Seven Incredible Benefits of Attending a Creative Writing Workshop
I recently attended my first creative writing workshop, and I am sold on the experience! Because I love sharing my thoughts on writing, blogging, and living as a writer, today I bring you my creative writing workshop takeaways and the key benefits of writing workshops.
If you want to deepen your writing experience, attending just one writing workshop can teach you plenty about the art of writing. You will be exposed to new perspectives and welcomed into an atmosphere where everyone is passionate about the written word.
7 Key Benefits of Attending a Writing Workshop
The benefits of a writing workshop are numerous and, even if you only attend a few writing workshops spontaneously, you will still reap the benefits of joining in the engaging experience a writing workshop offers.
1. You will meet likeminded writers
Meeting fellow writers and being able to talk about writing with people who understand, at some level, how I feel about writing, was one of the best benefits of attending a writing workshop for me. I felt comfortable talking about why and how I write and was overjoyed to forge connections with writers who feel similarly about the magic of the written word.
Most writers are also happy to share their tips and tricks. It was informative to hear about where my fellow attendees are in their writing journeys, their agent and publishing headaches, and their creative visions and dreams.
2. You will discover your strengths and weaknesses
In the writing workshop I attended, we spent the first hour discussing the topic of the writing workshop (Synching Pop Culture Within Our Narratives) and also reading aloud the pieces each attendee brought to the session. As I shared my feedback on my fellow attendees’ writing and listened to the response to my piece, it felt amazing to get a fresh look at my writing style and notice where I sometimes fail and where I am consistently strong.
3. You will learn to give and receive criticism
This naturally leads me to criticism. I am not too good with criticism, but I have learned to welcome it because it is one of the best ways I learn as a writer. Criticism is one of the key benefits writing workshops because feedback helps you grow.
Every writer at the writing workshop had a different opinion on how any given piece should be structured, voiced, and expressed. I enjoyed giving hopefully helpful feedback and noting down the feedback I received that I found useful.
As you ease into the experience of attending a writing workshop, either virtually or in person, you will get more adept at voicing your immediate criticisms respectfully and usefully. You will also learn to sift through the feedback you receive, extract useful advice, and discard what I call technical gripes.
4. You may try your hand at a fresh writing technique
I worked through three writing prompts at the workshop I attended. After each prompt was given, the class wrote for five minutes on the fly and then shared what they had written aloud. It was amazing to see what comes out of five minutes of free writing and to push myself to try my hand at writing about experiences I would not normally open up to.
While I usually write fiction and poetry, I wrote a short opinion piece and a personal life reflection. I experimented with metaphor and with drawing upon pop culture icons to inform and bind together my writing.
Here is a brief sample of a piece I wrote in five minutes during the writing workshop:
I saw Zendaya cut herself the other day cooking. She shared this moment on her Instagram stories and Buzzfeed quickly picked it up in a tasteless post that consisted of about two hundred words alongside grainy photographs.
I saw the story trending on Twitter and read it, convinced Zendaya had lost a finger or worse! My heart sank when I saw she had only nicked herself.
People like me cut ourselves accidentally cooking food for loved ones every day. No one bares our stories to world, but millions of people joined in Zendaya’s happy accident to sympathize and smile at her silly face when she held up her bandaged finger to the camera.
I find it funny a woman so many admire cannot even cook.
I would not normally have written this piece, but a key benefit of all writing workshops is that they push you out of your comfort zone. When you write what you do not know, you end up calling upon all your skills and experience to help you make the most out of an unfamiliar situation. This only serves to make you a better writer.
3 Ways Writing Workshops Benefit you as a Person
Writing workshops do not only benefit you as a writer! They also help you grow as a person. Here are three ways attending a writing workshop benefits you as a person.
5. You will build confidence
I am camera and crowd shy. It is hard for me to share my thoughts with strangers and even harder for me share my writing aloud.
As my writing workshop progressed, I soon found myself at ease and comfortable talking with strange people about a delicate subject: writing. I became more confident sharing my thoughts and reading my work aloud, and I have no doubt this confidence will not die overnight.
6. You will reap the benefit of learning from more experienced writers
The teacher and writers who attended the workshop alongside me were from all walks of the writing journey. I learned from the feedback of writers who dabble in creative writing as a hobby, writers who use creative writing to heal from their trauma, and writers who have published books.
It is useful to see where other writers are at and learn from their mistakes, headaches, and ‘what we wish we knew beforehand’ conversations. You can store away all this precious advice for later use.
7. You will have an incredible amount of fun!
All other benefits of writing workshops aside, if your group forms an engaging, interesting class, then you are in for an amazing time. I loved every minute of my experience and was sorry when it was over.
7 Things to Ask Yourself when Considering a Writing Workshop
I would never consider taking a writing workshop I am not interested in. For example, while no doubt a workshop on technical writing is a useful experience, I am not interested in technical writing and would doubtless be unable to make the most out of my experience.
Only sign up for workshops where you can bring your best literary self to the table. Here are seven questions to ask yourself when you are considering signing up for a writing workshop.
- Does the subject of the writing workshop interest me?
- Does the workshop leader have relevant writing experience and accomplishment?
- Is the workshop held in a preferable setting (i.e online or in person)?
- If the workshop is in person, can I make it to the meeting place?
- Does the workshop time fit into my schedule?
- Can I afford the workshop?
- Does this workshop interest me enough that I will bring my best literary self to the experience?
It is essential to choose writing workshops where you can honestly answer ‘yes’ to all of the above questions else you are potentially wasting your time and money, and potentially taking away from the workshop atmosphere.
I am not saying you should not experiment with different types of writing workshops; you should! If you are considering taking a chance or going out on a limb, the only question I think you really need to ask yourself is “Does this workshop interest me enough that I will bring my best literary self to the experience?”. If the answer is yes, go for it!
I hope this post adequately covered why attending a writing workshop can be a great way to improve your writing and answered any questions or doubts you had about writing workshops. I had a lovely time and am already more eager for my college writing classes to begin!
Have you ever attended a writing workshop? Have you ever taught a writing workshop? What is one writing workshop experience that sticks with you today? Tell me below!
Lisa Orchard
I love writing workshops! I go as often as I can to them. I always learn something valuable.
Layla Todd
Me too! Thank you for reading, Lisa.
BrittnyLee
I loved creative writing in college. It wasn’t needed for my major but I absolutely felt freedom and pure bliss with this class. It was odd as the writers in the class were surprised it wasn’t my major, too. Writing will always be a great passion for me. Creative writing class really opened my eyes to perspectives that were out there. I loved it. I also loved the challenges to write outside of my comfort zone. It was an experience I will not soon forget 🙂
Jaya Avendel
Love that you enjoyed creative writing! I cannot wait to delve into deeper as I head to college.
BrittnyLee
I did! I’m sure you will, too. You discover so much about your writing and writing in general. It blew my mind.
Keep Calm & Drink Coffee
Up to now I only attended online workshop, but I hope to have the chance to experience what you described soon.
Aspen Hite
Thank you for sharing! I’ve thought about attending a workshop over the years and really think I would enjoy it. Is there a good place to look for reputable worth-your-time-not-a-scam workshops? One or two, in particular, you would recommend? Btw, that little piece you wrote in 5 minutes is pretty awesome. Nice work!
Jaya Avendel
I am still dipping my toes into the writing workshop game, but I often get some fun ones in my Writer’s Digest, Reedsey, and The Poetry Business newsletters. 🙂
Aspen Hite
Yes, those are all excellent ideas! I think Writer’s Digest is probably a good place for me to start. Thanks, Jaya! ✌️
Khaya Ronkainen
Thank you so much for this informative post. Other than my past study workshops, I haven’t had the pleasure of attending one in recent years. But yes there’s so much to learn from writing workshops and they can be fun too. I’m glad you had a wonderful experience.
Cindy Georgakas
Love this Jaya and thanks for bringing this front and center to remind me to put it on my list for next year! 💖💖👏👏👏🌹🌹🙏
Jaya Avendel
Woohoo! Love that you want to try out writing workshops, Cindy.
Sam "Goldie" Kirk
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I never had a chance to participate in such a workshop, but I definitely would like to some day.
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Jaya,
I definitely see the benefits here. In person events for any niche help us to bond more seamlessly. Workshops up the ante in terms of improving our writing game.
Ryan
Sue Berk Koch
I usually shy away from creative writing workshops because I’m intimidated. You present some excellent positives! I will be more open minded the next time around! Thank you.
Charity
These are all such incredible benefits for sure! Thanks so much for sharing!
CristinaR
It sounds like this workshop was so great for you! I always wanted to attend a writing workshop but never followed through, mostly because as you, I am very crowd shy and sharing my work sounds like an insormounbtabvle mountain. I am so glad to have read this and the benefits you got from it x
Jaya Avendel
Thank you, Cristina! It was definitely worth every hesitance I had before. 🥰
Becky
Happy Monday! Such an interesting article. I need creative writing inspo all the time so this was very interesting to read.
johncoyote
I agree. I was using two workshops. A gathering of writers, just listening, help editing and polite help. It helps me a lot. I hope the workshops will start again.
Daphny Aqua
Lovely, I signed up for a workshop once but could only join one session due to some personal work and I did learn a lot from that one day. Good to see you enjoying yours and this post is a beautiful reflect to it. 💕
readandreviewit1
I love this, I’m so glad you enjoyed the workshop! The sample you shared is absolutely amazing (it’s crazy what can come out of a brief five minutes). I’m not the best at receiving criticism either but I’ll be starting uni in September and I know there will be a lot of creative writing workshops then so I’m hoping I can get better at it! Wishing you all the best for college x
Jaya Avendel
That is so exciting that you are starting university too! Best of luck. 🥰
Daily Poetry
I am glad you liked the workshop so much. It seems it really can boost your writing skills. That piece of your friend’s trending post about her cut finger was quite inspired. If there is a workshop in my neighborhood I’ll attend it.
Unwanted Life
I’ve always had a problem with my writing because of my dyslexia, so I’ve thought about attending such a course. However, I’m also aware that once the initial motivation wears off, I quickly fallback into old habits. So how easy it it to retain the new styles you’ve learnt at these workshops?
Thank you for providing this guide to writing workshops. I’m sure a lot of people will benefit from this.
Jaya Avendel
I get what you mean about potentially giving up on continuing to practice the styles learned at workshops. While I will not necessarily be writing further non-fiction pieces, I do look forward to experimenting with pop culture references, so that is something!
Cassa Bassa
Agreed! I found the deadline of uploading a piece of writing for the group to comment worked well for me. Group members are readers, their feedback was gold.
Michele Lee
I was excited to read that you attended your first creative writing workshop. How wonderful! Your list is fantastic and should motivate anyone who is contemplating joining a workshop. Happy writing! 👏🏻
Jaya Avendel
Thank you, Michele! I am looking forward to similar experiences.
Michele Lee
It is nice to see classes/workshops coming back. Online options are plentiful, too. I look forward to hearing about your writing experiences. It is wonderful to connect with other writers!
Ingrid
I’ve never done this, Jaya, but it does sound like fun!
Bartholomew Barker
I’ve been doing various poetry workshops for over ten years now. I’ll post stuff to my blog that hasn’t gone through a workshop but I won’t submit anything to a journal that hasn’t.
Jaya Avendel
That is such an interesting approach, Bartholomew! Thank you for sharing how you utilize workshops.
Michelle (Boomer Eco Crusader)
I am so glad to hear you enjoyed the workshop, Jaya. I took a writing class last year and learned a lot. It’s good to force yourself out of your comfort zone from time to time.
paeansunplugged
I think getting honest, critical feedback and being pushed out of our comfort zone of writing are the biggest takeaways. Thanks for sharing, Jaya.
Jodie | That Happy Reader
I loved this piece!I can see the the workshop was just what you were hoping it to be! I’m so excited for you to start University in the fall. There is no limits to your future.
Jaya Avendel
Aww, thank you for this amazing comment, Jodie!