Taking criticism constructively: getting feedback on writing

Unleashing your masterpiece into the world can be daunting. It’s a heavily personal thing that you’ve laboured over for years. They are characters that you live in the pockets of every day. But unless you are writing purely for pleasure, it’s an inevitable and essential part of the writing process.

But more than anything, it’s HELPFUL too. I certainly value the questions and comments I receive when I read to my writing group. You get so absorbed when writing that you can’t see the wood from the trees. You might know the motivations behind the main character’s seemingly absurd actions, but unless that comes through somewhere in the text, it will be confusing to readers. It’s hard to play detective when you know 'whodunit'.

The Open University have put together some useful guidelines for giving and receiving feedback as part of their free Start Writing Fiction online course. Here’s a brief summary:

1. Don’t rush into completely rewriting - take time to reflect.
2. Accept some comments and reject others. YOU decide.
3. If you have feedback from multiple people, pay special attention to where they pick up on the same thing.
4. If you are not going to develop the idea any further, can anything be salvaged? A line that springs off the page may work elsewhere, so add it to your journal.
5. It is just a draft, and any feedback is not personal.

And one final one from me.

·        Don’t edit by committee – you can’t please everyone, and nor should you. It would be incredibly bland!

Free Online Start Writing Fiction course

On 12^th October, the free MOOC ‘START WRITING FICTION’ from the Open University launched on FutureLearn.

If you’ve never come across the term ‘MOOC’ before, it stands for Massive Open Online Course. They are free online courses, this one designed to make people better writers, focusing on the skill of creating characters.

The course features established writers, such as Louis de Bernières, Alex Garland and Michèle Roberts talking about how they started writing.

Each week there are various activities to work through – watching a video, reading an article, submitting a small piece of writing, and commenting on the writing of peers. The small pieces of writing grow into a bigger piece as the course progresses.

Last week we looked at why we write, and how we build characters. A video of people on the bus, in a café and on the street encourages us to take notice of the simple, small aspects of personality. What stands out for me is the way different people interact with their phones: We see a girl furiously and intently scrolling on her smartphone, completely absorbed. On the bus is a man who occasionally holds his tentatively to his ear. In the canteen is a man whose iPhone is sat by his side - a constant companion. People watching is such a simple but valuable activity when creating character traits. As my art teacher told me, draw what you see, now what you think you see.

This week we’ve been looking at writing as a habit: When we feel motivated to do it, the rituals we have around it. For me, I love writing on a long train journey, because I know I have a long time to get absorbed. If I am writing at home, it’s only after I’ve done the chores, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, that I can settle down. And if I’m going out later…I struggle. I want to know I can become engrossed if I want to and I’m not constrained by a time slot.

Other writers I know are stricter – they write for several hours in the morning, or write until they have 2500 words. Whatever suits you, recognise it and create the environment that works for you.

The course lasts 8 weeks, and should take around 3 hours a week. You can join part way through so do take a look! https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/start-writing-fiction