Toward the end of last year, I stumbled upon this excellent resource for authors: Critique Circle. It’s an online community of writers who post their work, and then they critique (or “crit”) one another as they choose.
The mechanics of the site are brilliant: you have to give a certain number of detailed critiques in order to post your own stories — basically give 3 to post 1. In turn, somewhere from 3-10 authors give you detailed feedback, which is something all of us want.
And of course what I really mean is “all of us say we want, but most of us fear/dread/hate it.”
I have to admit I tend to have this antipathy toward criticism. Praise, I’ll take all day — that’s what I’m expecting people to give me when I write. But when I hear anything less than glowing about my work, I get defensive. I know I need feedback in order to improve my writing, but I have a very hard time accepting 99.9% of it.
Case in point: I received a lot of harsh criticism on one of my stories recently. Out of ten people, only one even finished the first chapter. Three people stopped reading after the first paragraph. Eight gave up before the halfway point.
If you’ve ever written something and received negative feedback, you can probably imagine the range of responses I had to these results.
- I assumed this was conclusive evidence that I’m a bad writer.
- I considered giving up on writing (or at least soliciting feedback).
- I dismissed the critics as unqualified or “not my target audience.”
- I began searching for some other writing to post that I was sure would get better reviews, just to show everyone that I have better stuff, I just “wasn’t really trying” with the first thing.
The problem with all those reactions (besides the fact that they’re childish) is that I missed the opportunity in front of me. I had clear input on what I needed to improve.
The trick to viewing feedback as a gift is to be more worried about having blind spots than hearing about them.
James Clear
I don’t expect everyone to love my writing, but if I can hook more people, that’s an improvement. Negative feedback shows us where we need to grow.
I went back to the comments people left on my writing and reread them. Their words didn’t change, but my attitude about them did. By flipping that feedback switch in my mind, I was able to see my blind spots for what they were: not weaknesses to be ashamed of or illusions to be dismissed, but missteps I was making that kept me from reaching people with my writing. Isn’t that what I want people to point out?
If I ever hope to get somewhere other than where I am, I need to do something different than what got me here. By all means, help me take the next step forward. I hope I can help you do the same.
M. J. Lau 