Blog #5- Other People's Advice (Finishing a Piece of Writing)

Well, hello there America,

Yes, I'm happy to see you too! Today I would like to take a look at a section from chapter 8 (Finishing) of Stephen Koch's book, The Modern Library Writer's Workshop. The subheading that I was most particularly interested in from this chapter is Other People's Advice. In this section, Koch discusses the importance of relinquishing your paper to someone else's editorial advice, which is not to be confused with criticism. Koch explains that the difference between editorial advice and criticism is that editorial advice "is there only to help improve your work, and it has no more right to ignore your interests than a doctor has the right to ignore a patients interests" (191). This is very much different from criticism, as Koch writes, "Criticism is an intellectual enterprise--and a branch of literature--that owes you and your writing nothing" (191).
I found this section of the book to be important because of the Writing Workshop activities that we have been working on every Monday in class. After reading this section I have been able to take a look at the way in which I offer my editorial advice to the other members of my group, and how I take their advice about my work. I've realized that most times people do not want to be overly critical of another person's work for fear of hurting that person's feelings. Equally, people do not (in most circumstances) want a person to be overly critical of their own work. Koch addresses this issue by telling his readers that it is a good idea to preface any editorial advice they are about to give on a person's writing with a warning. Koch writes, "It is a perfectly legitimate--and often vital--part of editorial advice to alert a writer to the kind of criticism she or he is likely to face" (191). This way, your reading is braced for the kind of feedback they are going to recieve.
Koch then states that a writer must go over his own writing through the eyes (lense) of his imaginary "worst enemy". This allows the writer, if he/she is truly trying to see their writing critically, to analyze their writing from an objective viewpoint. By doing this, the writer is able to better identify their weaknesses and make the appropriate adjustments/corrections.

For all of you out there in TV Land who are considering way to facilitate writing workshops in your own classrooms, I would highly recommend that if you only read one chapter of The Modern Library Writer's Workshop that you make it Chapter 8: Finishing. There is a lot of helpful insight into the processes of finishing a writing piece. For many of us out in the field, this will end up being the primary focus of the writing workshops that we have our students do anyway. So, Chapter 8, check it out!

And, as always... KeEp It ClAsSy KeNt StAtE!

-Sam P.