Thursday, March 12, 2009

Workshopping

I've just come home from class and am utterly exhausted, so this will be brief (and picture-less...).

Tonight in class I workshopped a fiction piece. I'm not sure what it was about this particular class, or this particular instance of me putting a piece of my writing out into a group of people for scrutiny, but I found tonight's class immeasurably helpful. It's made me really think about the idea of workshopping something, and expecting (and receiving) immediate feedback on it. For me that process is invaluable. It's why I'm in a writers' group.

I'm interested to find out whether other people (writers or not) find this process helpful, or if, in fact, you have any kind of regular feedback system in place.

I'm also seeing the potential for the monthly projects to be used more explicitly for this purpose. Of course the feedback would have to be constructive criticism (read: helpful, diplomatic). What do you think?

Posted by sophie at Thursday, March 12, 2009
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5 comments:

  1. kateMarch 13, 2009 at 12:06 AM

    Yeah i LOVE this idea. I think the monthly projects are a great outlet for this purpose.

    i find the workshopping/feedback process extremely helpful, but i need to get better at it! i am so shy about getting bad feedback that i am always reluctant to put my ideas out there until i'm 100% sure about something, and even then i get nervous. I definetly need to get better at having some kind of regular feedback system in place!

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  2. amandaMarch 13, 2009 at 12:18 PM

    Yeah my blog is my feedback system. Most people don't write bad things so i figure if no one comments it wasn't such a good post. It also helps when people who work you respect leave feedback. I get a real buzz from that.

    I have never actually been to a writer's workshop though. So now that I think about it this comment is probably totally pointless.

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  3. sophieMarch 13, 2009 at 1:12 PM

    Not pointless at all Amanda!

    I was just thinking about different ways of getting feedback. And a blog is a pretty good way, I think.

    The writers' group can be scary, because people actually do say negative things about your work; but I've just had to learn not to take it personally. An interesting thing to do with your work though!

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  4. Mr SketchyMarch 13, 2009 at 5:32 PM

    I think this is a wonderful idea.

    I know I've talked to you Soph, in the past about my workshopping group when I studied animation. We all enjoyed that so much we continued to do it for over a year after our course finished (lecturer included). Alas, after that real life kept getting in our way.

    I will have to admit though, I’m usually more secretive about my pictures. For no other reason other than when I work on a detailed piece there usually is an early stage where I’m struck by doubt that it will work and it looks just plain silly and it’s not until I have blocked in a majority of it that I start to get comfortable again.

    Still, it could be worth trying to get through that and how it will affect my end drawings. I’ll try to put a piece on my blog up about my idea for this months project this weekend…

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  5. Hybrid JMarch 13, 2009 at 8:59 PM

    Hi Sophie,

    I think it is a fantastic idea to further develop The Monday Project as a workshop / feedback hub for all creatives! ;)

    My workshop experience ranged from good to traumatic. But as you said, you just need to learn not to take it personal.

    At the moment, I don't belong to any writing group but have been thinking to set up one myself since last year. It's just I need to make sure I have the time to do it and I have enough of work to start with.

    Also like Amanda, I use my blog to gauge people's respond to subject matters.

    P.S. "Workshop / Writing Group" is one of the subject I intend to write about in my blog. Now that you've mentioned it, I'll probably write up a post about it this weekend ... :)

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