On Finishing and Feedback
I have finished the second draft of the book, finished revisions on it, and begun sending it out to the people who have agreed to read it.
Eeek!
I’m feeling an interesting mix of relief and excitement from finishing, nervousness from people reading it, and dread from the next cycle of revisions coming up. Not much excitement, which is odd, when I think about it. I just finished a book to the point that I need other people’s perspectives to make it better. Yes, I’m not finished with it. But shouldn’t I be happier that I got this far?
Writers are strange people.
Since the subject is obviously very much on my mind I thought I’d talk about feedback: other people’s opinions, expressed nicely or otherwise, and the acceptance thereof. It’s a big topic. I’m going to save listening to and dealing with feedback for a little later when I’m getting my own input back from my beta readers. I suspect I’ll have a few more insights then. Or agonies to share. Whichever. For now I’ll stick with the pre-handing-over-work phase.
To start with, friends and family. Especially family. The common counsel is to never ever ask family or close friends (especially anyone you’ve ever slept with) to critique your work. Whether they’re too close to you and won’t want to hurt your feelings, or don’t think you’ll ever make it and will be too harsh, or whatever their reason is, they simply can’t be objective enough to give you good feedback.
I’m sure in most cases this is true. However, it doesn’t have to always be true. Take me, for example. I’m lucky enough to have a few friends and family who understand the value of good feedback and know that I won’t blow up on them if they say my book isn’t perfect. My mom and brother are writers themselves, and their insights have always been helpful. You do have to be careful asking for feedback from people that are close to you. They have to be the right kind of people and you have to have the right kind of relationship. But don’t discount them just because someone said you can never ask family to give you opinions on your work.
No matter who you’re asking you should be careful how you ask. Try not to make anyone feel like they’re cornered or that you expect them to say yes. Also, try to make sure they understand that critiquing a manuscript is different from breezing through a novel. It’s helpful to be up front about a timeline: I requested that people get their feedback to me within a month. This way you’re not sitting around chewing your fingernails waiting for people to get back to you, and they know that they’re making a commitment to do this in a certain amount of time. I also sent out a letter with my manuscript with some examples of the types of feedback that would be most useful to me. This helps make sure that what you get back is something you can actually use.
Lastly, on the value of feedback in general. It’s crucial. I know that I simply cannot see the big picture very well on my book any more. I don’t know when I’m not explaining something well enough, because I already know all the answers. I don’t know which scenes resonate well with readers and which ones fall flat. I don’t know if my characters come across right. So the more opinions I get, the more I can understand the book’s strengths and weaknesses, and the more tools I’ll have for making it better.