In this news article: Results of *Queen-of-Marigold's Workshop: Seeing is Believing | ^fllnthblnk’s Workshop: Authenticity: It's All In The Details | Call for workshop hosts! | First time you've heard of *Writers-Workshop? This section is for you!

Results of *Queen-of-Marigold's Workshop!

A word from *Writers-Workshop:
This is the first time in a few cycles where we've had a decent amount of entries for a prose workshop, so many thanks to everyone who took part!

Special mentions for this workshop go to *cloudtographer, =Deadrosebud, and ~Halatia, who all made rounds on pretty much every piece!

*Queen-of-Marigold's Comments:

It was very exciting to see the number of people who entered into the workshop, and every one of them did a great job. Reading these pieces, I have been from heaven to a (nearly) dead planet, to the fairy's realm and a future where animals can be made human by science. Some people chose to use an overflowing of adjectives to create their scenario and others made an entire piece using the reader's own associations and it was fascinating to look at each approach individually as well as a group.

All nine of these entries were fantastic, but I would like to draw particular attention to two of them.

In a short space, ~Halatia's piece offered up a snapshot that was remarkably detailed - despite the science fiction feeling, the desert and the narrator's frustration are so easy to relate to that it isn't hard to believe the rest of the story.

Truly in the spirit of this workshop, *Memnalar's piece created an unusual scenario - who can read this piece and not believe in those marauding dragons when they are backed up by the kinds of emotions and people we experience every day in our own lives?

I encourage everyone to continue working on their own methods of description, and to study the way others use it to create the imagery within their writing. It varies from writer to writer and even within one person's own work. A strong description of character and setting - whether detailed or merely relatable - can be the difference between a story that your reader will or will not be engaged by. I hope that you will all polish your entries, and that in future you will always consider your descriptions - are you convincing your reader?

Thank you to everyone who participated, you are awesome

^fllnthblnk's Workshop: Authenticity: It's All In The Details


^fllnthblnk, aka William Soule, is a Filipino-American poet from northern Utah. He reads a lot of poetry, both published and unpublished, both contemporary and old-school, and has poems published in Read This Magazine, elimae, Tattoo Highway, and Alba, among others. The poems he enjoys best are the ones you can understand. He also has a penchant for cookies.

AUTHENTICITY: It's All In The Details

One of the biggest hurdles a poet could face: how to make a poem genuine. Avid readers of poetry have probably stumbled upon many poems written by young poets that are too alike--identical twins you couldn't tell apart til they explained to you who was who, that Tim's the one with the small scar under his eye when, as a toddler, he found the kitchen shears and that Jim has the slightly bent nose from that biking accident last year. To make your poems genuine, to separate your poems from everyone else's, it is important to put these sort of details into the poems themselves instead of waiting for someone to ask for an explanation. Of course, not all poems need detail to be genuine or good, but for your typical poem, detail is crucial to stand out.

Let's take a look at a poem written by Kim Addonizio entitled "What Do Women Want?" It's about a dress the poet wants to wear, but it doesn't simply describe the dress. What makes this poem so genuine is when Kim introduces "Thriftys and the hardware store" and "Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old / donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers / slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly."

Introducing specific people and their occupations makes this poem authentic--who would've thought about including pigs being slung from the truck by the Guerra brothers when talking about a dress? It's these sort of details that'll make poems really hold their own, convincing the reader that the poet isn't just making things up (even if they really are).

But we shouldn't just include a landfill of description to make a poem authentic: simply describing something a reader could easily imagine won't do the trick. It's best to include something specific that would surprise a reader. For instance, Ellen Bass, in her poem "Don't Expect Applause", describes an ordinary day and how it would be nice to be applauded for getting through it. At the end of the poem, she describes certain bad things we could've done to render us undeserving of applause: "Would a round of applause be amiss? / Even if you weren't good. / If you yelled at your kid, / poisoned the ants, drank too much / and said that really stupid thing."

Look how she sneaks in something you probably wouldn't normally think of as wrong ("poisoned the ants") in between typical things ("If you yelled at your kid" and "drank too much"). It's surprising little things like these that can greatly enhance a poem.

Here is one last example: "Fishing on the Susquehanna in July" by Billy Collins.

Towards the end of the poem, we wind up in a museum with the poet. To convince the readers that he was really there, he describes one of the paintings: "under a blue cloud-ruffled sky, / dense trees along the banks, / and a fellow with a red bandanna // sitting in a small, green / flat-bottom boat / holding the thin whip of a pole." It's easy to describe any nature-type painting by including the sky and trees along a bank, but getting even more specific by describing a boater "with a red bandanna" is something that surprises the reader.

Your task: Write a poem that utilizes details to authenticate the poem, that make it sound genuine. Try to include specific details to surprise the reader; don't only stick with typical things the average reader can normally fill in with their imagination. Try to catch them a little off guard!

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 "DETAILS" in your note. The deadline is midnight 18 March 2009. All times are set for GMT. ^fllnthblnk will respond to the entries on 22 March.

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. Critics 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.

Call for workshop hosts!

We're looking for people to come along and host a workshop! Did you know that any member can partake in a workshop? If you have a good idea, then why not consider sending us in a proposal?

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 can host a Workshop, too.


Staff