Reading Response 3: Reconsidering The Workshop (and classroom)

I had wanted to use the idea I am about to explain as my final paper topic, but gleefully, will explain it here instead. In _Colors of a Different Horse_, The first few pages of the chapter titled "Reconsidering the Workshop" expresses a tension that is often felt between creative and critical writers. The author writes that these groups

"coexist uncomfortably in the same departments, pretending that what we both do can be subsumed under the larger rubric of education, but nobody's fooled. They interrogate texts; we try to make stories and poems that will remain stubbornly silent under the most rigorous of questioning And what we do inside the schoolhouse, in the company of students, does not, finally, much resemble what they do" (Bishop, 4).

I am not sure about you, but I sensed some definitive animosity blaring out of the page. The use of "we" and "they" as separating out groups within the same department read as the two being in some sort of academic battle. I found this to be particularly interesting given the fact that I am both a MA student and a creative writer. I have heard and seen all of the stereotypes for both groups and find them to be rather self-defeating and pointless. Being a literary critic has helped my creative writing and my creative writing has certainly affected my critical writing for the positive.

Thus, my proposal is to bring these two groups together into one class that is half spent in creative writing and half spent in critical writing. Ideally, this would be a class of half creative writers and half critical writers and would likely be an upper division class. As I picture it, the first half of the semester would be devoted to creative writing. The students will learn about various tools and techniques to make their stories or poems more interesting. In the second half, the class will then use the creative works just written by their classmates to analyze in critical papers. The fact that the works being analyzed are written by classmates will hopefully allow the process of literary analysis and creative writing to be slightly demystified by each of the groups.

What led me to this idea specifically was the notion that when I learned and practiced creative writing, I became much more attuned to the techniques and styles of authors that I was analyzing for class papers. Similarly, breaking down texts for literary classes lead me to think of my own work in new and exciting ways. Creative writing and expository writing can go hand in hand, and I think the learning experiences that both would gain from being in a class where both areas are highlighted would be immense.

Now, I think that this would be a fun and interesting class, but do any of you agree that it would be helpful? I really like the idea that instead of there being an animosity between writers in the same department that the two groups can teach each-other and learn together simply as lovers of the written word. It would be a great opportunity to try new things and to play with notions of creativity and analysis in new and exciting ways.

The class would also have weekly readings assigned to discuss in both a creative and literary capacity. Thus, this class could possibly be used as an opportunity for MFA students to fill a literature requirement while getting to write creative at the same time. I know that this is a chief complain the literature classes lead little time for writing, so let's make some classes to fix the problem!

Now, I have thought of a few problems that may arise in a class like this. Can you really teach both creative writing and expository writing successfully in a semester? This question is what lead me to believe that a class of this nature would be better suited to upper division students. This way, the absolute bare-bones basics of writing will not need to be taught and more exciting notions can be introduced. Secondly, how receptive will students be to writing critically about another students work? This one I am not so sure of, but based on workshop experience where people have such diverse opinions about pieces I think it would be truly fascinating. As a critical writer, I can tell you that we are pretty much going balls to the wall crazy trying to look at unique perspectives at works that have been around for decades. To get to analyze something fresh and new would be a lot of fun, and I imagine it would be exciting to think of someone spending the time to analyze my creative work as well.

Another question would be if the class should be devoted to one type of creative work or be open to multiple genres. Do you think it would be more successful for this class to switch off between fiction and poetry or to just give the students the right to choose? I am more inclined to think that breaking it up into poetry one semester and fiction the next might be more successful in that it can be hard to teach multiple genres and expository writing in such a short time-frame. Another Question, who should teach the class? Ideally, I think it would be great to have both a creative writing teacher and a literature teacher, but I am thinking that is not too likely. So, I supposed a teacher versed in both areas would be the second choice (I'm available for hire! haha). Despite these minor issues and questions, I would still be super excited to have a class like this offered.