Sorting through feedback

Last month I went over the first two parts of my process for getting the best feedback I can for my work: what I do beforehand and what I do during a critique. Now I want to talk about what I do afterward. This part builds on the open-minded notes I’ve taken already, but if I don’t get this part right, I’ll end up heading off in a random direction based on nothing more substantial than whether I’m feeling insecure about my writing or rigidly overconfident.

Getting that happy medium between the two is challenging but not impossible—and it usually doesn’t occur just because I want it to. So here’s what I’ve been trying to do with the feedback I get, especially if it’s for an entire book. This checklist in its current form is very recent for me; I came up with it based on what I’d half-consciously been doing all along, but the list itself is something I’ve implemented only for my current novel in progress. I go through this process not when I’m feeling creative but when I’m geared up to get some serious work done, like if I had a meal to cook or a room to clean—not very glamorous, but it gets my manuscript where I want it to go.

For each piece of advice I get from my beta readers, I ask myself three questions:

1. Can I use this suggestion to improve my book? This is a simple yes-or-no question. At this point, I’m just asking if there is any value whatsoever in this comment. This keeps me from shutting down if something sounds like it will take a lot of work to implement or if it sounds vague (or otherwise leads me to start critiquing my critic). At this point, all I want to know is, “I’m not saying there’s nothing worthwhile in this comment, am I?” Usually the answer is no. So most of the feedback I get is useful for my next revision in some way.

2. If so, how? Provide a detailed plan. This is where I generally want to rush off to during #1, but it’s important to determine that you see value in a comment before making a plan for it. Otherwise, you risk wasting time forming a plan for something that really isn’t going to help your manuscript—or discarding a good suggestion because you don’t want to do the work necessary to thoroughly use that suggestion.

When you make your plan, decide whether the value you see in the comment is the same value that the commenter puts on it. A reader might say, “I found the descriptions in this fight scene confusing and couldn’t follow where the two ninjas were”; in that case, a straightforward rewrite to clarify the characters’ movements and positions is in order. But if a reader says, “The pacing is too slow in the fifth chapter,” you have a few options. You may decide to cut the chapter, rewrite it more concisely, add an intriguing subplot, or think up some other way to address this concern.

In some cases, a reader may point out a real problem but offer a suggestion that doesn’t work—or they may have a great suggestion that solves a different problem than what they think is the issue. Don’t be afraid to listen to one part or another if your reader is giving you some good advice mixed with some not-so-good advice. Take what works, and leave the rest.

3. If I can’t see value in this comment (see #1), is my ego or my laziness getting in the way? Or is this person’s vision for this aspect of the book not the same as mine? This is a good way to double-check to make sure I’m not letting anything slide. It’s also a good time to see if my reader’s vision reasonably matches my own. Notice that the question isn’t whether the reader’s ideal version of the entire work in progress is identical to mine; it’s about whether your reader has a different expectation for this aspect of your book than you do.

If you find out, for instance, that your reader hates sex scenes and your book has one, your vision doesn’t align with that reader’s—at least when it comes to this one part of your book. But maybe this reader has a keen eye for description and can tell you when a scene is unclear or when the sensory experience is overdone. Don’t write off everything such a reader says just because not all their feedback is on point. Rather, weed out the advice that doesn’t help your manuscript so you can get to the good stuff.