I’ve had some doozies, especially as a teacher. The relating of several of these might end in lawsuit, so I’ll just ask for yours instead and point you to this interview with Megan Stielstra, wherein she offers a pretty decent competitor for worst of the worst. And here you thought the douchebro who says he doesn’t read or edit his work because it might influence his writing and ruin how “raw” it is was bad. (As a student, I once had to belt-loop a guy out of the room like a nightclub bouncer because he was freaking out on the instructor. In fairness to Hothead McGee there, the instructor had just told him Bukowski would have been ashamed the fellow had considered him an influence. It was ugly.)
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever gotten out of a writing class or workshop as a student?
A student wrote a story about my death. He was not subtle; the character was named Megan Stielstra. He included a scene of my funeral—the only person who showed up was a character based on himself. He wrote that it was very sad that nobody else loved me.
