This is Part Three of a three-part series of what I learned from writing my first novel. Click here to read Part One: The First Draft and here to read Part Two: Edit & Revise.
You have a piece that’s actually getting somewhere. You’ve completed your first draft and edited it until your eyeballs dried out. You can’t tell anymore if it’s any good or not. At some point, you’re going to want to get feedback.
Getting feedback, like editing, is an iterative process – and not something I’m finished doing myself. While some may disagree, I don't think it makes sense to get feedback in terms of “steps”. So instead, in this blog, I’m going to talk through (1) the different types of feedback, (2) how to get it, and (3) what to do once you receive it.
1. Types of feedback
One of my most important takeaways from my first novel is the need to understand and articulate the nature of the feedback I'm seeking. For example, there’s nothing more disappointing than sharing a work I’ve toiled over with someone I care about and their reaction after reading is, “I found a typo on page eighty-four.”
…That’s not the kind of feedback I was looking for! I wanted to know how they felt– if they liked it!
To avoid this situation, it’s essential to identify your intentions and be explicit with your alpha/beta/whatever you want to call ‘em readers. Below I’ve defined a few different categories of feedback that you may find useful to do this.
Line edit
This refers to a line-by-line, word-by-word, hard edit of your writing quality. This is critical prior to publishing, but in my view, is the least important type of feedback to seek from non-professionals. Yes, when you’re trying to publish something, it needs to be polished and free of errors. But (1) you need to do this yourself to the best of your ability before asking others; (2) if others are finding a lot of typos or you have reason to be concerned about your grammar, you should hire someone to professionally line-edit or take a class to improve you writing; (3) ultimately, if you get published, a professional editor will do this for you; or if you self-publish, you should hire one.
Bad writing habits
That being said, if you have bad writing habits, it’s better to break them earlier than later. And you don't know what you don't know. For example, I learned in one of my writing classes that I have a tendency to start most of my sentences with a person, which is fine, but makes my sentences less varied and my storytelling less interesting. Think: She landed in a pile of dust, vs a pile of dust surrounded her. Thanks to that particular piece of feedback, I now have a clever new tool to level up my writing.
Logical edit
At some point in your writing process you will need to determine whether your story makes sense to someone other than you. This includes what may seem like minutia, but can have a material impact on whether your story comes across as immersive and believable. Maybe your character isn’t eating enough, or the dead bodies shouldn’t have started to smell yet. Or maybe you wrote a character who's a police officer, and want to get some intel to make them more realistic. I find this to be one of the most valuable types of feedback.
Sensitivity reader
If your writing deals with sensitive subjects or perspectives outside your own, consider hiring a sensitivity reader to determine if you have dealt with those subjects in an accurate, unbiased and respectful manner.
Casual reader
This is a catch all for everything else – was your story enjoyable? Was it “good”? What did your reader like about it, and what didn't they? If your story is polished, free of editorial errors, and absent plot holes or logical issues, this should going to come down to a matter of taste.
2. How to get feedback
Now that you have an idea of how to think about different kinds of feedback, it’s time to go out there and get it. If you’re like me, you have three main avenues available to you: (1) nag your family and friends, (2) join writing groups and exchange work with other writers, and (3) pay professionals.
Nag your family and friends
Hopefully, you have someone(s) in your life you can bother or ideally, who enjoys reading what you write. These people are valuable resources that can give your work a first pass. Don’t take advantage of them – get your work in as good of shape as you can before seeking their help. But they represent a safe audience who can help you understand your work’s major strengths and weaknesses before you start seriously trying to get published.
Your family and friends are best positioned to give you feedback as a casual reader. Depending on their experiences and skills, they may also be able to provide you with logical edits or be a sensitivity reader. I would recommend explicitly telling them you are not seeking a line edit or improvements to your writing. They aren’t professionals and this isn’t the best way to use their time.
Join writing groups
If you want to improve your writing quality without spending money, your best option is to join or form writing groups. Other writers, like you, are out there practicing their writing. They might have skills you don’t have and vice versa. Depending on what stage they’re at, they’re also probably in need of feedback. You can trade work and leverage each other’s strengths to improve your writing and storytelling abilities. I find this to be the most useful avenue for getting feedback in the advanced stages of editing, since you're more likely to get unbiased feedback with some level of credibility behind it.
How to find writing groups? Connect with other writers through Facebook, writing classes, or conferences. Facebook groups like Love Writing!, Canada Writes, and Women Writers, Editors and Agents are some examples I am part of. Join your local writers’ guild or seek out writers in your personal network. There are more of them lurking about than you think!
Pay professionals
After you’ve exhausted the above free resources, it might be time to get professional help. As noted, this shouldn’t be necessary if you succeed in the traditional publishing route. But if you intend to self-publish, or want to take your work the extra mile on your own, there are certain types of feedback you may need to pay for. Among these could be a detailed line edit, or a specific type of sensitivity reader.
What to do with feedback
Finally, once you’ve gotten the feedback you need, what do you do with it?
You've heard this before. Feedback is just that…feedback. So you don’t actually need to use the feedback. It’s completely up to you what you do with it! My advice is to look for trends and use your artistic judgment of whether to incorporate the feedback you are given or not. Most feedback is valuable, but not all of it needs to be taken at face value.
For example, one of my beta readers disliked some of the names in my story. I decided this was a matter of their personal taste, and kept things as-is. In an opposing example, all of my family members who gave my novel a first pass said they liked the second half better than the first. After observing a trend, I made some serious edits to shorten and improve the storytelling of the first half.
…and that’s a wrap on my three-part series, “What I learned writing my first novel”! I hope this has been as useful to you as it was to me to write it all down.
In the future, I’ll blog more about my querying, short-story writing, and other skills and tricks I learn along my journey to become a published author.
For now, back to novel writing!
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