Feedback

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A group of people standing around someone using a laptop. They are all talking to him.

One of the things I've seen mentioned over and over again is the need to get feedback on your writing, while you're writing. Apparently many writers plough on with drafts with absolutely no idea if they are any good or not, and what a disappointment it must be to finish a story only to learn that people find your characters unbelievable and shallow, that you've left major plot holes, that you've confused dates and historical events, or that the whole story is just not something that people want to read.

So I've been getting feedback. It's mostly coming from family at the moment and some of it is quite critical, which is great. That means they're doing what I've asked them to do. I don't want proofreading or to be told that this sentence or that phrase would be better written another way, that's not what I need right now. I want to know that my characters are likeable (or hateable, as appropriate) and that their behaviour is believable and consistent with their natures. I want to be told if someone 'just wouldn't do that' or if something 'just wouldn't happen like that', and I'm grateful that my wife has been able to show me instances of both in some of my writing.

I've also been giving feedback too. Reading other writers' drafts I've learned to look for unbelievable characters, implausible behaviour and impossible situations. I appreciate more now the need to justify a character's behaviour to a reader, especially if they're acting in a way that most reasonable people wouldn't - for example, rushing through a closed door after hearing an ear-splitting roar on the other side.

It feels likely that I've learned more from reading other writers' work than I've learned so far from the feedback that's been given about my own.

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