By Virginia Brackett
Chapter 50 emphasizes the importance of feedback to the development of any project. Our authors tell us, “By regularly seeking feedback, you’ll be able to tackle harder challenges and put forth bolder ideas.” I relate this idea to the importance to writers of critique. I’ve presented entire sessions focusing on the importance of the critique group, and I’ll land on a few of the high points here.
Let’s begin by considering who you will ask for feedback. You should choose carefully. In general, a family member may not provide the best critique, as they may be too close to you and your project. On the other hand, if you want input on how your young character might word a sentence, your adolescent or teen may be just the sounding board you need.
I highly recommend that your critique buddy be a writer themself. While a voracious reader’s feedback can also be helpful, the writer better understands the barriers you face. They will also understand and be able to use vocabulary referring to elements important to writing, such as “figurative language” and “symbolism.”
You can locate critique groups fairly easily these days, due to the Internet, and even find those who write your specific genre. Many will allow you to observe for a couple of sessions, so that you can better understand the rules for submission and commentary. Yes, I did say rules, because any group that hopes to remain organized must have them. Those rules may direct the number of words you can submit, a date by which submissions must be received, the order in which feedback takes place, even how long the feedback can be.
Most critique groups do not focus on mechanics, such as the use of grammar and proper punctuation. Those are more the concerns of an editor. Your group should comment on matters such as organization, characterization, verisimilitude, and the use of elements of prose and poetry. You can focus on editing later. Now with the presence of software such as Grammerly, many basic problems will be noted for you as you write.
The chapter’s title is “The Test of Silence.” While silence may not seem to relate to critique group work, it does! The reason for that title is that in order to benefit from feedback, we must listen to it carefully. We all have to squelch that very human tendency to think of our own rejoinder while others are still talking. We may feel challenged to not respond to each comment about our work as it is spoken, but our own comments should follow those of the group. By waiting to respond, we have time to absorb what is being said, to make notes about the feedback, and to think of questions we may have to turn back to the group.
Finally, a true working group should offer you not only compliments, but also explain precisely why they believe a sentence works well or why it doesn’t seem to belong. As I always say, a happy face drawn next to your paragraph is pleasing feedback but does nothing to help you improve.