Workshop Questions

Please answer the following questions for your peer in complete sentences, providing lots of examples from their work. Then give them this paper so they can use it.

Remember, you will hand in all workshop commentary to Professor D on the final day of class.

1) First, examine the map that the author provided. Do all the different "paths" through the story make sense? Are they logical? Do they lead to endings that make that sense given the choices provided?

2) Do the choices provided on the map make sense, given the context of the horror and cultural condition in the narrative? Would different choices make more sense in relationship to the cultural condition and horror?

3) Does the map seem complete enough? Are there any further narratives the author might consider? Also, are there any points of intersection between paths (cross-overs between narratives) that the author might consider?

4) Now, move from the map to the story itself. Look at the introduction first. Does it set the reader up with enough information about the cultural condition, horror, and story itself to understand what is going on? Are the characters set up clearly enough so the reader knows who is who? Give suggestions for any further information that might be required. *A good clue here as to what might be missing is to ask yourself, as a reader, what you are confused about. Any confusion on your part usually means the writer has left something out. Tell them what you are confused about.

5) Take a look at the writing itself for the narrative. Is it detailed enough so that the reader knows what is going on? Do they know who is talking at a given moment? Do they know where they are?

6) Examine the use of setting throughout the narrative. Is it descriptive and clear? Don't forget to "set the scene" early on in the story, and then to keep reminding the reader of the details in the setting throughout. You don't need a lot of details but one smart concrete detail in most narrative "chunks" will help. A concrete detail is a writing detail that appeals to one of the five senses--sight, sound, touch, smell, taste. It can be something as simple as an cold bottle of Mexican Coke (yum) or a hospital room ceiling that is peeling and mildewed.

7) Length can sometimes be an issue in Twine narratives. You don't want your narrative "chunks" to be excessively long, but they should include any necessary detail to move the reader along. Give any suggestions around this issue if needed.

8) Please point out if there are a lot of grammatical or spelling issues that the author needs to work on. Don't fix these for them, but let them know to fix them later.

9) Now, for the hardest and most important question of all: does the story really reveal and demonstrate the cultural condition and its horrors? Does it demonstrate those things effectively, through the use of setting, dialogue, choice, characterization and endings? Make any suggestions for improvement.