Of the many peculiarities of creative writing education, the one which most sets it apart from other arts and humanities subjects is the reliance on the ‘workshop’. Workshops are now so ubiquitous within creative writing courses that their inclusion is non-negotiable. And it’s possible to speculate that any course that didn’t offer workshops as a core component of its curriculum, would not be all that popular with applicants. Unlike other arts courses where primary feedback will come from a student’s tutors and course leaders, the writing workshop is organised around soliciting extensive feedback from a student’s peers. In the best organised workshops, a tutor or workshop facilitator will act as a moderator, ensuring that the group doesn’t get stuck reiterating the same point over and over, nor that any one person dominates the conversation. Often, however, they will offer little input themselves during the discussion. This is not out of laziness, but to ensure that the moderator, who is likely a more experienced writer than the workshop members, does not discourage participation by correcting students’ comments in real-time. This works well for some students, where as others sometimes find the cacophony of jousting opinions to be counterproductive.
My personal experience with workshops is mixed. I have spent hundreds of hours in workshops, both as a participant and a moderator. The quality and usefulness of each workshop is specific to its membership. An amiable group of generous, like-minded writers can make for an excellent workshop experience for everyone involved, both creatively and socially. Others can be difficult. If there is no natural camaraderie among members, or worse, the group factionalises into cliques, they can often do more damage than good. Sometimes, it only takes one difficult participant to completely derail a session or to discourage others’ participation.
Writing workshops have their supporters and their detractors. Over the next two sections I try to balance to pros and cons of workshops against those of one-to-one tuition.