What is the workshop experience?
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Experienced workshop instructors know that much of a writer's progress comes from learning to critique the work of others. The criticism and suggestions of the instructor and fellow students are valuable, but as much as half of the value of a workshop comes from applying to one's own work the critical skills developed in examining others' work. It's easiest to see and articulate problems in others' work; only later do writers learn to see similar problems in their own work. The traditional one-on-one tutorial system used by most low-residency programs doesn't allow this process to occur, but the online workshops offered by the Whidbey Writers Workshop will foster that kind of development among writers. The ability to critique and improve one's own work is an essential step in becoming an independent writer.
These workshops won't be online "chat" rooms, in which participants watch as their fellow students' comments trickle word by word across the screen. Our system will be "asynchronous," a fancy term for "not at the same time." Students will create their comments, then post the entire comment at once. Importantly, this can be done any time of the day or night, so each student may post material at the time which best suits his or her schedule. Once posted, the comments remain available throughout the discussion. Among other things, this means that a morning person can post comments at 6 am, an afternoon person at 3 pm and a night person at midnight. For the first time in the history of education, morning, afternoon, and night people are able to take part in a discussion in which all three are at their sharpest! This system also allows shy or less confident students to take time with their comments. Students may even allow comments to sit for a few hours before revising and posting. Past experience with online courses shows that they allow all students to participate fully, unlike the tendency in "live" classes for the more aggressive, quicker-on-their-feet, more talkative students to move the discussion too quickly for some other students to participate.