Cyborg Menagerie

This brilliant guest post written by Karen Henderson, whom I’ve known online since the day before Al Gore invented blogging. I think this is some really good advice for all of us writers. How do we deal with feedback about our writing? Read on to the end to discover how you can win a copy of her book. Free books!

It’s Not Personal, But…

This is a true story. A dear friend, a typesetter by trade, told me he regularly sets manuscripts for a gentleman who has been handwriting short stories for years. The writer has never been published and no one else, until recently, has ever read his work.

One day, the typesetter said to the writer that there was an error in the plot of the story he was setting at the time. The minor issue could easily be corrected and the typesetter even suggested the solution. The writer instantly became angry and defensive. He ranted and raved about it being his story, his style, his way. The error was not corrected.  The typesetter never gave feedback again.

Last year, the story was passed to family members to read. Several pointed out the error, advising the writer that the story made no sense. All regretted mentioning it when the writer quickly belittled them and ignored their feedback.

Earlier this year, the gentleman handed out several other short stories to close family members. They gathered in secret, with lifted eyebrows and repressed laughter, and whispered behind his back. The plot errors were numerous, the characters bland and the reasons for the story unclear. Some described them as boring and having no purpose. However, everyone knew the writer was not approachable, did not respond well to constructive feedback and none of them wanted to go down that abusive path. So they said nothing.

Unfortunately, because the writer closed himself off as soon as he realised his family didn’t fall in love with his stories, he wasn’t open to feedback of any kind; constructive or not. He heard criticism and judgement towards him as a person. This made him angry and upset. He felt rejected and unsupported. What he didn’t realise is that they were trying to help him. They wanted him to succeed. Why wouldn’t they? They love him. But his attitude pushed them away, made them give him a wide berth and quickly find something pressing to do every time writing was mentioned.

As writers we have to push fear aside and let people read our work and form opinions. It’s never easy to do. And the opinions are not always easy to hear or read either, especially if the reader doesn’t like the story and verbalises why. When this happens it can hurt and it can hurt deeply. It’s only natural to try and defend yourself and your work. You may be tempted to try and explain your reasons for not writing the story the way the reader felt it should be written. However, justifying yourself often makes matters worse.

The important factor to remember is that the reader is not making a judgement against you. It’s not personal. It’s an opinion and we are all entitled to them. The reader may have written the story differently, but it’s not their story, it’s yours, and you are permitted to write it any way you want. Yet a story must have a believable plot, rounded characters, it must make sense, and it must be worth reading. And sometimes the reader can provide important information that will help improve these elements.

Constructive feedback is a great way to learn and grow as a person, and as a writer.

If I receive a “that’s good” for a story I’ve written, I want to know what’s wrong with it. Because “good” isn’t the same as “great” which isn’t the same as “outstanding”. I want to make the story better than good so I have to encourage the reader to tell me what is on their mind. I then have to be brave enough to listen to what they have to say and to hear the meaning behind it. And, as a writer, I need to be able to decipher the suggestions and know which ones are valid and which are not. Because not all suggestions should be taken to heart or implemented. Sometimes, the confusion isn’t a plot hole but the words used. In this case, the words may need to be rewritten and strengthened to clarify the meaning, which in turn fixes the initial plot problem.

Remember, also, that one person’s opinion is not always an indication that changes are needed. For example, if the person hates swearing and your story has a lot of swearing in it, they may tell you it’s inappropriate and offensive. But if six other people read the same story and no one else mentions it then it may be reasonable to believe that the swearing is appropriate to the story and is acceptable.

Personally, I hate long descriptions detailing the shape of every cloud, the way the breeze plays with each leaf on a tree and the silhouettes cast by the sun on the ground; honestly, I find this stuff extremely boring. Yet other readers savour descriptions claiming some authors can paint a picture with their words. What should the author do? It’s simple. Whatever they feel is right for them and their story. Someone will always find fault, but there will be others who appreciate their style.

Without feedback a mediocre story will never become outstanding; something everyone wants to read. So, as they say, grow a thick skin and stop letting feedback hurt you. Instead, smile and thank the person for their time. Then go and consider what has been said, decide if the feedback is valid and if it is, improve your manuscript.

How do you handle feedback?

****

This guest post is part of the Tomorrow Virtual Book Tour starting on 6 July 2013. To find out more about the stories, the authors and the publication go to the virtual book tour schedule page at http://www.kayellepress.com/2013/06/tomorrow-virtual-book-tour-schedule/.

 

I am offering Paul’s readers a chance to win a copy to the Tomorrow ebook (in the format of the winner’s choice). Just leave a comment on this post and your name will be in the draw. One name will be randomly drawn and the winner will be announced in the comments section, in a couple of days.

 

Before I go, I’d just like to say a big thank you to Paul for hosting this stop on the book tour. There are some mighty interesting posts on this site, so please take a few minutes to take a look around.

 

About Karen Henderson

Karen Henderson is an editor at Kayelle Press, a small independent publisher of speculative fiction in Australia. Their latest release is Tomorrow, a post-apocalyptic anthology exploring the possible outcomes of plagues, biohazards, human error, natural disasters and intergalactic travel. The book is available in paperback and various digital formats from their website and from most online bookstores. Visit the website (www.kayellepress.com) to find out more.

 

My daughter’s drawing was picked for the cover of our local newspaper’s Family Pages. The theme for this month’s issue was Mother’s Day. She was really excited to be chosen and I thought she did a cute job with her drawing.

Speaking of my daughter, she celebrated her 7th birthday with a sleepover party Saturday night. In my mind, it went well. The last three stragglers, including my daughter, wound up finally falling asleep at 10:30 PM, which I think is pretty decent for seven giggling little girls.

What finally calmed down them down were the comic books we had picked up earlier in the day for Free Comic Book day, which was awesome as always. My favorite was the Kaboom! Studios Summer Blast, which featured a story from Adventure Time #10.

I didn’t really sleep that much the night of the sleepover, though. I slept upstairs but was in earshot of the party, just in case.  So yeah, we’re all feeling a bit zombie-ish today still.

All in all, things are good.

 

(Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story,” “WALL-E”) shares what he knows about storytelling — starting at the end and working back to the beginning.)

This is a Ted talk Andrew Stanton gave in 2012. I think it’s an essential view for any writer. Note that there is a poopy word at the beginning of this video.

One of the first points he makes is that a story should make you care. This is what I personally want most in a story. Make. Me. Care.

This is why I don’t go for big dumb boring action movies. You know the type: huge explosions, interchangeable “good guy” with a gun, indistinguishable love interest, and cookie cutter bad guy. Why should I waste my time and money in a world where I don’t care about the outcome?

He makes a few other points in the talk that I’ve cribbed from one of the commenters:

– A story should start off with a well-told “promise”, like a hook or sales pitch

– A story should give the audience the “2+2”, not the “4”

– Characters should have “spines” & itches they’re always trying to scratch

– Change is fundamental; life is never static

– “Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty”

– Know your rules and know when to break them

– Strong unifying theme

– Sense of wonder

Bottom line. Check out this video.

em·pa·thy [em-puh-thee]
noun

1. the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

When really terrible things happen, like what happened in Boston yesterday, those of us who are sensitive or predisposed to feel empathy tend to feel things the hardest.  The horrific events that transpired in Newtown last year knocked me on my butt for a month. All the way to the new year, I did not feel like myself.

Nobody I knew was directly effected in either of these events, but just hearing their stories was enough for me. I might not have lost anybody, but I could very much put myself inside the shoes of those that did. Combine that with the feeling of hopelessness, of not being able to predict or change events like these, and it can be quite crippling.

I could feel that same thing rush over me yesterday when I first heard of the events at the Boston Marathon. In fact, I couldn’t get it out of my head here at work. I just hit refresh on my news sites over and over again, wanting to know and also not wanting to know how bad things really were. These poor people were just out, having a nice time, enjoying the day and the absolute wonder of human athleticism, and now everything was ruined.

It felt like EVERYTHING was ruined.

Then a funny thing happened. It was 5:00 and time for me to drive home. I logged off my computer and walked to my car, observing the faces of those also walking to their car or to their next class, or wherever their journey was taking them. Everybody seemed fine. And when I got home to my kids and my wife, everybody was fine there too.

This isn’t to say that everything is fine. My heart goes out to those who did lose someone in this act of terrorism. And to those whose lives have been changed because of this act.

But those of us, the empathetic, who tend to internalize these types of things, I think it’s important to remember to walk away from the computer for a bit. Go outside. Enjoy the gift of life. Listen to the birds. Feel the rain on your skin. Drive in your car. Listen to that mix-tape of 1980s music that reminds you of when you were  a kid. Play that video game.

Turn off the news. It doesn’t mean that you care any less. Sometimes you just need to walk away.

I’ve been working on this novel for over a year. I have nine chapters written. I have no idea what comes next, or to be honest what the point of the whole thing is. This is a very big problem. One I thought I’d be able to fix by stepping back and starting over, using some of the stuff from what I’d already written.

And this is what I did. I wrote what I thought was a pretty good chapter one. Actually, it felt really good, to be honest. I pictured myself at my critique group on Monday, lavished in praise about how good my story was. My confidence swelled. I knew they were going to love the new direction things were taking.

About those nine chapters. My in-person writing critique group has been reading those nine chapters, and always been positive about them. I guess I wasn’t aware how MUCH they’ve been enjoying the book thus far, though. I certainly know now.

It was not quite as good as I imagined. I guess they really, REALLY liked what I had already written. And this new version was not that. I had killed those characters they had grew to love so well. I assured them they weren’t dead, just in a file marked “Version 1”. This didn’t help.

In a way, this is a good thing. I want my readers to love what I have written. I want them to be passionate. They are passionate. Passionate about a story I have no idea how to save.

And so now, I have the choice: run head-first into the brick wall of the plot, or run away screaming in the opposite direction.