In this news article: Results of `GaioumonBatou’s Workshop: existentialism | ~LaMonaca’s Workshop: Punctuating Poetry: Punctuate with Purpose |Changes to Workshop- Bear with us! |First time you have heard to *Writers-Workshop? This section is for you!

Results of `GaioumonBatou’s Workshop!

A word from *Writers-Workshop ...

With both of our staff members concentrating on the nasty old NaNoWriMo, we’re expecting a lot of our members are too. However despite this, we are pleased to see again some very strong entries, some of the strongest for what was a positively difficult workshop task and a great grasp of the existentialist style. Well done to everyone who pariciapted.

There wasn’t one person who stood out for critique this time, however we want to say a huge thank you to those who spend the time to look at people’s submissions to each workshop. We’re always grateful for your consistent enthusiasm and often very helpful and constructive critiques.
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`GaioumonBatou’s response...

I was blown away by how different each of the seven entries were from one another. I am glad to see so much variance between each of the entries, especially considering that they were all based on the same general plot idea. I think that to a large degree, everyone got the concepts of existentialism very well, and I enjoyed seeing what made the characters continue, and what made them tick and do something drastic.

I wasn't planning on having any top picks, as I genuinely enjoyed all seven entries. However, I think that there were two pieces that really captured the ideas behind existentialism, that being Jimi Plays the Blues... by *buildingsforbrains and PING by ~CyberPhantom. ~CyberPhantom's piece had lines such as "Stripped of his keys, he was nothing" that really help to bring about the character's realization that he has no purpose in the world around him, thus leading to his end, whereas *buildingsforbrains took great use of the colors of the areas around the character to help do so. Colors (more commonly, shades of gray) are incredibly common within the realm of existentialism, as it represents the unknown, the lack of anything specific within it. *buildingsforbrains has done an excellent job with this, taking the characters around Jimi and making them colorful, but showing Jimi's thoughts and perception of things as gray.

I want to thank you guys for taking part in the workshop. I was a bit worried that there wouldn't be very many entries, considering the subject matter. However, I had a wonderful time hosting, and an even more wonderful time reading. I hope you guys enjoyed writing as well.

~LaMonaca’s Workshop: Punctuating Poetry: Punctuate with Purpose



~LaMonaca is a high school English teacher and part-time college writing professor in Pennsylvania; she has articles in several scholarly journals, two nationally-known print magazines, and a plethora of internet-based publications. Known to deviantArt as ‘Teacher-Lady’ in all fondness, her collaborative essays with `GeneratingHype have helped many writers.

Punctuating Poetry: Punctuate with Purpose

Some people believe poetry shouldn't be punctuated and others are still taught to put a comma after every new line. So where is the balance? What does one - especially one new or growing in poetry - do? Well, that's simple: a poet must punctuate with purpose!

In order to punctuate with purpose, however, a poet must understand two things: what she/he wants to achieve with the poem and what a piece of punctuation can achieve in a poem. This means a poet must understand more than the common rules of punctuation; she must know the effect that certain punctuation points can have on a reader or in a text.

This workshop begins with a brief guide to different punctuation marks and will then ask participants either to edit or review a previous poem for effective punctuation use or else write a brand new poem that focuses on using punctuation effectively. Keep in mind that using punctuation effectively in poetry can sometimes mean leaving it out (or adding it in), depending on the desired effect--the poet's purpose.

Punctuation and Poetry - a brief guide by ~LaMonaca for first instance discussion.

Once the poem is written and submitted, participants will be asked to answer the following questions in their Author's Comments section:

1. Do you usually punctuate your poetry? Why/why not?
2. Are there lines in this poem where you were considering other punctuation (or no punctuation)? If so, what were you considering and why?
3. If this a new draft of an old poem, do you feel better about your choices this time, or do you feel as if you were forcing the punctuation use?
4. Overall, what is the effect you would like this poem to have on the reader? In other words, what are you going for, here?

These will help me determine how the person was thinking about punctuation in the poem, what the poet's general feeling, taste, and confidence level is with punctuation in poetry, and how the poet considered her purpose and effect when writing and editing the poem. Poems submitted without the answered questions will not be considered for critique.

Note: critiques and critical comments for this workshop will be looking at punctuation; there will not be very much critique offered on the actual content of the poem unless it is necessary to addressing the issue of punctuation. That said, workshop participants and others are welcomed and encouraged to offer in-depth critique and commentary on any aspect of the submitted poems.

How to Submit

After submitting your entry as a new deviation or scrap, send us a note with a link to your piece. Include the subject line "PURPOSE" in your note. The deadline is midnight November 12th 2008. All times are set for GMT. ~LaMonaca will respond to the entries on November 16th 2008.

A note from *Writers-Workshop Please note that this is a poetry workshop, meaning that we will accept only poetry entries. Proofread your work before you send it in so that grammatical and spelling errors are minimal. And most of all, have fun with it!

On Accepting Critique

Always thank the critic. This gratitude must be as sincere as possible, even if you did not like the critique given, because the critic has taken time to offer his/her opinion of the piece.
If you do not like the critique, it is not necessary to mention so. Simply thank the critic and move on. You can always ignore their suggestions, while not making a scene of it.
If you are unsure of what the critique means, feel free to ask the critic what s/he meant. Building rapport with your critic is one of the best ways to survive in a workshop and to learn. If you want examples, ask. Similarly, if you like the suggestions given, mention it. Critic's have feelings too.
In the unlikely case that a critic offers rude/sexist/racist/etc comments, feel free to contact *Writers-Workshop in a note and we will try to help you. A decision regarding the rudeness of the critique will be taken, and if we're not sure ourselves, we will consult with one of the GDs or anyone else high up on deviantART.

Changes to the Workshop

We’ve had a little bit of a crazy fortnight at the workshop, with our subscription running out and then a bit of a member list issue. Now both are in the process of being resolved we will be looking for a new CSS (creations welcome), as well as shortly updating our member list. Therefore our journals may look a little bit plan and crazy whilst we are sorting this out, so we ask all of your to please bear with us. This will be resolved very shortly.

We also have some good news! The resources section of our workshop will be having a massive update in the upcoming weeks, giving opportunity for you to seek out information which could benefit you in whatever the current workshop is as well as your writing in general.

Don’t forget we are always looking for workshop hosts and if you have a good idea, please send in a proposal and we’ll look at it. We are currently desperately seeking free for all hosts. Any hosts for poetry or prose specific will now be hosted in 2009.


First time you've heard of *Writers-Workshop? This section is for you.

*Writers-Workshop is a literature community that focuses on the development of a writer. We intend to provide a non-competitive workshop environment on dA, as well as to push good, polished writing over winning prizes or "networking".

Workshops will be conducted every fortnight; prose, poetry and free-for-all sessions will be rotated. For more information, read our FAQs section or note us with queries.

We have been working on a list of resources for our writers: Resources for Writers which we think is worth going through. We are open to suggestions as well.

Our Diary has a list of upcoming workshops.

You canhost a Workshop , too.


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