Writing workshops are not only part of your requirements for a college degree, but they can also be exceptionally useful to build your skills as an author. Even if you think you “know enough” to get by, it’s worth exploring whether you can take one of these classes.
It’s safe to say that I am a proponent of education in any form. But even if I wasn’t working toward a degree in Creative Writing, the workshops would be something I would consider as a standalone class.
So far, I’ve attended two of these workshops: Creative Writing and Fiction. And in both cases, I found a great deal of value despite having published three books at the time of this post.
Why Consider Writing Workshops in College?
I’m not saying that the only way to become a successful author is to attend college. However, you’ll learn a lot more than just how to put together your prose. You’ll explore all kinds of possibilities that go beyond learning to write better.
In fact, a wide variety of things in your life will change over time, including how you interact with your friends and family.
In any case, let’s take a look at some of the things you’ll experience just from the writing workshops. Of course, it also depends on the workshop. Some will focus more on general creativity and others will focus on fiction. It’s worthwhile to consider them all as a writer.
Practicing Many Styles
In the Creative Writing workshops, you’ll be exposed to a variety of writing styles. This can range from writing haikus to longer prose stories. This is where I learned about abecedarian stories, which I never knew existed beforehand.
Although I’m not much of a poet, I found it very interesting to see what I could do by stepping outside of my comfort zone. Then, I realized just how much poetry influences how you write similes and metaphors.
Learning Deeper Nuance
A lot of stories have a deep nuance to them, going beyond just slapping interesting words on a page. Some authors bake in a deeper meaning into their pieces. Others will structure a piece a certain way to amplify its message.
I never thought about a lot of those deeper meanings until I was in the Creative Writing workshop. What was interesting still is how a lot of my writing delivers those messages that I created on a subconscious level. It wasn’t until someone pointed it out that I realized what I had created.
Confusing, I know. But it was quite an eye-opener, and I appreciated the feedback.
A Classroom of Beta Readers
Using beta readers can help you structure and polish a story long before publishing. These folks are there to give honest feedback about what works and what doesn’t. Then, you can make adjustments accordingly.
In college writing workshops, you essentially have a classroom full of these people. After all, that’s the whole point of the class: to workshop your writing.
You have access to a variety of people with different tastes and likes. Now, not everyone is going to appreciate your work. But you can gain all kinds of insight among a diverse range of folks, which could ultimately change your views of your work for the better.
Semi-Public Exposition
If you want people to read your work, you’ve got to put yourself out there. Otherwise, why become an author? College classes put you in a semi-public arena, helping you get comfortable with facing the public.
This is especially true for in-person classes, as you’ll eventually have to read your work to your peers.
Although I’ve been in the public eye a lot over the years, I still found myself nervous in front of my class. But it was a great experience, and I was approached afterward about how much they liked that particular story over anything else I’ve written throughout the term.
In other words, it’s a self-esteem booster while learning to relax in public.
Tightening Your Prose
Prose writing has a lot of rules that you must learn to deliver a comprehensible story. Writing workshops help you tighten that writing through feedback from actual readers.
A lot of books fail because the structure is all wrong. When you write something that is absolutely confusing to your readers, you’ll lose them. And it may be extremely difficult to get them back, depending on how poorly the story was written.
Putting out a subjectively good book has a lot to do with structure. The most amazing plot and character development can be ruined by improper punctuation, haphazard paragraphs, or poorly identifiable dialogue.
There’s Always Something to Learn
Never assume that you know everything about anything. There’s only so much you’ll be able to Google, even with AI Overviews cramming results down your throat. There’s always something more to learn in writing workshops.
Perhaps the greatest moments of teaching are the feedback from students you’ll get once they read your work. But as I pointed out earlier, there were all kinds of writing styles that I would never have thought to Google when I started writing books.
Some parts of the course may be easy, but keep an open mind. You’ll undoubtedly learn things about yourself and your writing that you may never have considered.
Consider “Auditing” a Writing Workshop
What if you don’t have the money to enroll in college or don’t want to necessarily work toward a writing degree? You can “audit” classes at many colleges and universities. These are sometimes called “no-grade” classes where you won’t earn credits toward a degree.
Some universities will have something like the Lifelong Learners program at CU.
Essentially, you sit in on a class without worrying about grades, quizzes, or exams. You’re in attendance and interacting with the cohort, but it’s not as stressful of an environment, as you’re not working toward a grade.
In many cases, colleges and universities will have much lower fees for auditing classes, and it’ll also depend on whether the instructor opens the classes to auditing. However, auditing is usually cheaper than enrolling in a degree program.
Before you choose a class, though, you’ll need to make sure you have the prerequisite course. Some are advanced classes, and you’ll need to attend the lead-ups in order to attend them. Usually, these are labeled at your school of choice. Or, some schools will let you “prove” that you have the prerequisite knowledge.
This is to make sure you’re not wasting your time or the professor’s time.
My Experience with College Writing Workshops
So far, I’ve had great experiences in the writing workshops from the University of Colorado. I think cramming 16 weeks of education into a five-week course for the summer is a bit much, but I think I managed to get something out of that one as well.
I have to say, it was a lot of writing and reading. And yes, I plan on publishing all of the projects I wrote during the workshops.
In my case, I have to take the writing workshops as part of the requirements for my degree. It’s not like I could just skip them, and I’m glad I wasn’t able to.
I met a lot of very talented writers, and I look forward to seeing what they create down the road. Plus, the insights I got from my stories were incredibly helpful for what I write next. Even the folks who didn’t appreciate horror found positive elements to point out.
That’s the difference between an actual critique and a troll. Explaining what works and what doesn’t denotes someone took the time to actually read the story.
Just remember that you’re not going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time, even in a college setting. Everyone has a preferred genre and style, and not everyone is going to appreciate your writing. And that’s OK. No book has an absolute fawning audience.
Regardless, I found a great deal of positive elements in the writing workshops, even the one that I thought I would breeze through. I am always open to new ideas, and I got a lot of that when mixed with a robust cohort in college.
Is College Right for You?
As I said, you don’t need to attend a college or university to write a good book. It all comes down to innate ability and your audience. However, higher education can give you a strong base for future writing. Plus, you might find a few styles to use just because you find them fun.
For instance, I kind of like writing short abecedarian stories. In fact, I’m debating whether to write an anthology of them on Wattpad or perhaps Inkitt. It’s great practice to expand your vocabulary while discovering new ways to start and end sentences.
My point is that writing workshops have a lot to them outside of just writing a few stories and calling it a day. They can be instrumental in helping you hone your skills to be a far better writer overall.
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