Shaping the feedback

 It's Eastercon next weekend, and I'm running a work in progress manuscript critiquing group there on the Friday morning.  I'm determined to make the session a supportive one for writers.

I've had experience of one incredibly negative critiquing session at one con. The feedback I got from one woman ended with "I can't believe in anything about this novel".  If I'd been a newbie writer and I hadn't already had over twenty years' experience of having people critiquing my work, that might have been devastating.  It's the sort of thing which stops writers writing altogether.  I just wondered what her problem was.  I got some very positive feedback on that same novel from the other members of the group, so clearly not everyone agreed with her.

One of the things I think we need to do as writers is to evaluate the feedback we get.  I had never met this woman before, but I got the distinct impression that she felt threatened by me. She published one book in 2015, and nothing since.  My gut told me that her reaction to my work was some personal issue of hers.  It certainly didn't bother me, and I ignored her feedback.

That experience led me to give some thought to how we shape the feedback in groups when we're critiquing others' work.  When I taught adult education creative writing groups I always started the first session setting out some rules for feedback, and I'm going to dig out those rules and use them at the start of the Eastercon session.

My rules for giving feedback include things like owning your feedback.  It means making no absolute statements like 'That didn't work'.  Instead, I require people to acknowledge that what they're saying is their personal view.  So I'll have them say 'I think this...' or 'I felt that...'.

My second rule follows on from that.  And it is to explain why you think something doesn't work, or why you felt like that, to give specific, detailed reasons for your thoughts.  I also say to writers that if six  people say six different things are wrong then it's your call which you take on board.  Chances are those differences are down to personal preference.  But if six people say the same thing doesn't work, then you need to take notice and fix it.

I also tell people about the sandwich technique for feedback.  You start off with saying something you liked about the peace.  Then in the middle you talk about what didn't work as well for you.  Finally you end up with something else positive.

This way of working supports the writer while giving them specific details of where they can change or improve their writing.

I'll be shaping the feedback of the group this way at Eastercon, and hoping for some great stories and some lively discussion of them.