Last week, we saw a little bit of what a workshop looks like here at Wesleyan.
As you saw, we impose what's sometimes called the gag rule.
We ask that the student who has written, not speak in the workshop, so
that there's no occasion for the readers to be responding to a writer,
jumping in to say, well, what I meant was this, or something like that.
The readers are only responding to what's written on the page.
Well, the workshop is ultimately for the benefit of that writer.
And what we often do after that workshop is we wait a week, and after the students
have met in workshop, and after the writer has received all of those critiques, and
then I like to have lunch with that student, after they've let their mind
cool a little bit, and after they've chewed over some of those criticisms.
And then they come into lunch with me and they have their dear workshop letters and
we discuss.
I asked this student what she makes of the workshop's response
of the things that they liked, of the things that they critiqued, of places that
they thought were wobbly, places that they thought were vague, unclear,
places they thought may be dragged, whatever kinds of responses that she has.
She tells me basically what's in her dear workshop letter and
then I offer whatever help I can.
So, recently, I had a meeting with a student who wrote the story from last
week, and here's how it went.
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