I always tell my students that in the goal of the workshop is not to fix the story, but to help bring the writer closet to their intentions.... even if the writer hasn't quite figured out what their intentions are, the clues are in story. I usually try to start by having everyone say what they think the story is about. And also, I tell them that in a successful workshop, the writer should walk away feeling excited to work on their story, and should have a pretty good idea of what they need to do next.
One thing that has been helpful is to ask people to limit their criticisms/suggestions to one thing.... although positive feedback can be limitless. (I wouldn't count small line-edit type feedback if it's the stuff that can be easily fixed, e.g. repetition, clarifying details, etc.) But basically, focusing on one issue seems to help students really think about the major thing the writer needs to look at next, and why that thing, and reduces a lot of overwhelm for the writer.
I always tell my students that in the goal of the workshop is not to fix the story, but to help bring the writer closet to their intentions.... even if the writer hasn't quite figured out what their intentions are, the clues are in story. I usually try to start by having everyone say what they think the story is about. And also, I tell them that in a successful workshop, the writer should walk away feeling excited to work on their story, and should have a pretty good idea of what they need to do next.
One thing that has been helpful is to ask people to limit their criticisms/suggestions to one thing.... although positive feedback can be limitless. (I wouldn't count small line-edit type feedback if it's the stuff that can be easily fixed, e.g. repetition, clarifying details, etc.) But basically, focusing on one issue seems to help students really think about the major thing the writer needs to look at next, and why that thing, and reduces a lot of overwhelm for the writer.