Yesterday’s post engendered some questions about getting feedback on our writing; specifically, How? More specifically, in the absence of an editor or agent, “…where does the average person seeking to improve their writing find honest and unrestrained critical feedback for their writing?”
First, let’s dispel a myth. Editors and agents don’t give you advice on how to improve as a writer. Sorry. They don’t.
Some agents (like the one I had) don’t give any constructive advice at all, but merely give you their impression of the marketability of an already completed work. Some agents are savvy enough to help a writer polish a work-in-progress, but from all the anecdotal evidence I’ve heard, they’re rare. They’re marketers, not editors.
And editors are generally only going to provide feedback on a particular work, the one they have contracted to bring to market. An editor will help you make a book you’ve written better, which may help you become a better writer, but the goal is to make the book better, not to make you a better writer. It may sound like a subtle distinction, but it isn’t.
In short, both agents and editors are focused on a single, finished work, only appear in a writer’s life after s/he has achieved a certain level of competence, and are not in the business of bringing a writer’s chops up to professional levels. After Book One, they may provide input or advice on Book Two, but they still aren’t going to tell you how to write, much less how to write well.
So, where does that leave a budding writer?
Workshops
A while back, I talked about one method of getting feedback in a post about workshops. Workshops, whether you form one yourself or join an existing one, can be a blessing and/or a curse. Go read that post; I won’t rehash it all here except to say they’re a minefield, and they are not for everyone. I will add one item to that discussion, though: Workshops can be a large commitment. Remember, it’s a mutual society—you get feedback, but you also have to provide feedback. That means you have to read other people’s work. That means a lot of reading. That means time. That means time not writing. It’s a trade-off, and that’s why writers’ workshops must be focused and provide value.
What else? Easy. Read.
Reading
Read what you want to write, but don’t just read. Read with a writer’s eye. Study what you’re reading. What is the structure? Does the dialogue sound realistic? Do all the characters sound as if they’re spoken by the same actor (bad) or do they all have a distinct “voice”? How has the author broken the work up? What constitutes a chapter? Summarize each chapter with the Hardy Boys Outline. Analyze the pace of the book. If there’s a particular author you like, are all her/his books alike? Does s/he switch things up, stylistically or structurally, for different books?
Also—and I think this is important—read outside your genre. I have never learned more about writing than when I read something outside the genre I started in. If all you read is science fiction, then your writing is going to read like science fiction; but if you read a classic, or a western, or a mystery, you will see more styles and can bring more ideas to your writing. And do not be afraid of reading a bad book; you can always learn from a bad book. What went wrong? Where did it fail you?
However (you knew there was one coming, didn’t you?) there really is no substitute for a critique.
Critiques
You need to get feedback from other people. Do not rely on your spouse/significant-other for critiques. Do not rely on family and friends. Do network and find other writers who you respect and trust with your work-in-progress (and your ego). Also, understand that there are different levels of critique.
My First Reader is my wife, but this is only after 30 years of negotiation and personal growth (on my part). She is not a writer, but she is an avid reader. She knows good writing, and she knows bad writing. She knows what works, and what doesn’t, and often than not, she knows why. She is my “baseline,” and gives me strong, high-level feedback on the work, at every stage.
My Second Readers are a small circle of friends. These friends are also avid readers, and they like to read the sort of books I write. They are a sharp group of nit-pickers and provide line-by-line copy-edits. I’m always surprised at how many typos and errors they find.
My Third Readers are other writers. Asking other writers for in-depth critiques is a tricky business. Writers can provide a greater insight into larger scale problems (structure, pacing, etc.), but their time is always at a premium. I know a bunch of other writers, but wouldn’t ask most of them for a critique. There are only a few with whom I have established a mutual critique agreement—I critique theirs, they critique mine—but it’s a large “ask,” time-wise, and often schedules do not allow for it. It’s also a risk: I lost a friendship once, because of a scathing critique.
All of this is prior to any feedback I might get from an agent or editor.
To Sum Up
Writing in a feedback vacuum is nice, safe, and cozy, but it doesn’t grow my skills.
To grow my skills as a writer, I must challenge myself, and bare myself to critical response. Critical feedback doesn’t have to be unkind or nasty, but it is often unflattering and unpleasant.
I need to read other writers (good and bad), and study their work. I need to practice objective self-review and self-criticism, but I also need to realize when something I’ve written really works.
I also need to read about writing, either in writers’ blogs or in critical form. When I read a book, I read the reviews, too, and see if I noticed the same problems or liked the same high-points. This helps me hone my own editorial skills.
So Write, Read, Network, Share. It’s as simple as that, and as complicated as that. No easy answer.
k
All good points, you’ve reminded me how important other writers can be. A problem I’ve found is that my friends aren’t the most bookish bunch, and while “you’re really good, man” is nice, it isn’t exactly constructive. I need to track down my old university classmates, I think…
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Or check the bulletin boards at local libraries. I’ve seen adverts for writer groups up there with the notes for book clubs. If you write genre fiction, check with a local convention organizer for leads. You’ll have to kiss a few frogs on the way to building that small circle of princely Readers, but the it can be worth it. –k
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It can be so hard to find someone who gives a useful critique. I need real feedback, and a lot of people want to make your work theirs. “I really think he should blue eyes, not brown.” and “I don’t really like the name Peter,” are about as useless as a critique gets.
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I’ve had that sort of feedback. “I really don’t like strong female characters.” Give me a break. On the other hand, I had one writer tell me: “Trash it. Start over.” How helpful is that? –k
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Thank you!
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De nada. I hope you find it useful. –k
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