story or essay or memoir or stage play. What have they written that moved you? What phrases or sentences sounded wonderful and evoked the senses. When we know what others like, we can create more of it.
2 What doesn't work?
Next, explore what didn't work for you in the text. What phrases or words did you stumble on? Have they offered incorrect word choices? Has the point of view changed? Could they use more emotion or words the evoke the senses? Has the whole passage been written in a passive way with "to be" verbs instead of active verbs? On and on...
And, no matter what you think of a piece of writing, I always recommend "no blood on the floor" critiquing. What does that mean? It means we critique the writing and not the writer. No matter what the content of the work, it's for us to comment on how it has been written, not judge it for what has been written. After all, we are all colleagues on our own writing journey toward exploring the world through an expression of words.
Bring your own experience and learning to the critique table and as you offer your thoughts you'll find yourself learning as as a writer from what you give to others. |
| | January Book of the Month at
The Writer Workshop Bookstore
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Stephen KingImmensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work. “Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.
Available at The Writer Workshop Bookstore or on Amazon |
| | Fiction Through Prompts
The popular Fiction through Prompts. Each session includes writing to a “high end” prompt, reading our work, receiving a bit of feedback, and a short lecture on a literary device.
This weekly event allows you to step outside your box, to disrupt your usual thought process by writing to a prompt without advance thought. You hear the prompt, and then write for about 20 minutes. Participants then read their work and receive a bit of light feedback. It's an informative and sometimes transformation process.
Tuesday, January 21 at 7 pm and Sunday, January 26 at 2 pm ($10) |
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