How to Deal with Criticism as a Writer: 5 Steps to Take
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You've finally heard back from that reader, critique partner, or editor whose feedback you were eagerly awaiting…and it's bad. What do you do now?
Receiving negative feedback on your writing can be so discouraging and disheartening because you've put your heart and soul into your story, and now it feels like this person is tearing that apart. At worst, receiving bad feedback can make you feel like you should just give up and never look at the story ever again.
But receiving negative or constructive feedback is a critical component of strengthening your story, especially if you are aiming for publication. So learning how to deal with criticism as a writer is one of the best ways to grow in your craft.
I want to give you some practical tips and strategies for how to deal with negative criticism so that you can use it productively and ensure that it ultimately does help you grow in your writing process.
Here's how to deal with writing criticism in five steps.
1. Consider the Source
The first step in dealing with criticism as a writer is to consider the source of the feedback.
Did this feedback come from someone who has a deep understanding of your genre?
Are they a voracious reader in the genre?
Are they someone with professional editorial experience?
Are they a very developed writer in their own right?
If the answer is no, and they don't fall into any of those categories, then it's possible that this person isn't really the best equipped to give you constructive feedback. In that case, it might be best to take their notes with a grain of salt.
Whenever you receive bad feedback, it is very important to understand that writing is a subjective art. The truth is that not everyone is going to like or connect with your story. Look at the reviews of any best-selling book out there, and you are going to see one-star reviews. That's why, when you are in the phase of developing your manuscript, I recommend being extremely picky about who you solicit feedback from. It should be someone whose opinions you respect and value and someone who ideally understands the genre to some degree and your intentions for this story.
If the feedback came from someone who really isn't your target reader nor has any editorial expertise, then it might be best to brush off their feedback. But if the feedback did come from a trusted and valid source, then I recommend moving on to the next step.
2. Step Away
Receiving negative feedback is emotionally overwhelming. It's not what you want to hear. You want to hear that your story is perfect and everyone loved it — but that's not realistic. That's why it's critical at this point in the editing process for you to take a step back and detach from the feedback and the story so that you can have a more objective perspective.
This is admittedly extremely challenging to do, so I recommend doing whatever you can to literally distance yourself from the feedback and from the story. For instance, if the feedback came to you via physical note, put it away in a drawer for now. If it came to you via email, archive that email for now. I promise it will still be there for you to find when you need it.
As for your manuscript, if it's on your desktop, go ahead and put it in a different folder, hidden away. This will allow your mind to go elsewhere and not be continually reminded of everything that's wrong with the book and all of this negative feedback that you need to deal with. Or, spend some time doing a different hobby entirely to get your mind off of it.
Then, once you've taken a few days or a week or even a month away from the story and the feedback, that is the time where you can return to it with fresh eyes. This way, you're going to be able to evaluate the feedback much more effectively and discern if and how you want to implement that feedback.
Whenever I as a developmental editor deliver my feedback to my clients, I always recommend that they take a couple days before getting back to me for this exact reason. Your initial emotional response to the feedback is likely going to be very different from your response once you've had some time to ruminate on it and you've let it marinate a bit.
3. Return with Fresh Eyes
That brings me to the next step for how to take criticism as a writer, which is returning to the manuscript and the feedback with fresh eyes. Since that initial emotional response has worn off, now you have a better perspective to ask yourself, “Does this feedback resonate with me? Does it align with my intentions for the story and my vision for it?”
Do you see where that person was coming from, and do you agree with their feedback? If so, then it is likely worth it to figure out how you might implement their feedback as you revise your manuscript. But, if you feel that the feedback is actually totally misaligned with your intentions for the story and it doesn't make sense to you, then I wouldn't take any action on that feedback quite yet.
It could be the case that you're not fully understanding the feedback, or it could be the case that you are just disagreeing with this reader, and that is completely fine. When I'm working with my clients as an editor, I always tell them that if a suggestion of mine does not resonate, it is totally fine for them to not take it. Ultimately, this is your story at the end of the day, not theirs.
4. Seek Others’ Insight
If you're on the fence about whether you should take this criticism seriously and change something in your story or whether you should just brush it off and discard it, then I recommend getting some additional feedback from trusted sources, such as additional critique partners, beta readers or a developmental editor.
You might find that another reader has that exact same note — in which case it's likely that other people would have that same note and it might be worth addressing in your manuscript, because now there is clearly a pattern of readers calling out that same issue.
But you might alternatively find that this other reader has the exact opposite feedback. That happens sometimes, in which case that indicates that people are interpreting your story differently and maybe you don't need to jump the gun and change your manuscript because of that initial person's feedback. Again, I strongly recommend being extremely selective about who you ask for feedback, because if you seek feedback from the wrong sources, it can ultimately just lead you down the wrong path and cause confusion.
5. Talk it Out
My final tip for how to deal with criticism as a writer is to talk it out. If you have any questions about the feedback that you received or you're not sure what they were trying to convey, don't hesitate to ask that person for further clarification. If their goal is to help you strengthen this story, they should be more than happy to help.
I always tell my clients that editing is a true collaborative effort, and engaging in a constructive conversation can provide you a much deeper understanding of their perspective and then help you determine how you might productively apply the feedback to the work. For instance, it could be the case that you actually misunderstood their feedback or they didn't convey it properly in whatever document you were communicating in, and maybe you do agree with it after all. Or, after you have a conversation about the feedback with this person, perhaps they realize where you're coming from and then their feedback changes based on what you tell them.
These conversations can be so illuminating and ultimately will help you find new ways to strengthen the story, so don't feel like once you receive feedback, you have to just shut up and never speak to that person ever again. I'm sure that they would be happy to discuss the feedback with you because they took the time to provide that feedback and are thereby invested in helping you strengthen this story.
I hope this helped you understand how to deal with negative criticism as writer in a productive way so that you can use constructive critique to take your story to the next level. Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!