Embarrassing situations, we’ve all had them. And if we were to be honest, how often feedback, the proverbial “being called out”, or the reverse, the lack of feedback, lurks behind those uncomfortable circumstances.
Feedback, love it or hate it, you can’t live without it. We all have blind spots, secrets in our psyche that not even we are aware of. This is especially true with our writing; we are too close to our work to see the spelling and grammar errors or gaping holes in our story’s plot.
An embarrassing episode often involves an exposition of one of our blind spots where feedback plays a part. For instance, walking around all day at the office with your fly undone and the absence of feedback makes the realisation of the fact so much more embarrassing. If only someone was brave enough to point out your state of undress.
So, the point: Feedback is important for your health, well-being, and growth as a person. And feedback is important for honing your craft of writing. In this article, I’ll focus on giving feedback for writers, but we can use it in most life, art, and work situations.
The way a person gives feedback is vital, which is why we tend to avoid it and avoid giving it truthfully. Nobody wants to be the “Arnold J. Rimmer” in the television series Red Dwarf, who has to tell “Dave Lister” that he has absolutely no talent when it comes to playing the guitar, even though Dave loves playing the guitar and thinks he’s a star. And of course, Rimmer being Arnold J Rimmer, enjoys putting Dave Lister down. I think most of us would admit to leaving honest feedback up to someone else at times for fear of causing embarrassment.
But if we want our writing to improve and our writers’ community to be more than a mutual admiration society, then we need to learn to tackle the skill of giving feedback in a way that makes the recipient feel validated and safe.
So how do we give helpful feedback?
We want our communities, whether it be a writers’ group or other sorts of groups, to be safe places where participants can be themselves, share who they are and excel in their endeavours. So below are examples of feedback that builds up the person and us as writers:
Helpful Feedback
1. Honest and open, given while caring for the recipient’s worth and dignity. 2. Positive—keep tone light and pleasant. We can improve our delivery of feedback when we look for what in the work has been effective and how it can be better. No creative work is a “disaster” that must be torn up and burnt, just as no person is so unworthy that they’re not worth the effort of redemption. However, if the work denigrates another, the writer needs feedback to proceed with caution or risk losing that member to the group, or even litigation down the track. 3. Feedback sandwich—following on from above, the positive—improvement—positive comment approach is an effective way to keep the recipient happy about improvements that they might need to do to their work. 4. Specific—name and highlight specific, good points or improvement needs. “Good,” “excellent” and “I enjoyed it” mean nothing. Requires giving those presenting their work your undivided attention, listening, also having valued the recipient to give a thoughtful response. 5. Humour—if done with respect, can help the recipient manage difficult to manage feedback. e.g., ‘You can’t speak with sparkling eyes’ or ‘Words are your friends.’ 6. Role-modelling—showing how an effective piece of work looks/sounds/reads. 7. General address—teaching on a common foible that has arisen in a number of works. e.g., ‘Today we are going to have a look at showing rather than telling,’ the mentor said. 8. An example—like role-modelling where an editor or a more experienced writer may rewrite a first chapter to show how to improve a work. (With the recipient’s consent, of course.) 9. Showing rather than telling — ‘Shall I stop there?’ asks Heinz. ‘No, no, keep going,’ we all say. 10. Genuine Interest — asking how the work is progressing and listening to the writer’s plots, plans and characters, and the like, shows that you value them as a person and their work. 11. Right place — a quiet, safe place with minimal distractions. e.g., Writers’ group. 12. Good timing — no use giving feedback when there are distractions for the recipient. 13. Right voice — keep your tone even, audible, and confident.
Conclusion: When we give feedback with respect valuing the person and their creative endeavour, we help them grow and their work to flourish. What’s more, when we cooperate with each other giving helpful feedback, not only do we have an excellent group that people want to join, but the quality of our product far surpasses what we would’ve had if we keep our writings to ourselves and never seek feedback. At the end of the day, would we want to publish a work that would embarrass us?
Indie Scriptorium-What does it take to become a writer?
Step Two–Writing to be read.
A reader is your audience. Your job as a writer is to give your reader the best possible experience of understanding and enjoying your thoughts, experiences, ideas, and creativity.
To turn your written piece into something that others will read, understand and enjoy requires two further steps, critiquing and editing. You will also need a computer and an understanding of how to create a word document or someone who will help you with this task.
When I first started out writing, I did not understand the need for critiquing and editing and wrote a massive novel of 180,000 words on a typewriter, and then did not know what to do with it. A kind person read it and pointed out that it was too long, overly complex, had too much explanation, didn’t read well, and contained far too many grammatical and spelling errors. I became totally dispirited and deposited my tome in a bottom draw where it still resides today.
Since then, I have written hundreds of small pieces of written texts. Some were essays for study, work projects, small exercises in writer’s groups and short stories for competitions. I have learned from these the craft of writing. I have improved my style and continue to improve. This is a process that never stops. I am learning every time I write, critique and edit.
I am now writing novels to be published with Indie Scriptorium and they need to be as close to perfect as possible. Getting feedback and then editing your work is as important as writing it in the first place and can take up more time and effort. But it will be worth it.
Let’s start with critiquing. What is a critique? My Collins dictionary defines a critique as a “Critical essay” and many people view a critique as a negative criticism of something as it comes from the word critic. But I like the Oxford Languages definition on Google “Critique–a detailed analysis and assessment of something.”
When writing, you want a detailed analysis and a fair assessment of your work. As a writer, you need encouragement and constructive feedback, so it’s important to look for the strengths of the writing as well as the improvements required.
It is difficult to critique your own work. When you are writing for a reader, you need another set of eyes. A trusted person, or persons, who will give you their honest opinion about what they liked and what they didn’t. What worked and what was confusing, what was difficult to understand, or lacked pace and interest. Getting feedback is essential.
I have a lovely friend who reads my first drafts and tells me if she enjoyed the story and the characters. I also have writing friends who give feedback about the plot, characters, writing style, research used, word usage, sentence construction and grammar. Writing groups can provide good feedback, but I would suggest that you ask one or two members to become your critique partners and then share your work fairly amongst yourselves. Writing groups can be too supportive, you need a balance of encouragement and critical evaluation to improve your writing. I also employ a professional editor who provides me with invaluable feedback.
Google-How to find a Critique Partner and there is a plethora of articles that I suggest people read before approaching another writer. Some Writing Organisations will provide critiquing services for a fee or will help you match up with another writer. Entering competitions can provide you with some excellent feedback, especially if the judges are readers. I have found a questionnaire a useful way to gain feedback from readers as it focuses their attention on what aspects of your writing you need to improve.
Critiques strengthen your writing. Reviewing someone else’s work strengthens your writing and leads you to the next step: editing. (To be covered in my next blog in July)
And in the spirit of critiquing, I welcome your feedback for this blog.
Indie Scriptorium—What does it take to become a writer?
Chatting with my new, and delightfully talented, hairdresser, the conversation flowed to my writing aspirations; to get my first novel self-published by August this year.
“Oh, I’ve always wanted to write.” she said.
Many people want to write. Their family history, memoirs, self-help books, picture books for children, cookbooks, books about their interests, passions and creative short stories, poetry and novels. But where do you start?
Indie Scriptorium has been a revelation. What do you need to know to become a published author? What are the steps required? In Indie Scriptorium, we have identified, and are currently collating information that we hope our readers and members will find helpful. But I will start at the beginning.
Step One – Writing for yourself.
Pick up a pen, find some paper and write. Start with a paragraph and then try to set some time aside every day to write some more. Don’t judge your work, just write. If this is rewarding and addictive, you’re on your way to becoming a writer.
Writing for yourself can be rewarding. Keeping a diary of your thoughts and activities, describing events you’ve attended, people you’ve met and places you visit is a record of your life. Jotting down recipes in a book with your impressions of the meal builds up into a great cookbook. Letters to friends and relatives can be enjoyable to write and lovely to receive. They provide wonderful memories and may be helpful to family members interested in genealogy down the track.
Writing can be therapeutic. A way to express your feelings in a safe way. You may be angry or disappointed with someone you love, but can’t tell them. Write it down and get it out of your system. I find this can help define my emotions and sort out what happened.
Even if you are writing for yourself, you can choose to improve your writing skills. A good dictionary and thesaurus are a good idea. If you have a computer, try writing using the Word program. It has a built-in spell checker and thesaurus. There are also books and magazine you can buy or borrow from libraries and if you google improving your writing skills, you will find a plethora of ideas and exercises.
But it doesn’t matter. If you choose to write for yourself, and you alone, what you write and how you write it is entirely your choice. So just write and enjoy.
Tune in for Step 2 -Writing to be read -to be posted 16th June 22
So, you want to publish a novel. Perhaps you have a manuscript ready to go. Or maybe, you have the challenge before you of getting started.
But what makes a good story?
One of my first blog posts come to mind…to encourage and inspire all of us who are writers.
Writers’ Privilege
‘Writing is a lonely craft,’ my university tutor said.
All of us in the group nodded and I thought: Yes, a writer must hide away in their study clacking away on their typewriter. They must concentrate. Those were the days back in the 1980’s…
I recalled as a student, hours locked up in my bedroom, writing my essays, trying to concentrate while my family went about their business, stomping in the passageway, dishes clattering in the kitchen and the television blaring in the lounge room. Not to mention my dear brother lifting weights and dropping the things with the inevitable clunk and thud, in the lounge room. Did I mention trying to concentrate? Yes, trying, but not succeeding. And even now, as I write this blog, can’t go five minutes without interruptions. These days, though, I write my first draft, by hand, in a quiet place at a quiet time, and then I write this blog on the computer as a second draft.
Suffice to say, the statement by my tutor all those years ago, has an element of truth. And compared to being an artist or musician, writing is a lonely craft. I belong to an art group and enjoy going each week as the hall is filled with happy chatter and my fellow artists are friendly and welcoming. And I can imagine a musician, mostly plays their instrument, or sings with others in a band; their craft has to be performed to an audience. The lonely parts of a musician’s life, from my observation, is the process of composing music. Although, many musicians collaborate when they jam together and create new songs together.
On reflection, though, my experiences over time with the process of writing as isolating, no longer resonates with me. I don’t write alone. I have my characters. I go into their world. Call me crazy, but it’s like when I was a child and had imaginary friends. Come to think of it, perhaps because I was lonely, I became a writer. Figures, hours after school, on weekends and holidays to fill. There’s only so many hours my brother, five years older than me, would share with me playing games. And friends, too weren’t with me all the time. So, books became my friends, as well as characters in the world of fantasy I conjured up. I swooned away, sitting in my cubby house, and whole days drifted by in my other life of fiction, science fiction.
As I grew up, I became used to my own space. My loneliness transformed into the joy and peace of being alone. Time to think and explore ideas, the “what if’s” of life’s path, stories of people I’ve met, my story, and the stories of my characters. Time to express these stories, writing them down. Many of these stories remain hidden in my journal, a hand-written scrawl; a mental work-out, sorting out ideas and emotions. Some make it to a Word File on the computer, others a blog post, and a few hundred pages have ended up as works buried on the shelves of Amazon—self-published but published all the same. And for six years, now, there’s my blog, again mostly hidden in the blog-pile of the world-wide web, but more visible today than in 2015 when I started the blogging journey.
Yet, once I’ve written the first draft in quietness and peace, the craft of writing becomes a collaborative process. Good writing needs feedback, editing and proof-reading. An effective piece of work needs a second, third and numerous sets of eyes, and many minds to weed the “gremlins” that beset the plot, content, and pacing. And a keen set of eyes to comb through the text to pick up grammar and spelling issues. The computer’s spell and grammar check are not enough.
I love to go to writers’ group. I heard someone on radio say that reading is the ultimate empathy tool. When we read, we enter another’s world and how they see the world. Exploring another’s world—how much more social can one get? This is what happens at writers’ group. We share our own world through our writing, and we explore other writer’s world as we listen to each other’s stories; a privilege and an honour to be trusted with these gems. As fellow writers we need each other to hone our skills as a writer. We need each other’s feedback. How else will we refine our craft without feedback?
Still, there is an aspect of writing that makes it a lonely existence. As writers we are modern-day prophets, proclaiming words given to us, believing these words can and will make a difference in another’s life. Hoping, the change will be for good. The word is a powerful tool, a double-edged sword. God’s Word is described as a double-edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12) There’s a saying that sticks and stones can break bones, but words cannot hurt me. Not true. Words can hurt. Words can also heal. Spoken words can sting or soothe, and then are gone, but the written word can endure and have power. People believe something is true because it’s in print. Reputations have risen and fallen on the power of the written word.
The printing press revolutionised the fifteenth century. Imagine words once written and hidden in some monastic library, then with the advent of the printed word, being duplicated and spread, and even appearing on church doors, for all to read. In our times we have witnessed the evolution of the power of the word through the internet. Need I say more—the gatekeepers of the past, by-passed, allowing all who are wanting to have a voice, freedom of written expression.
However, with freedom and power to influence, comes responsibility to use our gift and passion to write wisely and for the good of others. As a writer, I have written with good intentions to help others grow, help others see the world differently, change attitudes and effect a positive change in the world. Even so, my good intentions posted on my blog may have affected others in ways I didn’t intend. So, I have an understanding now what it means that writing can be a lonely craft as there will always be someone who doesn’t see the world as I do and may find my public interpretation of life offensive. My voice in the world-wide wilderness of the web may alienate me from others. So, I’m back where I started as a child, alone, with time and space to explore my world of fantasy with my characters as friends.
I guess that’s why I’m drawn to write. With fiction, it’s out there, it’s fantasy and it’s a safe platform to explore ideas, issues, and ways of looking at the world, the other world of “what-ifs”, that help readers open their minds to investigate alternative attitudes and create discussion. And with fact through my travel memoirs, sharing my life and worldview, joys, challenges, and faith. Through this process, I hope to bring goodness and personal growth to all who are willing to join in the journey into my world.
Indie Scriptorium -- Self Publishing Collective 