Basic Questions for Workshop

1. What are the essays about?

2. No, really. What are they actually about?

3. What's most compelling in these pieces and why?

3b. What's confusing to you? What do you need to hear more about in order to understand?

4. Is there a writerly persona shining through? What can we say we know about each writer from this piece alone? Don't just think about content. Yes, we know that person x did thing y and has problem z, but is there something in his/her language that tells us about him/her, too, the inner life?

5. If these pieces needed to be extended, how would you suggest that the writers went about that? What kinds of memories could they include? Are there rich descriptions of people and places?

6. Do the writers ask themselves questions?

7. Does the writer assume that we know what's being talked about? How can we help him/her counteract that?

8. To what extent are scenes blending with commentary? Should there be more commentary about the scenes, or more scenes on which to comment? Is there inclusion of 1) a memory, 2) an account of how the writer felt THEN, 3) an account of how the writer feels NOW?

9. Does the writer show us how he/she feels or merely tell us?

10. Is there humor?