The Story Lab 2016 – Blog Post Week Three

This weeks blog post is going to situate around our short story submissions and Dan’s reflection questions posted on the Story Lab Blog. In class we were given random short stories written by fellow classmates and told to provide constructive feedback via blog posts.

• What was it like knowing your work was being read/critiqued by someone else?

I think this is one of the hardest things for writers. For me, writing is such a personal thing – it’s an expression of the worlds living within us. Actually, I’d always thought that if I were ever lucky enough to become an author, I’d consider writing under a pen name. The sense of anonymity can be extremely comforting. But like anything, showing our words to others becomes easier with practice. Having undertaken a course in creative writing, a key element was sharing our work, along with receiving and providing feedback. At first, this was a terribly nerve-racking experience. To show your work to someone is a vulnerability. It took weeks of classes before I realised that we were all in the same boat, and the only way to improve was to share with the people around me. So while I think that it gets easier knowing people are reading our work, it will never not be stressful task, as, after all, we are revealing apart of our hidden self to the world.

• How did it feel receiving feedback from your peers?

Receiving feedback is a funny thing – you know that you shouldn’t take it personally, but at the same time, your work it your baby – you want to protect from the world – you want people to love it. But everyone isn’t going to love everything, that’s just the way it is. So when i’m given feedback, I listen to everything everyone tells me, taking it on board. But when it comes to editing and re-writing my pieces, I take fragments of what has been given to me, working it into my pieces along with the sections I like.

• Did you find the process of reviewing anothers’ work interesting?

I absolutely love reading other peoples work. Any writer needs to read – and read a lot. The best way to improve on anything is to take notes, watch and immerse yourself in the world of your selected hobbies and talents. So yes, reading my classmates work was extremely interesting. I think it’s important to remember that not everyone thinks the same way as you, so having insight into other peoples minds and thoughts is invaluable – especially when it comes to writing characters and plots that aren’t your forte.

• What did you learn about storytelling?

Through this brief I’m not sure if I would say I ‘learnt’ anything as such, but ideas and concepts that had already existed within me were definitely reaffirmed. For instance, the concept of short story writing as a difficult and strenuous exercise was first and foremost raised. For me, stories are all about backstories and deceptive and intriguing plot lines. They’re about intricate characters and clever narrating. Short stories (to a certain extent) throw all these out the window and tend to ignore them. It’s all about simplifying. And sometimes, just because something is shorter or seen as more concise, doesn’t make it any less difficult!
Another point that was reaffirmed for me was the fact that everyone thinks differently. I was blown away by the story I read for the simple fact it was nothing like anything I would have come up with. Also, having been provided with feedback also related to this, as you can discover just how differently people understand and perceive your work, and if the way you think your work is understood is actually the same way others understand it.

• How did you convert your notes from the four headings into constructive feedback to be left on the authors’ blog?

I am a firm believer in giving positive, constructive feedback – nothing negative. There is no time for the negative. If a person has the guts to show the world a part of themselves, nobody has the right to shut them down or tell them they’re wrong.
Even when I read a novel and find myself loathing it, I feel compelled to finish the book on the basis that someone, somewhere thought that this book was worth publishing, was worth the time and money put into it. And I want to find out why. Because for every terrible story that’s written, there has to be some positive elements to it.
I’m not saying that the story I read in class was anything like that – because it wasn’t. It was actually the opposite. My classmates story was extravagant and I was thoroughly impressed with the authors way of approaching the task – it would have not been a path I would have even considered! But because it was so fantastic, giving feedback was really quite easy. By answering the four questions Dan provided us with, I was able to construct 4-5 sentences explaining why I liked the piece and what I would have done if I had have been the author. However, I think this last point can sometimes be a hinderance. One of the biggest mistakes, in my opinion, is a reader approaching the story with the mindset of “but this isn’t how I write, or, but I would do things this way.” When you read a persons work, you have to make your mind a blank slate, and adapt to the world that’s been given. You can’t simply shut someone down because it’s not how you would have done it.