Tayari's Blog: Summer Report: Tin House Workshops
Posted by TayariJones on July 23, 2007 08:13 AM
Filed under
Guest Bloggers
, The Writing Life
FeLicia Elam, a member of our blog community, attened the Tin House Summer Writers Workshops this summer. Now that she's back, I asked her 
a few questions. See our Q&A below. (If you are interested in summer workshops in your area, visit the AWP website or pick up a copy of Poets & Writers Magazine!)
Q&A with FeLicia Elam:
Tayari: How did you first start attending workshops? How did you choose the Tin House workshop?
FeLicia: Attending workshops came as a natural progression of my writing career. Initially I wrote stories until I felt comfortable sharing them. Then I found a critique group and stayed with them for three years, completing nine stories and getting two published. When I wanted a challenge as a writer so I could grow, I started attending week-long, intensive workshops.
This year I was accepted into Tin House at Reed College in my new city, Portland, Oregon. I applied to Tin House because they have an excellent quarterly magazine and a publishing company. Additionally, Tin House is known for pulling in top notch writers, and their students have a habit of returning. I have attended two ten-week long workshops here and could tell how much my writing has improved.
Once you decided on Tin House, how did you decide which writer you wanted to work with?
I had to select three teachers from the short story section in order of choice; not all workshops give that option. I got my first pick, Colson Whitehead. He’s one of today’s top writers, well-respected with four published works since 1999. A key to getting the most from workshops is to choose carefully. Find a writer who writes similarly to you. If you’re not familiar with the writers, read some of their work and then determine who best fits your style.
Okay, so you’ve picked your class, and gotten accepted. Then what?
My class had eleven other students, so a couple of weeks before the workshop, I read their stories. Most workshops have a limit of less than 25 pages for short story submission, but multiply that by eleven and reading can become tedious. I paced myself by reading two or three a night, reserving comment until after I gave them a more careful review.
The first day is always the most stressful. Tin House started on a Sunday and after registration and introductions, we broke into our respective classes. Last year, at the Hurston/Wright Writers Week, our instructor disregarded our submissions and had us write stories during the week to critique. I was pleased with my story and am still sending it out.
Colson decided to critique what we had submitted and forego any writing exercises or assignments. Not all teachers did that this year, with some choosing to write and critique fresh material, while others assigned writing exercises. I thought all the submissions were pretty good and was glad we critiqued them.
Give us a feel for what your schedule was like.
Sunday night concluded with an 8pm reading by T. C. Boyle and a 9:30 mixer. Monday morning the intensive began. Class started at 10:00 and ran until 12:30, dividing the time between the first two stories in the queue. After an hour and a half lunch break, the afternoon seminars began. Class attendance is mandatory, but seminars are optional.
To get the most from a workshop, decide which seminars are most relevant to your goals. Attending all of them is impossible. By day three or four of a workshop, most people are burned out, even without trying to attend all the seminars. Editing is my weak point and so is adding conflict to my stories. I was glad to see that there were two seminars that dealt directly with editing, one by Susan Bell who wrote The Artful Edit, and another one on adding conflict to stories by Charles D’Ambrosio. Monday was a full day with seminars at 2, 3, and 4pm. Each night during Tin House, guest authors and teachers read at 8pm. Tuesday at 4:30 began the student readings which were held every afternoon until Saturday. Some workshops have all the students read on one night, but Tin House had 300 attendees.
What would you say is the most valuable thing you learned at Tin House?
The first one is to explore. In Colson’s class on the first day, he mentioned pushing our writing further. If dialogue is a strong point then focus on something that’s not. This was echoed in throughout the workshop, from exploring new ways of using words, to exploring better ways of telling a story.
I took it personally. I had been challenged to write poetry by a poet friend of mine, something I’ve been shying away from even though I admire a poet’s skill with words. Poetry would enhance my own stories. I wrote my first poem on Sunday morning and will write others.
Aimee Bender gave us a recipe for showing v. telling: To buttress a telling statement between two showing sentences. With a little practice, that will help me smooth out some rhythm problems I’ve been having with stories. Susan Bell made editing more approachable. I had a chance to learn from so many people. Even the students, just from seeing other styles and techniques help me improve my writing. Getting their feedback allowed me to see if my work was conveying the meanings I intended.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
From the teachers and guests to the students, Tin House was a learning experience I’m glad I had. Workshops help me gauge how my work is progressing and gives me ideas on how to improve. I’m glad I had that experience and recommend workshops to anyone who is interested.
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There are 5 comments on "Summer Report: Tin House Workshops". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Jackie ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
The first time I went to the Harlem Book Fair, I was all excited and it was worth it to see so many AA writers in person and books discounted so that you buy lots of them. There was enough street fiction that you could ignore it if you wanted to or draw closer to see what it was all about. I was last at the book fair in 2006 and it was overrun with street fiction and so many people hawking their self published street fiction. I have to give them this: many were using their marketing tools, but it was just too much. Literary fiction was in short supply. Even popular fiction couldn't find a good spot. One highlight (nod to Ladylee): there were some great bootleg CD oldies.
The panel discussions which covered more serious topics had far fewer people in attendance than the ongoing drama outside. If it was anything like last year, you would have been frustrated by the repetition of just so much urban fiction. It's not that it doesn't have its place on the bookshelf, it's that from my perspective, the bookshelf was about to topple over from all those books with the same story and the same book art. Perhaps this is the one place where disenfranchised writers have their shot at selling and being read. I think it drives away everyone else, because how can you compete with tales of stripers and prison life if yours is the one story that isn't about that? Yes, I did buy some of those books, a DVD even (talk about everything being available!) and forced myself to get through it. I'm telling you, it's the same story over and over again.
For now, I will be content to watch the edited version of the fair on cable. Oh, who am I kidding. I might give it a try again next year because, after all, it is Harlem and there is no place like it.
July 23, 2007 10:26 AM
Comment #2, by Michael Fischer
Nice interview. I've had my eye on the TH workshops lately and might apply next summer. I didn't realize that some teachers require students to write fresh material during the week. That seems kind of odd.
July 23, 2007 10:30 AM
Comment #3, by Ladylee
I agree with Michael. That was a good interview, Tayari and Felicia. I've been wanting to understand the whole workshop process better. The whole "writing on the spot" issha is a bit scary, though. I thought all the workshops were like that, and that I'd better have some heavy arsenal stories in mind before applying to any. I've decided to spend some time in my fiction writing classes, going through the critique process, etc., before taking that major step. I thought I was strange for wanting to do that, but I can see from your experience, Felicia, that that is totally acceptable... and better for me in the long run.
I like that you did your research. You've pinpointed your problem areas, and are willing to improve them. THAT'S what's important. That gives someone like me, who wants to continuously develop, a little hope.
Now, if we can get some of our street fiction writers to do the same... Oh, what a wonderful world it would be!
@Jackie... Trying to get through street fiction. You are good. You'd have to shoot me before I read another street fiction book. Same storylines, different names. I haven't read one in a close to four years. Funny, I thought that they'd develop past those storylines by now. I guess not. Humph.
I would have LOVED to have gotten in on some of those panel discussions... wow.
Oh yes... and long live the bootleg CDs!
July 23, 2007 03:03 PM
Comment #4, by Michael Fischer
I just realized that I misread part of the interview. I took "fresh material" as=whole stories, not exercises, sketches, etc. I've written that kind of material at summer workshops before, though I haven't attended many summer workshops--just two. I wonder if some workshop leaders require fresh whole stories from everyone within that one week?
Ladylee, you bring up an interesting point about more traditional writing classes vs. short term summer workshops. I've found myself spending so much time in the traditional writing classes during the last few academic years that by the time the summer workshop season rolls around, I'm trying to escape that environment, and the thought of "workshoping" year around makes me ill, ha.
July 23, 2007 03:32 PM
Comment #5, by Willie S. Anderson
I just recently discovered this web site. It is great to see FeLicia Elam's work. Excellent.
May 11, 2009 12:44 PM