A minor pet peeve

[Orrex]

On another writing forum I've heard two mantras again and again, and I'm afraid that I need to vent about them.

The first is that Fiction-writing Workshops Are Bad. Well, sorry. I've had about half a dozen of such workshops with truly excellent instructors and the classes have been immeasurably helpful. I've often seen workshops criticized for (among other things) imposing a homogeneity of style, but that's a naive complaint IMO, and when it is true it's the fault of the instructor, not the workshopping process. I have found no more efficient means of receiving thoughtful, honest, motivated, and informed critique than a workshop session with one's peers. Other venues may provide similarly valuable feedback, and if you've found one then I salute you, but I've encountered nothing better. Nothing will strip you of basic bad habits faster than having 15 people tell you about them.

The second is that I Let My Characters Lead Me Where They Want To Go. That's fine for an early draft or maybe for a character sketch, but in a finished product it's almost synonymous with disaster. Giving them such a free rein requires the author either to create Tolstoy-quality characters or else to exercise a very thorough and careful editorial process. But if your characters really are writing the story, then you have no business putting your name in the byline. And if they're not really writing the story, then it's actually just a shorthand way of saying "I've lost control of my story."

I'm very confident that others here have had (and/or will recount) different experiences, and that's perfectly valid, of course. Naturally, I welcome differing opinions on the subject!

[HamdenRice]

1. I'll take a whack at that

1. I don't know how I could have written anything decent without workshops.

Some things in writing are hard to do.

One thing in writing is impossible to do -- and that is read what you've written as though you are reading it for the first time. As you re-read what you've written, you already know the ending. You already know the characters and the arc of the story. You have a lot of information the reader will not have. You cannot be surprised by your surprise ending.

So having someone else read your fiction is invaluable.

A good workshop instructor is equally invaluable. Many people seem to think that writing is some kind of natural process like speaking. In fact, it's as technical as realist painting. If you didn't go to an MFA program you may not be aware of these technical issues. A good workshop instructor not only reacts to work, but teaches technique.

All that said, there are some pretty bad instructors out there, and my list of pet peeves about classmates is pretty long: classmates who expect detailed criticism of their work but are lazy at criticizing others' work; classmates who write in genres I'm not interested in; classmates who bring personal issues to the critique process; classmates who use writing as therapy rather than as a form of artistic production; and so on.

2. I also don't see how any writer can let characters ramble in their own directions. Advice like this unnecessarily mystifies writing. Characters are not real; they exist purely on the page, and the writer is responsible for creating them and telling them what to do within the writer's vision of what the story is about.

That said, I'm often amazed at how even in an advanced draft, I find details of character to add. Sometimes it does feel a little mysterious -- as though they are telling me who they are. But I think it's more a matter of a logical situation working out its own details, kind of like an algebra problem.

[Orrex]

2. I'd swear we were in the same workshops

my list of pet peeves about classmates is pretty long: classmates who expect detailed criticism of their work but are lazy at criticizing others' work; classmates who write in genres I'm not interested in; classmates who bring personal issues to the critique process; classmates who use writing as therapy rather than as a form of artistic production; and so on.

Holy moley--ain't that the truth! I prided myself on reading the other students' works with great care, and in every case I made sure to comment extensively on the good and the bad. But they'd return my works with unhelpfully vague comments like "Great!" or "I don't like this." It's a give-and-take process, for pity's sake!

The writing-as-therapy stories were also excruciating. Look, I'm sorry that you have issues about being stood up for prom, but you really need to get your thoughts in order before inflicting yourself on your innocent classmates!


I also agree with you about a well-formed character giving rise to its own behaviors. As you say, it's the logical progression.

[HamdenRice]

3. I think it's part of the universal human condition

:rofl:

I once had a classmate who wrote stories that were so vague in saying who was speaking the dialogue and who was doing what that her work was pretty undreadable. It had some atmospheric qualities, but just didn't work as narrative fiction.

Once I asked her by email what she was trying to accomplish and she said to reproduce her own fuzzy consciousness for herself.

Fine, but did she have to make us read it?

[Orrex]

4. Incidentally...

I really like your statement comparing writing to realist painting. I think there's a perception that writing is just a matter of sitting down with pen and paper and spilling your thoughts onto the page.

Of course the actual process is much more intricate and laboriouus, and the more effortless the end result seems, the more effort was likely required to get it that way!

[sybylla]

5. Thanks for venting. Seriously.

I've never done a writing workshop mainly because I haven't found one near me that focuses on my specific genre. People who read and understand the genre are the better critics and, as you say, I'd prefer not to inflict my genre on writers who have no interest in it.

And I absolutely agree on the characters issue. Dropping characters into a story is like putting mice in a maze. There might be more than one way to get to the cheese and a half a dozen roadblocks to getting there, but you've written nothing worthwhile if they don't get to the cheese.