Going Pro

Chapter 2: Feedback

Sometimes it feels as if you’re writing in a vacuum, and it can be hard to stay focused or motivated if no one is reading what you write. Getting feedback on your writing is essential to helping you become a better writer, whether the comments come from fans or editors. But many writers who are just starting out don’t know how to find other writers to connect with.

If you want to interact with writers face to face, then you’ll want to find local venues where you can meet other writers. One option is to look for community writing classes, which are usually offered through arts centers or parks and recreation departments at a low cost. Taking a class usually involves committing yourself to writing a story (or, in some cases, a couple stories) that you’ll share and “workshop” with others over a period of time.

If you’ve never workshopped a story before, then suit up. Workshops are an excellent way to get constructive criticism about your work, but they only work if you take the comments to heart. Many first-time writers don’t want constructive feedback on how to make a story better; instead, they want to be told how brilliant it is. If that’s what you consider good feedback, then let your mother read your stuff, because she’s going to love it (and you) no matter what. But if you’re interested in hearing what other writers have to say about what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be fixed, then seek out a workshop environment to help you polish your prose.

There are numerous workshopping opportunities online, as well. Try a web search for writing groups; there are many, some genre-specific, and new ones spring up every day. When looking for a good writing group, you want a place where everyone contributes—you want an active group whose members will read and comment on your stories as well as provide copies of their own works for you to review. You don’t want anything that posts the stories online for anyone to see, but rather a mailing list or a members’ only page that will keep your story off the internet and out of search engine results.

There are probably writers’ groups in your community, as well. I used to attend a writers’ group that met every week in the café at Borders Books. My brother saw an ad by a fellow parishioner in his church newsletter looking to create a group, though it wasn’t religious or church-related. My current writers’ group was formed when several of us who took a writing class at a local arts center decided to continue meeting after the class ended.

You might look online at places such as Meetup or NaNoWriMo to see if there are any writers’ groups in your area. Also look at the community calendars in free and local newspapers, or on message boards for community centers in your city. Independent bookstores might also be a good place to inquire about writers’ groups in your area.

It might take some time to find a writers’ group that works for you, whether you’re looking around town or online. Some may be more focused on sharing publishing news and not workshopping stories. Some may not be open to the types of stuff you write. Some may seem to be dominated by one or two strong personalities with whom you clash; others may contain so many lackadaisical and laid-back writers that nothing ever gets written.

Don’t let one bad experience with a writers’ group turn you off to them in the future. Sharing your stories with like-minded writers who can help you hone your craft until the story reads less like a first draft and more like a published book will benefit your writing and help your manuscript stand out when you begin submitting it to publishers.

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Constructive criticism is meant to be helpful to you. It should point out areas of your story that still need work, spots where your original intention doesn’t come across, or where a reader’s attention drifts, or where a little polishing can help your story flow better. It shouldn’t belittle or demean the writer or the story. If it’s hurtful, then it isn’t helpful.

One of the most important things to realize as a new writer is that, simply put, not everyone is going to like your writing. This is true of any writer, published or not. Some people love James Patterson and Anne Rice; I’d rather have a root canal than be forced to read anything by either of them. My favorite author is Stephen King, but some people can’t stand him.

That’s okay, and really, that’s the way things should be. If we all liked the same thing, then there would be no need for anyone to ever write anything other than the same story over and over again. Because everyone has different tastes as readers, it’s only natural that not everyone you show your story to is going to like it.

Unfortunately, being told someone doesn’t like your writing can be pretty devastating, particularly for a new writer unused to criticism of any type. Writers meeting around a table in real life may try to soften the blow their harsh words have, but online is a different story. It’s easy to hide behind anonymity when posting on the web and forget there’s someone on the other side who is reading and reacting to your words.

The best rule of thumb I’ve ever found for dealing with negative feedback is to take a step back and look at it critically. Are the comments directed at my story or at me personally? If the commenter is taking potshots at me or is tearing apart my writing without basing any of his words on the story at hand, then I disregard the comments. I didn’t ask for feedback on my writing in general but on a particular story. If your comments don’t pertain to that, then they’re useless to me.

Next, take a look at the comments themselves. Something as generic as, “I didn’t like this,” is worthless. Shoot back with questions targeted to ferret out what the reader didn’t like and why. Some people can’t put into words why something doesn’t work for them, and while that’s understandable, that doesn’t help you improve your writing. Disregard any comments that are unhelpful or too broad. If the comments from your writers’ group don’t help improve your story, maybe you should start looking for another group of writers to workshop with, instead.

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You may have heard other writers mention “beta readers.” The term is common among fan fiction writers, who have friends or fans who read their stories before anyone else and help fix errors. They’re similar to editors, but because fan fiction is posted online and not sold, the beta readers aren’t paid, unless you consider a free story before anyone else can read it as payment (and many beta readers do).

Just as products are beta tested prior to being widely released, stories can be beta read before being published (or submitted to a publisher). Beta readers provide similar feedback as you’d find in a writers’ group or workshop, but they usually only read for one or two writers, so they can concentrate on just your story. A good beta reader will not only help you fix grammatical errors but will give you feedback on your characters, plot, and story as a whole.

The big question is, how do you find a good beta reader?

When I wrote fan fiction, I found beta readers among my fans. The ones who wrote to me most frequently were then asked if they would like to review my stories before I published them online. When I began writing original fiction, some of the same beta readers I had developed a rapport with through fan fiction continued to read my stories before I submitted them to publishers.

One way to find a beta reader is to look for someone in your writers’ group or workshop whose feedback has proved invaluable to you. Ask if they would be willing to look over your story once it’s finished but before you submit it anywhere for consideration. You want a beta reader to read your story and give you feedback on it as soon as possible. After you’ve submitted a story to a publisher, you can’t resubmit a new version. You want the submission to be as polished as possible, and beta readers can help you do that.