How To Handle Feedback On Your Writing

Let’s be honest here and say the only feedback a writer really enjoys getting is along these lines: I’m in awe of how clever you are and I wouldn’t change a word.

But…

We all know that feedback is vitally important. Every writer needs it. Even the Stephen Kings and Ann Tylers of this world. In the immortal words of Ernest Hemingway, “The first draft of anything is shit.”

So what are the ‘rules’ of getting other people to help you hone and shape your work?

Start by asking the ‘other’ you

If you think it’s difficult to objectively appraise your own work, you’re right. However, it’s not impossible, especially if you’re able to put a little bit of time between writing ‘The End’ and going back to the manuscript (I realise this is difficult to do if you’re on a deadline). At the point I give a book of mine to my first readers (more about them in a minute), I also read it back myself and make notes. I’m often my worst or best critic, depending on how you look at it!

Make sure you’re asking the right people

If you’re a traditionally published author, you’ll have an editor and almost certainly an agent too. That said, you’ll probably want to get other people’s thoughts on an early draft before you send your work to them (I know I do). And what about if you’re self-published or not yet published?

This is where you need to think very carefully about who you’re getting to assess your work. Be wary of showing it to friends and family – your mum is unlikely to be ruthlessly honest with you! Even if your nearest and dearest are forthright, are they really the right people to help you unpick any flaws in your writing? Good editing is a very specific skill.

I am lucky enough to have a few good friends who are also writers and they are always my trusted first readers. Don’t have friends who are writers? Consider joining a writing group or, if you can afford it, thinking about professional manuscript assessment (try Jericho Writers or The Literary Consultancy).

Don’t take it personally

Okay, easier said than done. I’m reasonably good at this thanks to years of training in my day job as an advertising copywriter. In my time I’ve had all kinds of feedback from clients, including one man who saw it as his personal mission in life to educate me about never starting sentences with ‘and’. (And now I want to start almost every sentence with the word. And maybe that makes me childish?)

Yet despite years of having to smile sweetly when people put red pen all over my copy, it’s still very hard not to be upset when people criticise my work. To put it simply, your book feels very much like your baby and God help anyone who says it’s ugly!

But you have to be able to accept editorial advice on your manuscript without getting upset because it’s the only way to make your book better. Which brings me to my next point…

Eyes on the prize

It’s a rare writer who enjoys deleting words they’ve sweated over, wrestling with a complex restructure or — God forbid — going back to the drawing board, but every edit you do will make your book better. 

I started writing my novel The Neighbours a few years ago and since then it’s been through many incarnations. When I sent it to my brilliant agent, Tanera Simons, it was already on ‘draft too many to count’. And of course Tanera had suggestions and that was before it was even sent out to publishers.

By the time the book was acquired by Avon Harper Collins, I doubt there was a single paragraph within it that hadn’t been tweaked in some way. And that was just the beginning really, because by now of course I was working with my editor, the incredible Katie Loughnane. We still had to do a structural edit, followed by a line edit, then a copy edit and finally proof reading. Luckily for me, Katie is an absolute joy to work with and managed to make the book infinitely better without me ever really realising quite how hard we were working! 

Take a breath

Sometimes a piece of feedback can come as a destabilising shock. You know, like when your editor asks you to strip out about 20,000 words! Sometimes it’s just a case of sitting with what’s been said for a couple of days, and then it all starts to make sense. I find tea and biscuits help too.

Finally, remember it’s your book

If you’ve sat with some feedback, thought about it, and it still doesn’t work, bear in mind that someone might have hit on a genuine problem but may not be offering up the right solution. And remember you can push back. Ultimately, it’s your book and if you’re not happy with it, then how can you expect your readers to be?

The truth is, books are not an exact science. If you’re in a book group, you’ll know that, even if it’s one of the most critically acclaimed works of fiction under discussion, there’s always going to be at least one person who is convinced it’s ‘overrated’. 

So there we go: a whistle-stop tour of how to deal with feedback. I would say I’d love to know your thoughts, but maybe just tell me it was a brilliant article and you wouldn’t have changed a word. 😉

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Nicola Gill lives in London with her husband and two sons. At the age of five, when all of the other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, she decided she wanted to be an author. Her ballet teacher was very relieved. The Neighbours is her debut novel.

THE NEIGHBOURS

Some women have it all. Others are thirty-four and rent a tiny flat alone because they recently found their long-term boyfriend in bed with their boss. Ginny Taylor is certain her life can’t get any worse. But then she meets her downstairs neighbour…

Cassie Frost was once a beloved actress, but after a recent mishap she desperately needs a new publicist. And Ginny is a publicist who desperately needs a job – but can she be persuaded to work for the prickly woman who lives below her floorboards?

Ginny and Cassie are two very different women, but they have more in common than they’d care to imagine (or admit). And when their worlds collide, they realise that sometimes – just sometimes – bad neighbours become good friends…

A funny, honest and moving exploration of life, love, friendship and navigating the emotional rollercoaster of your thirties… and beyond. Perfect for fans of Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare and Ruth Jones’s Never Greener.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips