How to Write a Workshop Letter (aka One Way to Give Feedback on a Manuscript)

Man writing in a notebook

I cannot stress how important it is to learn to give feedback on a manuscript. (I’ll have another post about how to receive feedback soon!) In an academic creative writing program, learning how to give feedback on a manuscript in progress is perhaps the single most important thing you do.

In workshop, we only get a couple of turns as writers, and the truth is that many of the stories we workshop in those early days will not be stories we end up revising. These are often practice stories, things we’re trying out as we learn how to shape prose and scene and narrative. What workshop does do is help writers become more careful readers, learning how to articulate why and how some effect or scene works. In an entire MFA program, you may be only workshopped a couple dozen times, but you’ll write perhaps hundreds of workshop letters. So it’s important to learn how to do so in a way that helps you grow as a reader and that helps the writer develop the piece further.

A couple of quick caveats:

1. This letter is based on the Iowa workshop model, where the writer is forced to sit silently as the rest of the group discusses their piece. There are a lot of issues with this model, and there are alternative models, but even if you don’t use this model for your meeting, it is still really useful to learn to write the letter or critique.

2. Your job as a manuscript reviewer is to try to understand the manuscript, and to get the writer excited to return to the page. It is not your job to get the writer to throw the piece away or to quit writing altogether. It is not to show the writer how much you know. It is to meet the piece — not the writer! — where the piece is and try to determine what that piece wants to be. Your job is to try to identify what’s working well, and what opportunities the writer still has.

Okay, now to the letter itself. (And another quick note: some workshops ask for a critique and not a letter; in this case, just leave the salutation and closing off. You’re still addressing the writer.)

1. You must read the manuscript carefully. After reading through once, ask yourself what the manuscript is trying to do. For fiction, try to articulate the who and why of the story (character), the what and the how (plot), and the where and the when (setting). See if you can locate moments where the character reacts or changes. If it helps, you can think about theme here but in early drafts, we generally focus on what a character wants and how this creates a movement that becomes a chain of cause and effect.

2. Read the manuscript again, this time with an eye to the project of the story you articulated in step one.

3. Begin your letter with heading and salutation (again, just leave these off if you’re asked to write a critique and not a letter!). Next, you’ll try to articulate the project of the piece. What is the story trying to do? Who are the main characters and what do they want? What is stopping them from getting what they want? Be sure to thank the author for sharing their story with you. Here’s an example:

   Nancy Dinan

   8/16/24

   Dear Jen,

   Thanks for sharing, “This is the Way the World Ends,” a story about a man trying to find his family after a devastating storm. The man faces floodwaters and debris as he struggles to return home. The struggle is made particularly poignant when the reader learns that the family has a newborn after many years of trying to conceive.

4. Paragraph 2: Here, you’ll share what you think is really working in the manuscript. Remember, we’re trying to say what’s really working the story as we understand the story, not what we think the writer should be doing instead. Don’t only think of what you like here — think of what moves the story toward its next draft. An example:

   One thing I think is really working in this story is your use of specific, sensory detail. For example, when you describe the trash caught in the tree, you really evoke the sense of damage caused by the storm. Similarly, when you describe the man’s feelings by telling us what he’s doing instead of what he’s thinking , the story seems to tap into some powerful emotion.

5. Paragraph 3: In this paragraph, we’ll share one or two things we think could help the story refine its project for the next draft. Remember, we’re not commenting on what we like or don’t like in the story. We’re trying to articulate what’s working or not working for the story as we understand it. Be especially careful of tone in this paragraph. Our job here is to help the writer get to the next draft, not to get the writer to abandon the story. Some good phrases here are I wonder what would happen if… Something I wasn’t sure about was… Something I found unclear was… An example of paragraph 3:

   One thing I wondered about was the length of time between the storm and the beginning of the story. This information seems important because we don’t know if the damage is still occurring or even if it’s still raining. Having this information might increase the tension of the story. I also wonder what would happen if we saw the couple in a flashback at some point, so we could actually see them together on the page.

   In this paragraph, keep suggestions and comments to only one or two issues. We don’t have to fix everything in one revision. Be sure to match claims with evidence — “The story was confusing” is not helpful, but “I wasn’t sure where everyone was in the scene by the river” is.

6. Finally, thank the author for sharing the story, and close out the letter:

   Thanks again for sharing “This is the Way the World Ends,” and I look forward to seeing the next draft.