How much feedback should writers get?
Feedback for Writers
I’ve been an Indiana Jones fan since Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I went to see The Dial of Destiny. When the opening credits showed four screenwriters, I knew the movie was going to be a mess even before . . . well.
When you see more than two people with screenwriting credits, it’s always a bad sign. It means no one trusted anyone and everyone stomped all over whatever vision anyone else had and then everyone lobbied for their favorite bits to stay in whether they made sense to the final story or not. Usually a director who thinks they’re a writer is involved, and a couple of nervous producers are casting doubt.
What you need when a story is going wrong is an editor, not a bunch more writers.
Anyway, this isn’t a post about screenwriting. It’s a post about letting people stomp all over your vision.
Best Tips for Getting Feedback for Writers
I’m a big fan of using a beta reader or two to give you feedback on your work. Getting another pair of eyes on your ms is essential to helping you see obvious problems you might have overlooked. It’s notoriously difficult to see the flaws in your own work.
But I cannot count the number of people who have come to me after they sent their work out to four or five or ten beta readers and the accumulated feedback is just . . . a tangled knot of contradiction and confusion.
Readers A and B liked the main character but Readers C and D did not; Readers E and F had a problem with the inciting incident (implausible) but Readers A and D did not; Readers C and F found the ending unearned but A and E thought not a word should be changed whereas Reader B wanted the nuclear bomb to go off after all.
Seeking lots of feedback is like having four people write a screenplay. You’re going to wind up with a tangled knot of confusion when your goal is a strong, engaging story.
A good dev editor can help you make sense of this mass of contradictory feedback, but I would recommend not getting it in the first place. Pick one or two beta readers and go on with your life. You know what story you’re trying to tell. Let a small number of people help you see places where the cracks show. That’s it.
A good developmental editor is skilled at developing feedback for writers.
As a dev editor, I’m happy if you pick me instead or in addition to the one or two beta readers, but in any event do not fall victim to the idea that if one is good, five must be better. It’s not.
Related Reads
-
Time for a Secondary Niche?
Editors with some experience often come to me with concerns about sustaining their business. They’re usually in a particular niche, such as copyediting mystery fiction, and they’ve stalled in some way – they don’t have quite enough clients and they’re not making quite enough money. The Benefits – and Drawbacks – of Niches We know…
-
Expand into Book Doctoring and Ghostwriting
If you’ve been a developmental editor for any length of time, you’ve likely encountered an author who just wants you to write the book for them. Or, you’ve encountered a manuscript that was in such disrepair that it required a herculean effort to fix it, dropping your hourly rate down to pocket change. As a…
-
Writing Reader Reports
Publishing companies and literary agents often use readers to screen the manuscripts they receive to help them decide if a particular manuscript is worth further consideration. I’ve written a short, one-lesson self-paced class to show you the ins-and-outs of writing reader reports as a first reader or screener. The class covers: The class also includes…
-
Second-Guessing an Edit
I live in Spain, and while I’m working on my Spanish, I’m not yet fluent. The other day, my daughter and I went out to a cafe and ordered drinks and a slice of coconut cake for her. A few minutes later, the server came out and said something that I didn’t quite understand. Then…
-
Work with Good Clients
The other day I finished an edit for a new-to-me publisher client and submitted my first invoice to the company as agreed. I was set up in their accounting system and paid by direct deposit the same day. That’s the sign of a client who cares about their freelancers. And it’s a good reminder that…
-
The Connection Between Plot and Character
In discussing how to edit fiction, we’re trying to make explicit what narrative competence is—that is, what makes a story a good story. At the most basic level is the plot. And plot, at its most basic, is simply the story of change. There is an initial situation, some sort of challenge or reversal to…
