Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
One of the things authors have to deal with is getting contradictory responses to your work. You may hear one thing from your friends, another from your critique group, and something different from an editor or agent. Agents experience this too: A project out on submission often elicits barely any response from some editors, while others are jumping up and down with excitement.
Or… you may enter your work in a contest and be completely befuddled at the judges’ responses. My client had this experience: “I got my contest scores back. One was a perfect score of 100 and the judge’s comment was, I don’t understand why this author isn’t published. The second score was also very high, but the third was a 62! The third judge told me to cut the prologue and the first chapter because they weren’t good. She also told me I’ll never get published in Christian fiction because my heroine is living with a man in the beginning and I make a reference to her craving a cigarette.”
How do we deal with contradictory feedback like this?
First, realize this is always going to be the case. When you’re published it gets worse. Readers will have all kinds of responses to your work, and they won’t all be positive. So get used to it.
But if you’re trying to figure out how (or if) to revise your work, and you’ve received contradictory feedback about what your manuscript needs, you may have to make some tough decisions. Here are my thoughts:
1. Keep in mind each person’s qualifications for giving feedback. Are they a publishing professional? Now obviously, just because they have experience as an agent, editor, or published author doesn’t make them automatically “right.” But if you’re weighing feedback from your friends and/or crit group (“It’s awesome! We love it!”) against responses from professionals (“It needs work”) you’re probably better off listening to those with experience. As much as you think your friends are going to be honest with you, let’s face it, if they love you, they probably think you walk on water and they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Enjoy their feedback, appreciate what good friends they are, then listen to the professionals.
2. Ask these important questions: Do they understand and share your vision for the project? Do they have a similar worldview as yours? Are they likely to be in agreement with the overall message of your book? You can use these questions to help you gauge which feedback is most applicable to your work and will be most helpful to you, whether you’re dealing with professionals or friends.Whenever possible, you may even want to ask these questions directly of your reviewers.
In the case of the contest example above, the author has a two-against-one situation, so that’s a clue about which feedback may be most relevant. In addition, the third judge obviously was more conservative and didn’t share the author’s worldview, so was unlikely to enjoy the book anyway. In this type of situation, it’s okay to consider whether anything judge #3 said rings true and if you can learn anything from it; if not, let it go and move on. Just accept that not everyone will like your book.
3. Go with your gut and stick with your vision. Don’t allow anyone to take away your voice or an important part of your message. However, if you’re a newer writer and you’re not sure you’ve found your voice yet, you can allow those critics to help you refine your voice or find your vision. It’s a delicate and tricky balance—figuring out which changes feel like you’re improving the work, and which feel like compromise. Only you can decide.
Every piece of art has its fans and its detractors; every attempt to speak the truth will meet some agreement and some resistance. We have to use our discernment and wisdom to figure out how to deal with it.
Have you dealt with contradictory feedback on your work? How did you resolve it?
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peter
Be like Jason and ignore the sirens. Once you have done all you can to fireproof your work and to satisfy your “target” audience, stay on target and sleep in the storm. Criticism should be embraced. Either learn from it or let it toughen you or see it as a point hitting the mark. Sure I would do what I could to pretest, etc., but eventually we have to know ourselves and be ourselves, else we will fail to launch.
Shirlee Abbott
I sent a couple chapters to two internet writing friends. A week apart, both gave me similar responses: “I don’t know why you are writing this for women. The idea would work for men, too.”
“Really, God?” I said. “A total do-over? Please say it isn’t so.”
* Before the words were out of mouth, I knew that it was indeed so. God is the great Author and the ultimate Editor. I love the biblical phrase “inquire of the Lord.” I imagine myself laying out the various suggestions before the throne and asking, “What should I do, Lord?”
peter
Hah, Shirlee, had the same issue, just reversed, but that was a good few years ago and so I did restyle it to suit both genders and I applied many other lessons along the way. Sooner or later that will also clear the gauntlet of submission … why after all that, would I still be tossed about by the different opinions I will yet face. I would think we must eventually say, “enough” and move on.
Jackie Layton
In the past I’ve agonized over contradictory feedback. Then I began to look at every judge’s comments on areas to improve and focused on those comments.
Recently I entered an inspirational category of a contest. One judge told me it wasn’t inspirational because it was contemporary. I wavered between shock, injustice, and humor. In the end it occurred to me maybe the organization sponsoring the contest was short on inspirational judges and this person was trying to help out.
I appreciate people who take time to judge contests. Thanks!
peter
I suspect a good sense of humor helps
Jeanne Takenaka
I’ve done my share of contests, and the things you’re sharing are spot on. I especially appreciate your #2. Having an understanding of where the judges are coming from really helps me to understand the feedback. I’ve had those entries that received two GREAT scores and one terrible one. Once the sting of frustration burned off, I was able to look through the scores and comments and evaluate nuggets of truth within the words. Now, when I get a poor score and this judge calls “weak” the strengths the other two judges see? I tend to go with the majority rules idea. And that’s true when two judges don’t necessarily like some aspect of my entry. There’s always something to learn.
*When I’m not sure how to read contradictory scores, I have asked a mentor for their thoughts, and that’s been really helpful.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Well, if smoking is a no-no for a character in Christian fiction…being real (I think), I must be in DEEP trouble.
* The criteria you offer are excellent, Rachelle. One thing I’ve learned – and it’s quite hard to discern, most of the time – is that many people who offer advice are subconsciously looking to put their own stamp on one’s work. It’s not a bad thing, because it bespeaks a level of involvement that means the work touched them deeply…but this subtle motivator can lead to the presentation of powerful arguments which may be more right for they, the ‘advisors’, than for YOU the writer.
Jackie Layton
I’ve learned the hard way, you can lose your voice when you listen to closely to ‘advisers.’ We’ve got to find the right balance.
Lara Hosselton
Oh the mind boggling, heart clenching quandary of conflicting feedback. I love all three of your thoughts on this dilemma, Rachelle, but number 3 is my favorite. My “gut instinct” has seldom let me down no matter what the circumstance and even my husband often asks what I’m feeling. The Holy Spirit is awesome.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
The ONLY time I take something out without a big debate is if my Navajo advisors tell me I’ve gotten something wrong. I’ll ask them to explain, simply for my own education on the matter. But when one of them said “absolutely not” on a certain issue, I listened and obeyed.
As to the question of “why not have them speaking simpler English?”
Well, considering the character had been speaking English for 30 years, that would have dumbed him down quite a bit. Not to mention it’s incredibly insulting.
And no, most Native Americans did not say “How” when greeting people. That comes from the ever-intelligent “Lingua Hollywood”.
I had one early reader snark at me, like, SNARK at me, about a certain thing a character did. She really went to the wall with her point. Sadly for her, I was also a wall. Saying over and over “He’d never do that, it’s totally not like him!” to me, was pointless. He may be fake, but he’s mine.
Like The Andrew said, she was trying to put her stamp on things.
Shelli Littleton
“He may be fake, but he’s mine” … “The Andrew” … you are on a roll … Amen to both! I’m giggling (you know me) and taking in seriously every word you wrote. 🙂
Kristen Joy Wilks
Entering contests and getting contradictory feedback had been one of the very best things for me as a writer. One of those things that forces you to grow the most. Three judges, the same story, three different scores, sometimes wildly different. But slowly I saw the progress. From one judge who loved it and two that did not. The next year having 2 judges love it and one that did not. To finally being a semi-finalist and having 3 judges feel good about my work. This trying exercise makes you analyze your words and determine who to listen to and who does not understand your story. Often it is so valuable to listen to the one who doesn’t like it, something set them off. It might be important. But sometimes you must ignore. In my case, writing for teens, I found judges who did not like the teen voice. These contests have really helped me grow into someone who is better able to revise her own work. My analytical skills have improved and when someone tells me what is wrong with a piece and they are right, the light bulbs turn on now. Yes! I see what they mean, I know it when someone puts their finger on the problem. There is no easy way to learn this and I’m not there yet, but the struggle has taught me so much and continues to do so. Makes you think, makes you grow, makes you change. All good things, though not pleasant at all.
Davalynn Spencer
I will condense: Gut-vision. Great advice in No. 3 – “Don’t allow anyone to take away your voice.” Contests are insightful. In a three-judge contest, I heard from one judge who said she loved the prologue, another who said the prologue was a distractor and waste of time, and from the third – nothing. I figured they cancelled each other out and went with my ‘gut.’
Shelli Littleton
Love that!
Kristen Joy Wilks
A thought on audience. I read a piece on Rick Riordan’s big coffee table book about Greek Mythology. The writer of the article questioned Riordan’s irreverent treatment of mythology and wild mixing of story and history. I laughed out loud. That is exactly why his readership adores him. I’ve read many of his books to my boys and the moment when he described Ran the Norse sea goddess as a bag lady defending her net full of garbage, hilarious…but not exactly scholarly or reverent. What would happen if Riordan listened to that particular critic? Disaster! It made me realize, you’ve got to pick who you’re writing for and do your very best. Not everyone is going to be happy.
Jenni Wiltz
I did get contradictory feedback from judges after winning a big contest. Somehow, I had the top score, but a couple judges said they didn’t (a) like the characters, or (b) want them to end up together. I went with my gut, and when I later self-published the book, a few readers reached out and said how much they like the characters.
I would have liked to know what specific details turned off the judges – maybe they were minor things I could have changed easily? But barring specific feedback, I went with my gut. You are the only one you can trust at the end of the day.
Shelli Littleton
Unless you get three like-minded judges (that’d be a glory hallelujah), it seems one would have to be modest, non-offensive, on the straight and narrow those first few pages to please three people. Then you could do a break out dance into the offensive. You might win the judges’ hearts, but quite possibly not your readers’. Well, and even for Christians, life is about the offensive … our reason for Jesus.
Jenny Snow
Great post, Rachelle.
I’ve been helped tremendously by having writing friends more widely published than I.
Also, I keep in mind that I want to always be proud of my work. That helps when deciding between opposing suggestions.
Merry Christmas!!!
Richard Mabry
Rachelle, your thoughts re contradictory advice are good ones, and I agree with them. Now take them a step further. For the author who finally gets that long-sought contract, the first editorial letter is going to make you think, “But this was good enough that you bought it!” What do you do then?
My first fiction editor, God bless her, included in her remarks something that has stuck with me. “This is your work, and it’s your name on the title page. I’m trying to suggest ways to make it better, but it still needs to be your voice.” I think that has to be in the back of every author’s mind, whether pre-published or veteran. Thanks for sharing.
Barbara Cameron
Richard, was that Barbara Scott?
MacKenzie
Oh my, how to answer this and not sound pompous… I haven’t received contradictory feedback. I have five Beta readers and one punctuation editor, (apparently, I’m comma happy). Of the six; one commented on how I introduce the police team,
and on how I show each person’s
individual weapon of choice.
I went back to the other readers and asked, not one agreed with the comments, so I left the ms as written.
Until I can get an agent or book editor, I can’t do much more.
Cheryl Malandrinos
What I love about feedback–contradictory or otherwise–is that it truly helps me see my work through the eyes of another person. It often opens up for me new ideas I hadn’t considered before.
Ernesto
I handle contradictory feedback by using some rules:
1. How good is the critiques with his own writing.
2. Is the feedback extreme? Throw out the outliers, the critiques that are too extreme.
3. Is my story, I decide what it gets changed.
Nancy Moser
This also happens after you’re published. Amazon reviews are often contradictory. Some will say one of my books is the best book they’ve ever read and another will call the book banal and point out details they didn’t like. What I do after receiving a negative review is look at the types of books that reader usually reviews. If they usually read police procedurals or thrillers it’s logical they may be less enthusiastic with historical fiction set in a British manor house. Yet I do ponder every criticism. That’s how we learn to write better books.
John Wells
Every composition, from essay to novel, has a theme, a “voice” expressing the ideology of the author, and some judges are bound to take offense because it goes against their ideas of what the world should be. I would suffer through many arguments today if I were a young student pursuing a degree in journalism while attending a liberal university and submitting a theme with a conservative voice. Such judgements go with with the territory, so develop the skin of a rhino and get used to it. I think it’s been said that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
Brad Ratzlaff
It took me a long time (years even) to establish a trusted group of beta readers that critiques everything I write. Likewise I reciprocate with each of them. They are each well read and, in many cases, writers themselves. Ironically, most of them typically point out the same flaws / weaknesses in my stories, in which case I make the necessary changes. If at least 30% of them don’t point out the same weakness, it remains in the story. In this way we’ve come to know each voice intimately, what each individual within our group is striving for, what her/his intent and interest is not to mention what matters most to that specific individual. Before establishing said group I received such an array of criticism and compliments I didn’t know who or who not to believe. Now I wouldn’t have it any other way, but in speaking with writers outside the group I realize how lucky I am to be a part of such a consistent fellowship. Such a group is difficult to come by, even harder to assemble…oh so very, very hard…
Joseph Bonello
Sometimes it’s incredibly wonderful how certain people interpret what you write, how they see things from a particular point of view completely foreign to you. Knowing this, I would accept that the written word does give way to several meanings and therefore no wonder that contradictory feedback might be lurking about.
On the other hand, sometimes contradictory feedback worries me – wasn’t I clear enough? Was I ambiguous when I tried so much to mean what I write?
In this case, if there is room for improvement on my side, I admit my weakness. if the reader has understood me incorrectly, then I ignore such feedback, understanding that they might have missed a word or rushed to conclusions without really grasping the full meaning of my intent.
Kirtida Gautam
Extremely useful post. Thank you.