Writers workshop?

As no-one has come up with a reply I will express something of what little I have observed.

As far as I can see any "workshop" is a variety of classroom lesson that requires the students to get their hands on the subject. (They can be "outdoor workshops" of course - take your wellies - or snow shoes).

I have to say that I am extremely biased about all of my experience of "workshops". Under one name or another I had them inflicted on me by my work over many years. They were frequently given titles such as "Building the Business".

I always recall that one because the "peer trainer" that suffered five of us (we had a combined experience of over 100 years in the job to his six months) - well - I think that he gave up being a peer trainer after he met us... And we were being nice to him... We were - honestly!

To be fair to the poor soul the presentation training and material he had been given were pathetic - and that is being generous...

Therefore the essential thing about any "workshop"...

I just recalled another - and I'm not even going to try to resist telling you -

In a very large office block with no air-con and all the windows open we were told to role play angry members of the public so that the instructor could show us how we should react... (How stupid can you get?) We did check that we could use "naughty words" to make it realistic... He fled the room and there were quite a few astounded faces looking across the courtyard. Well - he did say that we should make it "as realistic as possible". we enjoyed that workshop as well.

Meanwhile - back at the question...

I would always treat the blurb put out by the company selling the workshop in the same way as a theatre review posted outside the theatre. The management may have abbreviated "Astounding! Awful!" to "Astounding!"

If one must opt for workshops being sold on the open market I would really look very hard for completely independent reviews. Even then a recommendation received from someone one knows well might only prove that what they like is not what one likes for one's self.

(I told you that I'm biased).

Okay - so there will be some really good workshops - those are the ones that I completely agree with - of course :-)

I think that it is important to any workshop that the presenter(s) are willing to take completely opposing views - and even, where they can be (politely) shown to have made a mistake, to take correction. These are, after all, the marks of a good educator.

A good educator will also want to see their students developing in their own right - and not even consider imposing their opinions and practices on them.

Which brings ,me to a programme I saw on the TV about a writer who wanted to try out a different genre.

The workshop she went on basically ran on the lines of "if it isn't written exactly the same way that I write my books it is rubbish".

Okay - so the author giving the workshop had had a lot of books both published and sold in the genre - and in a very tight formula - that suited their readers. This was no reason (in my view) for arrogance and prescriptive, dominating, "teaching".

(I thought in fact that the whole thing was a big mistake by the teacher - if you have a working formula it isn't sensible to tell a lot of other people to use it - it will tend to dilute the market).

So - to sum up - Workshops are just very short courses - usually on very tight subjects and with practical elements.

They can be good. People do benefit from them.

It is only good sense to check out any specific workshop offered as widely as possible.

What benefits one person does not necessarily benefit another.

And the reverse applies.

Even though we are (probably mostly) British - we should be prepared to complain - loudly - and appropriately.

We should even more give praise where it is due.

I have no idea at all what the workshops advertised here are like. I really hope that they are good. We can all learn from good teaching.

I hope this long waffle is helpful.

David

PS A good workshop should have a clear title and prospectus - that tells you what you can expect for your money. :-)