Remembrance of the workshop past (Part 1)

Almost two decades ago, writer Doreen Fernandez, a noted critic herself, pleaded that this country should have more critics. They do an important work. They tell the readers which stories are good and which are not; which plays are worth watching and which are not; which books are worth buying and which are not.

Yet to us Filipinos whose sensibilities are not like the Americans’, it is but hard to have these critics around. We cannot withstand to have our work, the mere completion of which took us a long time and hard work, being subjected to criticism. We take the criticisms, however constructive, personally. We mistake criticism as an assault on our very being.

It is in writing workshop where much criticism takes place; although criticizing books or stories or plays is somewhat different from the criticism at writing workshops, it is criticism nontheless. I have never attended a writing workshop, until recently. But I’ve had a fair idea what goes on at a writing workshop, thanks to Stephen King,.

In his book "On Writing: Memoir of a Craft," King recounted his own experience at a writing workshop he once attended. Despite his harrowing experience at a writing workshop, King would become an established writer himself.

Although he's "doubtful" if a writer can benefit from writing classes and seminars, he's not "entirely against them."

"I knew that if I attend a workshop," he said, "I'd receive no sweet words, unless my works are truly exceptional, and they are not. I knew that my works would be criticized. What are critics for if they don't criticize?"

Like King, I knew that if I attend a workshop I would subject myself and wy works to criticisms. I knew that I would receive "no sweet words, unless my works are truly exceptional, and they are not." Nevertheless, on May 3-7, 2010, I attended the Davao Writers Summer Workshop, which was sponsored by the Davao Writers Guild, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and UP Mindanao.

To be continued...