How to Teach a Writing Workshop

It's quite an honor to be asked to teach a writing workshop, but once the excitement wears thin, you're faced with an inscrutable question: What exactly are you going to teach? Writing workshops are designed to help fledgling writers get ahead in the business, which means that the subject of your writing workshop must be beneficial to those in the class. You'll also have to figure out how you will teach it and what you'll need to bring along.

Ask About Other Workshops. Before you start narrowing down your list of topics, as the workshop coordinator what topics are already being covered by other teachers. You don't want to offer a duplicate workshop, nor do you want to teach anything similar. Further, having a list of the other workshops being taught will give you an idea for the theme of the conference or event at which the workshops are being held.

Play to Your Strengths. If this is your first time teaching a writing workshop, you will probably want to stick with familiar territory. The topic of your workshop should be something that you know backwards and forwards so that nerves won't get in the way of teaching an effective class. For example, if you are an expert on characterization, you might want to teach a workshop on creating three-dimensional characters. This will give you an opportunity to speak about a subject you are good at.

Make Sure the Time Limit Will Work. There is nothing more embarrassing than teaching a workshop that only takes fifteen minutes when you've been allotted an hour. The material for your workshop should be sufficient to cover in the given time period but should not be so short that you are left with nothing to do with the last fifteen minutes. The best way to do this is to give a practice workshop at home to make sure that you've got enough time.