Reflections on Workshop

I feel like the workshops were fun (reading other people’s stories and commenting), but also quite confusing when you get all the comments back for your own story. I feel like although some comments did help, a lot of the comments were pretty contradictory—some people liked this, others liked that, this style appealed to a few, that style appeals to some, etc. It’s like a tug of war, and I’m often torn between which side I want to please.

However, the workshop comments also opened a lot of doors for me—choices that I hadn’t seen before were suggested, whether having to do with the plot, or stylistic choices. For instance, a lot of people suggested that I put in a flashback into my story. I hadn’t considered this, and I feel like this could enhance my story, so I am willing to give it a try.

Overall, the workshop comments were pretty helpful, because sometimes things that I thought were straightforward and logical actually didn’t make sense to another person. It’s definitely important for these types of things to be pointed out, and workshop is the best way. And workshop was definitely not as intimidating as I had originally thought it to be. Everyone was really nice, respectful, and encouraging—and I gleaned a lot from the discussion.