Tag Archives: feedback

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Writing Tip #30

Solicit feedback. I truly love getting feedback on things that I’ve written, whether it’s from from my classmates in grad school or from my agent or editors that I’ve worked with. We, as writers, spend so much time in our own heads that it’s important to make sure that what is on the page is not only what we intended, but something that is understood clearly, and the only way to find that out is to have another person read it.

The hard part, though, is choosing someone to read your work. In school, my professors provided invaluable criticisms, and I can still remember a solution to a plot problem that one of my classmates suggested; that suggested solution remains in Baby Grand. And I could go on and on about my agent, whose insights have made Baby Grand a far better book than it ever would have been otherwise.

Truth be told, though, outside of grad school or the publishing industry, it’s difficult to find qualified readers, readers whose opinions you can trust. I recently attended a meeting of a local writer’s group, and I didn’t feel like the suggestions or criticisms being offered at this particular group were helpful. And I tend not to solicit close friends and family — although many of them have offered (begged) to read Baby Grand — because I don’t feel like the objectivity is there and worry that they will either be not critical enough or too critical, depending on the friend/family member asked.

Criticism is a valuable tool, but it has to come from a reliable source — and what is considered “reliable” may differ from writer to writer. But I do think it’s important to get more than one opinion, have more than one reader, because a character who doesn’t ring true for one might be just fine for another. Your job then, as the writer, is to filter through all the feedback, all the “I liked this, but not this,” in order to get to the truth of your book, which, in the end, only you really know.

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A Quick Word About Criticism

I hadn’t planned on writing a blog post today, considering I’ve fallen behind schedule for my Baby Grand revisions, but something interesting happened so I thought I’d share.

One of the comments made by my agent when discussing the first draft of my novel was to make a certain scene in the manuscript “grittier.” Now, generally speaking, I don’t consider my writing all that gritty. It’s rather straight-forward and to the point, probably because of my journalism background, and if there’s any direction I lean it’s probably toward romanticizing — a bizarre trait for a thriller writer, I know.

Anyway, I must have read that scene six times and wondered how I was going to do this, if I wanted to do this, if this would make the scene better. I should start by saying that, having worked with my agent on Good Girls Don’t Get Fat, she truly does have a strong editor’s sense. In other words, I take what she has to say very seriously. But as I was reading over the scene, I sort of threw up my hands and said, “I can’t do this. This won’t work.” I wondered if maybe I hadn’t made myself clear to her as far as what I was hoping to achieve with this particular scene. And I was about halfway through an email telling her just that when I sat back in my seat and thought, “Why don’t I just try first? Why don’t I just write?”

So I did. I forced it at the very beginning, as if I had to break down some kind of creative wall, and then found that afterwards the words were coming. Grittier words. Words that even made me laugh. And, lo and behold, the scene was becoming deeper and more believable, and at the same time I hadn’t sacrificed the character motivations that I had been hoping to achieve. I was able to do both, and the scene seemed more effective.

I’ve said this before, but, for me, feedback is such an important part of the writing process — getting criticism from someone whose opinion you respect. I’ve heard from self-published authors who say that it would be a tragedy for an editor or agent or publisher to mess with the words they’ve written, which is why they chose to self-publish to begin with. But having worked with editors all my career as a freelance journalist — and being one myself — I know the value of good input. Without a comment from my agent, I don’t think I would have explored the boundaries of that scene. Or would I even have thought to. And that, to me, would have been the tragedy.