#feedback advice

In case it’s helpful for any writers out there who struggle knowing what kind of feedback to ask for, or any readers out there struggling to know what kind of feedback to give, I thought I would share with all of you my two favorite kinds of feedback (both to give and receive.)

The first is questions. “What did you want to convey here?” “Does this part move the plot forward or help me understand a character better?” “Have you considered writing a chapter from this character’s perspective?” “Is this the image you wanted me to imagine?”

I love questions as feedback because they promote discussions more than opinions, and often lead the writer to find ways to improve things as they answer them. I also love that, “I don’t know,” is a valid response.

My other favorite type of feedback is emotion-based. “This part made me feel excited.” “That dialogue made me feel confused.” “I felt bored during this description.” “This detail left me feeling curious.”

In my experience, literary analysis can be off-base, but a person is never wrong about how something made them feel. And it’s helpful to know what readers are feeling and compare it to how the author wants them to feel.

hello everyone, I hope you stay safe and healthy. Today we are going to talk about asking for feedback.

When you want to get a feedback or commentary on your work, be specific about it. That way you protect yourself a bit from unwanted criticism as well as help the potential reader-commenter to concentrate on the things important to you.

Not sure what to ask? 

Here are some ideas:

“What tone is this scene setting?” “How vivid is my character?” “Where did you have to reread for clarity?”

Don’t go overboard as it may put your idea’s in the readers mind and you don’t want that in your feedback.

What I mean:

Do NOT ask

“Was my tone sad enough?”

“Was my character nerdy in this scene?”

You limit a reader with those questions and turn their mind into a closed up loop.

Hope this helped.

The goal of a critique isn’t to show how much you know; it’s to help the writer expand on his potential.

Feedback is really about the quality of your suggestions, not the quantity.

Example:

Too many “to be” verbs can take the energy out of your writing. Perhaps you could identify some and rewrite them. Here’s an example:

He was walking walked to the market to meet Mary.

Hello everyone. Just wanted to point out that this blog is

1. Creative space

2. Community

Meaning - this would be great if you could communicate with me (and each other) in some way.

Rebloging and liking my posts is great, but same way as with your writing - comments keep a muse alive.

This is like one way conversation, if you never get an answer from the other side you run out of topics to monologue about.

Please throw some words my way.

Answer my posts with your own experiences or tell me what you would like to read about. What common problems you might have encountered as a writer OR reader/commenter.

How did your work/study/life in general affect your writing / changed your writing style / writing goals.

There are actually tons of topics we could be talking about. There is no need to be shy (thought I understand if some of you are just lazy to type).

Although there is no hard-and-fast list of fiction genres, most novels can fall into the following parent categories:

Romance

Thriller/Horror

Mystery

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Historical Fiction

Western

Literary Fiction

Each of these categories may have smaller sub-categories or descriptions within them.

For instance, “Mystery” can also have sub-categories like “Noir” or “Humorous.” And general “Literary Fiction” can be subdivided into things like “Mythology”, “British & Irish” “Humor & Satire” — the list goes on.

How to Find Your Book’s Genre?

1.  On the left side of Amazon’s Books page, you’ll see a long list of book categories to choose from. Click on a few of the fiction genres (like Mystery, Thriller & Suspense or the general Literature & Fiction category).

2. Look at the top five bestsellers in each fiction genre, and read each book’s description. What does each genre emphasize? 

Once you’ve looked through at least a dozen or so book descriptions, you’ll understand which elements are most important to each genre’s readers.

3. Now look at your own novel to identify the important genre elements in the story:

Does the plot revolve around a love story? A crime? The internal challenges of a family?

Are there surreal or supernatural occurrences?

Is the protagonist a child or youth?

Is the story set in the past, present, or future?

Is the story more focused on characters and relationships than it is on the plot?

Stories can have a combination of many different genre-defining elements — love, crime, surrealism, a futuristic setting, etc. But understanding what defines each genre (and the smaller subcategories within them) will help you understand which elements of your story are the main focus, and which pieces are secondary.