. . . I mean, yikes.
I was seriously considering dropping my Creative Writing class, but I decided to keep it and have since crossed the academic Rubicon of the drop date.
After how the class "workshopped" the first story yesterday, maybe I should have thought about it a little harder.
We workshopped one story (which was, thankfully, not mine) because the other two people who were supposed to submit simply didn't. Now, this girl's story was by no means great, but it wasn't awful, either. She just needed a few things corrected (for example, 28-year-old women don't behave/talk like they are in high school) and some of the scenes expanded so that they made a little more sense.
That class ate this poor girl alive and spat her back out just to barbecue her and eat her again.
Holy cow.
People openly laughed at her, told her that her characters were stupid, that the way they behaved didn't make sense (though, they often did--she just had trouble expressing it on the page) and that the whole thing was generally bad. Expletives were frequently used.
I do not exaggerate. I am amazed the girl did not leave the room in tears.
If it had been my story, I probably would have.
Perhaps the most amazing thing, to me, was that the instructor--a graduate student--never stepped in to say the class was getting a little out of bounds; rather, he participated in the bashing.
Correct me if I am wrong, Amy, but it doesn't seem like this is how a workshop should function. I thought the idea was to use constructive criticism . . . not viciously tear the story (and author) limb from limb.
And, honestly, most of the criticism wasn't really valid. It was opinion. Most of the people in there apparently think their opinion is divinely inspired and the One True Path to Great Writing.
I am very interested in reading their stories to see if they can do much better.
Sheesh kebab.
Maaaybe I should take a W for this class.
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4 comments:
I can definitely name a few 28 year old woman who act like high schoolers. It is not pleasant to be around.
I would imagine a lot of your classmates never received any actual constructive criticism growing up, but rather they were always told everything they did was perfect and there was no need to make change. Now that they encounter something different, they have no idea how to react and when they do it's in a pompously harsh manner. I'm sure it'll bite them in the butt in the long run.
Did you talk to the girl afterwards and tell her what you thought of her story?
Wow, that is awful. Our workshop wasn't like that at all. I mean, there was criticism, but it was always, always constructive. Someone might say, "I didn't feel like the dialogue was natural, because that's not how people talk. Try reading your dialogue out loud when you write." Stuff like that.
I'm very sorry you're not having the same experience. Maybe a W wouldn't be so bad. I had one or two and it didn't seem to matter. Do you still have the chance to do the thesis? Now I feel I steered you wrong. :(
I appreciate the advice you gave me, and I think you might be right.
I know you didn't mean it that way, I had just given you advice on Facebook and was worried I had given you the wrong advice. Anyhow, trying another day won't hurt; maybe the "teacher" (graduate students are not real teachers in my book) will realize how poorly the class was conducted and change things.
I like your email workshopping idea. We can try for once a week, but if one of us has a busy week and have to skip, I think we should be able to do so without fear of punishment. Or hazing.
sheeeeesh! knox is a huge creative writing school (one of the best programs in the country what what!) ... this would NEVER, EVER happen. if i were you, i'd talk to the girl and have the instructor reported to the dean.
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