This weekend, I was on a panel with John DeDakis on writing the cozy mystery. The discussion evolved to a discussion on getting honest feedback on your story/book before submitting it for publication or publishing it yourself. He said it’s important to find a critique group or several Beta readers (people who read the manuscript before it’s ready for publication) who are both honest and courteous. He said that if WE were part of a critique group and/or Beta readers for anybody, we, also, should be both honest and courteous. Then he gave us some advice that I think is applicable in almost any situation:
You can say what you mean without saying it mean.
Can I get an amen? Sisters and Brothers in the back — Amen?
This post is part of Linda G. Hills weekly blog hop, One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner or just like them, follow the link.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Telling an unpalatable truth.
MA
Dan Antion
July 13, 2022 at 7:51amAmen!
acflory
July 13, 2022 at 5:39pmAMEN!
RAAckerman@Cerebrations.biz
July 14, 2022 at 4:34pmBut, it’s often WAY more fun saying it meanly!
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
July 14, 2022 at 10:10pmMean keeps your feedback from being heard – a barrier of hurt feelings blocks all the useful content.
If you have asked for honest feedback without being arrogant about it, from the right people, that should be enough. It isn’t ‘checking a box,’ it is a real attempt to see where you might have been too close to something, and it really needs a rewritten sentence, or to remind the reader of something they might have forgotten.
Amen.
Marian Allen
July 15, 2022 at 10:53amGood point, that “Mean keeps your feedback from being heard.”