Storytelling for Pantsers

by Annalisa Parent

  The thing is: Feedback is complicated. Mastering your craft to the equivalent of the NHL takes time, work, tears, sweat, determination, and the right kind of coaching.

  Writing, like any other skill, is one which has its better teaching techniques and its poor teaching techniques.

  Now I am not going to mention any names, but I have seen people hang their editing sign out, and they’ve never published, have no experience, or they’re a Jack of 86 million trades.

  I’m not saying there aren’t talented people out there. I can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. I’m just saying be wary. Your manuscript is valuable and you don’t want just anybody mucking around in it.

  What am I talking about? Well, let’s hunker down into the trenches of what you need when it comes to quality feedback.

  Whether you’re working with an editor or you’re looking for a group to give you feedback, the attributes of a quality experience are the same.

  First, let’s take a look at what you don’t want. You may have experienced some of these (remember #FeedbackHorrorStory). You may have sensed that these experiences didn’t work without really understanding why.

  I’m going to help you to fill in some of those blanks, then talk about how you can find the right kind of feedback to help move your writing forward.

  QUALITIES OF WRONG FEEDBACK

  Wrong source

  As we have already discussed, many people get their feedback from the wrong source.

  Your neighbor, the guy who will “edit” your manuscript for free or a couple hundred bucks, these are all bad choices.

  If you’re saying, “Wait, why? Isn’t that good enough?” please re-read the previous section, and then ask yourself:

  1) Is “good enough” what I think will get me published?

  2) Is “good enough” the kind of book I want my name on?

  DANGER: Ego Ahead

  Many writers join those free community writing groups and hang out amongst other struggling writers looking to get their name out into the world. Is it nice to have camaraderie? Sure. Are these the best people to give you feedback on your work? Probably not.

  Why? These free peer-to-peer writing groups often work in the same way: You write a chapter or so, submit X pages, everyone is supposed to read it and offer critique.

  First of all, few people read it, and even fewer people actually do the critique.

  Once you convene for discussion, it’s highly likely your fellow writers are comparing their work to yours.

  Who cares?

  Well, you should care. I’ve heard this story over and over and over again. Fellow writers in a group feel threatened by the talent a writer exhibits or the idea they came up with or...heaven knows what. Then what happens?

  Remember that thingie about fight or flight and what the brain does when it feels threatened? Well, here it’s going to fight. And you’re going to end up the victim of some inexplicable attacks.

  (Has this happened to you?)

  Sometimes these attacks might be writing specific, but many times they are not. They often become personal very quickly. I talked with one writer who left a writing group because she was perpetually being teased (by a guy she was sure was jealous of her writing) for the brand of laptop she’d purchased. I’ve seen writers kicked out of a group inexplicably, mocked for lifestyle choices, or other things that have nothing to do with their writing.

  All of this behavior stems from the green-eyed monsters of jealousy and comparison.

  You may have had this kind of experience. I am here to tell you—there are no circumstances in which that kind of feedback is helpful. None. Not one.

  Yet it happens all the time to writers in peer feedback groups.

  Ego gets in the way.

  I’ve been on the red carpet at Hollywood premiers; I’ve worked in television; and I’ve worked with best-selling authors—and here is one thing I can assure you is true: Beginners have a chip on their shoulder. Of course they do! They’re afraid they’re going to fail. Established people in any industry have a certain humility about them; they know they’re successful. They know that could change at any moment, and they know how much work it took to get there.

  Do you want to be getting advice from people who feel like they are your competitors, who feel that your success represents their failure? Does that sound like the place to get quality feedback to you?

  It has been my experience, and I hear it from other writers all the time: When it comes to these free or peer-to-peer feedback groups, getting poor feedback is more the norm than is getting quality feedback.

  The effects of these experiences can be damaging and long term. I’ve had writers come to me in tears, writers who had this kind of experience and didn’t write again for years or, worse yet, never wrote again.

  Look, I don’t want that to happen to you. I want you to find the quality feedback that will lead to growth and publication as many times as you want it.

  Is that what you want for yourself? Is the free writing group worth it? Think carefully if that’s something you want to have happen in your life. Are you willing to be attacked personally?

  Does that work for you and your writing?

  Unqualified for the job

  There are certain attributes our critiquers should have. First of all, they should have some experience in our genre. Each genre has its own conventions, and not knowing them can be a fatal mistake for feedback.

  Have you ever been in a feedback group where someone says, “Well, I’ve never read anything in this genre, but…” This is not a quality feedback experience. Can this person give you reader feedback? Sure. I liked it. I didn’t like. I hate your main character. I like your main character. That’s it. That’s the limit.

  If that’s the kind of feedback you want, by all means, proceed.

  If you think you’re going to get quality writing feedback from that scenario, I am sorry to have to tell you that the feedback this person is going to give you is more likely to mess with your head than to help your writing in any meaningful way.

  Look, I am not going to give you advice on buying Italian sports cars...because I know nothing about Italian sports cars. I can give you some cursory advice: Red might be nice. Or, I heard yellow sports cars get more tickets than any other color.

  Is that helpful to someone in the market for a car? Probably not. They want to know about horsepower and transmissions— and, well, all kinds of things I don’t know about.

  When you ask people writing and reading outside your genre, you are asking Annalisa for Italian sports car advice.

  How much do you really care about your writing future?

  Here are the outside limitations of these kinds of groups:

  They can lend a (limited) helping hand—encouragement to finish, perhaps.

  They can give a good tip—maybe they read a good article on writing.

  They can share a pointer in their specific area of expertise, e.g. dialogue.

  That’s it.

  Let’s go back to the Land of Hockey Analogies.

  After about a decade of figure skating, I played hockey for the first time. Now, if you’ve ever figure skated, you know how useful the toe pick is for stopping, for working spins, and other tricks. And if you’ve ever played hockey, you know that a hockey skate does not have a toe pick.

  So, there I am out on the ice with my stick moving the puck toward the goal, having a heck of a good time. Someone charges me from the left, and I want to stop suddenly to change direction. What do I do? Reach for the toe pick.

  End result? Well, that’s how I found out that it doesn’t hurt, in all that gear, to do a full back slam onto the ice. (Think Charlie Chaplin meets a banana peel, and you’ll have the visual.) Also, I did not make that goal.

  What’s my point? All skating is not created equally. And not all writing is created equally. In the hands of an amateur who doesn’t know the finer nuances, disaster can strike—as I proved in my first hockey experience, an
d as is proven in writing groups, where so many participants just don’t have the depth and breadth of writing experience to offer quality critique.

  Oh yes, darling, my manuscript is with my beta readers.

  Ooo. Fancy. It sounds so official, makes us feel like real authors.

  What can I say? I know, I know you want it, you can taste it, you can feel the embossed letters of your name on the cover of your book.

  Take a deep breath. This one’s going to be rough.

  Beta readers are readers. READERS! I like it. I don’t like it.

  If you want that feedback, great. Send your manuscript to 80 million beta readers and throw a party. But do not let unqualified people muck around in your life’s work and expect quality results.

  How many times have I heard this: “Well, one guy said my main character should actually be a girl, but three people said he was fine as a boy, and I rewrote 200 pages, and now I’m just so confused.”

  Is that you?

  Be honest.

  What I said about your family and friends is true for 99.9999% of beta readers as well—no matter how well-intentioned they are, beta readers are still unqualified for the job.

  Poor timing

  Not only do you need people who have expertise in what you’re writing, but you need people with expertise in how to give feedback.

  From a neuroscientific standpoint, the timing of the feedback process is very specific.

  Have the people you are trusting with your manuscript been trained in giving quality feedback? And more specifically, have they been trained in the timing of quality feedback?

  All of the aforementioned errors are bad, but this one is the worst because getting it wrong will have long-term damaging effects on your brain. You can literally reprogram your brain into a fear mode if you continue to get feedback at that wrong time.

  Have you ever met a talented writer who just gave up? Highly likely a victim of poorly-timed feedback.

  That’s just depressing, right? All right, let’s flip the coin and talk about how to turn this thing around. Let’s look at what can be when you get the right kind of feedback.

  QUALITIES OF QUALITY FEEDBACK

  WE’VE TALKED ABOUT THE consequences of getting the wrong kind of feedback and what to avoid. (At least I hope you’ll avoid it from here on out!) Now, let’s talk about the possibilities.

  Quality feedback is based on how your brain works

  Remember (like three lines ago) when I was talking about how there’s perfect timing for feedback? Well, as it turns out, optimum feedback occurs in phases that match the various phases of the writing process—not the one we impress upon it, but ones which the brain actually dictates.

  The key here is to use the right method at right time.

  What are the neuroscientific factors behind the timing of feedback? If you don’t know what these factors are, you need to find an editor and/or critique group who does. If your editor or critique group doesn’t know, there’s a strong possibility they’re doing more harm than good.

  Remember what I said above about reprogramming permanent neuropathways that lead to giving up writing?

  A quality editor or critique group understands the proper time for feedback and the different types that need to be given at different times. This is not mumbo jumbo; it’s optimizing your brain function so you can be best writer you can be.

  In the early stages of the writing process, your brain needs feedback that feeds creativity rather than stifles it.

  If you’ve ever had that deflated feeling after a critique, you were likely getting the wrong kind of feedback at the wrong time.

  If you’re getting the right kind of feedback in this phase, the feedback process becomes a creative release that fuels you.

  Can you imagine that? Feedback that inspires you? How often have you felt that?

  Well, when you address your brain’s needs, the way it works, amazing things can happen.

  So many writing groups are like running a marathon backwards. Our knees are meant to bend one way, and not the other, yet so much of what we do in writing groups works against the way your brain is meant to run a marathon, if you catch my drift.

  That kind of thinking might get you into the Ministry of Silly Walks, but it’s probably not going to help you to publish your writing.

  Feedback that moves the writing forward

  We do not want to run a marathon backwards. We want to run forward and win—not even against all the other participants, but against our own best running time.

  We’ve already talked about what happens when we don’t receive feedback from someone with expertise in the writing field, or in our genre. In reality, it’s even more complicated than that.

  Not only do you want someone with expertise in your genre, you want someone who’s got expertise in effectively providing critique.

  You don’t want to get hit with a fire hose worth of information, and you don’t want to get a trickle either. You need a manageable amount, something you can work with, explained in a way you can understand and implement.

  You need a feedback group or editor not only trained in the craft, its inner workings, but also the synthesis that takes place within the working parts of the narrative.

  Can your editor or critique partner explain the synthesis of the narrative to you? (Do you understand what they say when they do?) Knowing something and knowing how to explain something are two completely different things.

  Can your critique cronies give you the kind of quality information and feedback to move your writing forward?

  There’s a huge difference between saying, “The dialogue doesn’t work here,” and being able to articulate what in the dialogue doesn’t work here and how it needs to be fixed.

  The most effective feedback technique requires both knowledge and training in how to give feedback in a meaningful, effective way.

  Are you getting this from your feedback friends right now?

  Expertise in the Publishing Industry

  Math question of the day:

  Which is greater: the number of Stephen King’s publications or the number of publishable fiction niches?

  Go ahead, which one is the alligator going to eat? < > =

  the number of Stephen King’s publications _____ the number of publishable fiction niches

  Ok, no fair. I asked you a question I don’t know the answer to, but let’s just say each one is a high number, and growing larger every day.

  There are subgenres to the subgenres of subgenres.

  Is your critiquer up to date on what kinds of short stories, novels, or subgenres publishing houses are looking for right now? Have they talked to agents, editors, and publishers recently? Do they have their finger on the pulse of the publishing industry?

  If they don’t, the feedback you’re receiving is in a vacuum.

  To continue the hockey analogy, you’re working with someone who’s not only not played in NHL, but doesn’t even watch or go to games—you’ve got that person giving you feedback on how to play pro hockey. Hmm.

  Look at this list again, and answer them for yourself, based on where you are.

  Is your critiquer up to date on what kinds of short stories, novels, or subgenres publishing houses are looking for right now?

  Have they talked to agents, editors, publishers recently?

  Do they have their finger on the pulse of the publishing industry?

  More Analogies Ahead

  If you answered “no” to any of those questions, you are living your writing life like the guy with a broken leg who goes to a back alley doctor to get it set with a hammer and a hanger.

  Would you recommend that to a loved one?

  Do you love your writing?

  Why are you recommending a hack job for it?

  You spent years on a manuscript, you’ve sacrificed vacations, family time, getting up early or staying up late.

  Are you going to waste all those sacrifices by showing your work to the wrong people
? To get ego feedback?

  Do you want the wrong critique, partial critique (“Your dialogue is wrong.”), insults on an ad hominem basis?

  If you’re depending on the free critique group for quality feedback, you may as well be going to the back alley doctor for your broken leg.

  If you’re going with peer-to-peer feedback only, you’re doing yourself, your time, and the sacrifices you’ve made a terrible disservice by not getting meaningful feedback.

  If you’re frustrated with the feedback experience, it might be because you’re going about it all wrong.

  Remember that part about shifting your mindset?

  It’s time to look for a new kind of group.

  You want a group who understands and uses the techniques for quality feedback. You want to work with trained professionals and editors who understand the feedback phases and understand the how, why, and what of that which needs to be improved in your manuscript.

  What happens when you find the right kind of feedback?

  Finding this kind of feedback for your writing can be one of the most empowering experiences of your life.

  Once you find it, you’ll feel more confidence in your writing than you ever have before. You’ll complete more writing faster than you ever thought possible, which will lead to a finished manuscript, and you’ll have the skills and confidence to publish over and over again.

  You’ll finally feel like, and be, the author you knew you always could be.

  Part III

  Craft

  What do agents complain about when they think no one’s listening?