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The Workshop #2
The Workshop: Week Two
Nine writers entered… none survived. (Whoops, typo— *nine survived.) Continuing our ambitious amateurs’ battle for literary dominance, The Week Two pits hormones against short stories; pits spite against acclaim; pits… whose pits smell so bad? *Mature language warning*
*Publisher font recommended—dynamic formatting*
*Publisher font recommended—dynamic formatting*
160 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 17, 2023
About the author
Matt Mills
2 books2 followersWriter, musician, lanky goofball.
After graduating from NYU with a bachelor's degree in Music Theory & Composition, I naturally spent my 20s screenwriting, consulting for various media, publishing short plays, and winning various unimpressive awards. Now I'm parlaying my favorite college course into my bonkers eBook novella series The Workshop.
Linktr.ee/MattMills
The Workshop: Week One and Week Two available now via eBook and paperback!
Nine writers enter... only one will escape. (Figuratively—the door works fine.)
The Workshop: Week One introduces nine competitive college students who will battle for literary superiority and existential purpose over sixteen weeks of their Creative Writing in Various Media course.
Who will find a career? Who’s gonna cry all the way home? Who had garlic for lunch?
Literary Fiction (meta) / Humor / New Adult / Romance
After graduating from NYU with a bachelor's degree in Music Theory & Composition, I naturally spent my 20s screenwriting, consulting for various media, publishing short plays, and winning various unimpressive awards. Now I'm parlaying my favorite college course into my bonkers eBook novella series The Workshop.
Linktr.ee/MattMills
The Workshop: Week One and Week Two available now via eBook and paperback!
Nine writers enter... only one will escape. (Figuratively—the door works fine.)
The Workshop: Week One introduces nine competitive college students who will battle for literary superiority and existential purpose over sixteen weeks of their Creative Writing in Various Media course.
Who will find a career? Who’s gonna cry all the way home? Who had garlic for lunch?
Literary Fiction (meta) / Humor / New Adult / Romance
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 29, 2023
Returning for another week of criticism, most of it not particularly constructive, the students half-heartedly prepare themselves to share their short stories in The Workshop: Week Two by Matt Mills.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Having survived, mostly unscathed, the first week of literary battle within their Creative Writing in Various Media class, the nine undergraduate students slowly prepare themselves, and even more slowly compose their short stories, for the second week. Upon entering the doors to their arena of critiques a surprise awaits them – one among them isn’t returning, but a new fighter has entered the ring to take their place. With drafts, many of them in rough shape, of their short stories in tow, the students, now slightly better prepared for and aware of the biting potential of the barbed forthcoming comments they’re likely to receive from their peers, hesitantly share them with their classmates as their instructor selects the tributes one by one. As their second week concludes a new writing challenge emerges for these brave souls to tackle for the upcoming week.
Greeting readers with a Bueller-style question of “you’re still here!?” as a continuation of the direct engagement narrative style established in The Workshop: Week One [Craft and Critique], this installment of the series seamless continues the quickly paced story as it details the students through their days in the second week as they occasionally think about (but mostly procrastinate) their assignment. With one student dropping the course they are absent from the perils of critique but are not forgotten as they continue to appear in brief lines of text as if a lingering afterthought, and the introduction of a new student presents an opportunity to depict their strong Southern dialect for some linguistic variety. Though the self-deprecating and playful authorial persona narration remains with clever comments persisting throughout the text, the interactivity level with the reader is slightly reduced from the high level set in the first week as the students’ short stories consume greater focus; however, more time is spent on developing out the characters more distinctly by providing longer bits of writing in each of their unique voices (an impressive feat), which provides additional insight into their personalities and motivations, and there’s an increased amount of space devoted to describing the dreams, both surreal and mundane, the characters experience, offering a curious dimension to their state of mind that contributes to their overall personality and provides intrigue for how those dreams might inform their future creative endeavors.
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Having survived, mostly unscathed, the first week of literary battle within their Creative Writing in Various Media class, the nine undergraduate students slowly prepare themselves, and even more slowly compose their short stories, for the second week. Upon entering the doors to their arena of critiques a surprise awaits them – one among them isn’t returning, but a new fighter has entered the ring to take their place. With drafts, many of them in rough shape, of their short stories in tow, the students, now slightly better prepared for and aware of the biting potential of the barbed forthcoming comments they’re likely to receive from their peers, hesitantly share them with their classmates as their instructor selects the tributes one by one. As their second week concludes a new writing challenge emerges for these brave souls to tackle for the upcoming week.
Greeting readers with a Bueller-style question of “you’re still here!?” as a continuation of the direct engagement narrative style established in The Workshop: Week One [Craft and Critique], this installment of the series seamless continues the quickly paced story as it details the students through their days in the second week as they occasionally think about (but mostly procrastinate) their assignment. With one student dropping the course they are absent from the perils of critique but are not forgotten as they continue to appear in brief lines of text as if a lingering afterthought, and the introduction of a new student presents an opportunity to depict their strong Southern dialect for some linguistic variety. Though the self-deprecating and playful authorial persona narration remains with clever comments persisting throughout the text, the interactivity level with the reader is slightly reduced from the high level set in the first week as the students’ short stories consume greater focus; however, more time is spent on developing out the characters more distinctly by providing longer bits of writing in each of their unique voices (an impressive feat), which provides additional insight into their personalities and motivations, and there’s an increased amount of space devoted to describing the dreams, both surreal and mundane, the characters experience, offering a curious dimension to their state of mind that contributes to their overall personality and provides intrigue for how those dreams might inform their future creative endeavors.
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
June 26, 2023
If you haven't read The Workshop: Week One, this review won't make much sense. Why don't you go read that, then enjoy my review of it, then read Week Two, and THEN meet me back here at this review.
Take your time. I'll wait. Mmm. This Earl Grey is delightful. The rain seems to be abating. Look how fresh the garden looks.
Oh! You caught me woolgathering. You're caught up now? Excellent!
Week One, being our introduction to a sixteen-week “Creative Writing in Various Media” course, was where we were introduced to the teacher and her nine students.
Where Week One focused heavily on the students learning how to effectively critique each other's work, Week Two plows headlong into the details of their first weekend. If you were ever a college student, you probably don't remember your weekends very clearly. If you missed the college experience, you probably have just as many weekend memories as those who were there. Either way, we the readers venture clueless into the bars and dorms of our nine stressed and frustrated proto-writers as they stumble about, trying to make sense of their recreational time, their writing assignments, and their hormones.
The story is told in a slip-slidey stream of consciousness style, which can be a handful when focused on one person - now imagine it times ten (the teacher is included for bonus surrealism).
The action is pushed forward in a real-time manner, with frequent time stamps instead of chapter breaks. Don't expect to spend a lot of time with one student, then move on to another, and so on - we bounce around the entire group like human pinballs spring-shot into a game of life. Wow, that's deep. Well, deeper than some of the poetry these poor saps are scrawling down, anyway.
The energetic wordplay makes this a fast read, since you're swept up in the action right alongside the characters and riding their energy. I'm starting to worry about the author - can he really keep up this pace for sixteen weeks?
Hey, if he's game, I am too. Week Three, here we come. After I get some sleep, that is. And maybe a pizza.
Take your time. I'll wait. Mmm. This Earl Grey is delightful. The rain seems to be abating. Look how fresh the garden looks.
Oh! You caught me woolgathering. You're caught up now? Excellent!
Week One, being our introduction to a sixteen-week “Creative Writing in Various Media” course, was where we were introduced to the teacher and her nine students.
Where Week One focused heavily on the students learning how to effectively critique each other's work, Week Two plows headlong into the details of their first weekend. If you were ever a college student, you probably don't remember your weekends very clearly. If you missed the college experience, you probably have just as many weekend memories as those who were there. Either way, we the readers venture clueless into the bars and dorms of our nine stressed and frustrated proto-writers as they stumble about, trying to make sense of their recreational time, their writing assignments, and their hormones.
The story is told in a slip-slidey stream of consciousness style, which can be a handful when focused on one person - now imagine it times ten (the teacher is included for bonus surrealism).
The action is pushed forward in a real-time manner, with frequent time stamps instead of chapter breaks. Don't expect to spend a lot of time with one student, then move on to another, and so on - we bounce around the entire group like human pinballs spring-shot into a game of life. Wow, that's deep. Well, deeper than some of the poetry these poor saps are scrawling down, anyway.
The energetic wordplay makes this a fast read, since you're swept up in the action right alongside the characters and riding their energy. I'm starting to worry about the author - can he really keep up this pace for sixteen weeks?
Hey, if he's game, I am too. Week Three, here we come. After I get some sleep, that is. And maybe a pizza.
June 13, 2023
We’re back for week two of our favorite writing group! We’re still early on in the competition. Two down, fourteen to go.
Most of the names are familiar from the first book, however, we do meet a new face. Once again we are treated to a sampling of the students’ writing in their rawest forms. The pace feels faster this time around with the contestants having been established in the first book.
I’d say this book has a better flow than the previous with a lot of timestamps placed throughout. The narration maintains a dark comedic voice and remains relevant and relatable to anyone who’s ever picked up a pencil. I have high hopes for the remainder of the series.
Most of the names are familiar from the first book, however, we do meet a new face. Once again we are treated to a sampling of the students’ writing in their rawest forms. The pace feels faster this time around with the contestants having been established in the first book.
I’d say this book has a better flow than the previous with a lot of timestamps placed throughout. The narration maintains a dark comedic voice and remains relevant and relatable to anyone who’s ever picked up a pencil. I have high hopes for the remainder of the series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews