As we write books, we fantasize about the thousands of fans who may eventually read them. But once you finish your manuscript and it comes time for someone else to actually read your story, it’s … terrifying, to say the least.
Still, it’s important to get another set of eyes (or many, as we’ll discuss below) on your book before you send it out into the world. A critique partner or beta readers will be able to see your book from an outside perspective and offer insights you never would have thought of. They can also spot those pesky typos and grammatical errors that are so hard for the writers to see themselves.
Even once you summon the courage to solicit feedback, it can be hard to know how exactly to work it into your story. Here are ten tips on how to incorporate feedback into your writing.
1) Find a Trusted Source
As I discuss in this post, when you are seeking feedback from your first few readers, it’s important that they are readers you know and trust. Right after finishing your first draft, you’re going to feel way too vulnerable to entrust your writerly feelings to a stranger.
I personally have my mother, boyfriend, and critique partner as my first readers. You may think that people close to me would be too biased in their feedback, but you would change your thinking if you saw my mom and boyfriend’s notes on my work. These are three people who know me and my work very well and how to offer feedback in a way I will respond well to.
When looking for someone to get feedback from, try to analyze the people who are already close to you in your life and if their reading taste aligns with your book.
2) Draw from Multiple Sources
Once you’ve found one trusted source, it’s time to start looking for a few more. As mentioned, I have three people in my inner circle of first readers. My critique partner is fantastic with characters, my boyfriend has a great sense of structure, and my mother is a wonderful proofreader. They all bring different things to the table and add up to one super-reader.
I know it can be hard finding multiple readers for your book—you may be lucky just to find one you click with. Joining a writing group either in person or online is a good way to find other writers you can swap manuscripts with.
It’s too much to place all your feedback needs on one person. It’s best to get a few opinions, and then you can notice where they overlap (these are the issues to pay the most attention to).
3) Read Through Everything First
Once you have your track-changed manuscript and/or notes from your reader, you may want to start working on the first critique you see. But you should read through everything your reader has given you before you start revising. It’s possible that what the reader commented on in their track changes was more fleshed out and explained in their notes.
If you read over an entire book’s worth of comments, you’ll get a much more well-rounded feel for what your reader thought of the book than if you went off revising based just on what they said about your first chapter. Your reader put a lot of work into that critique—the least you can do is read over everything they’ve written.
Sometimes seeing suggestions can get your creativity going, and that’s great! But you need to be patient and get through all your reader’s critiques before you start making any changes.
4) Don’t Take It Personally
When you write a book, it can start to feel like a part of you. So, if anyone doesn’t like your book, it feels as if they don’t like you. But this simply isn’t true—as attached as you feel to your book, you are separate.
I’ve had plenty of experiences where criticisms of my work felt like a punch in the gut. Over time, though, I’ve become better at separating myself from my work enough not to take critiques personally.
If you manage not to get angry about criticism, you may be able to see that making the suggested changes would make your story much better.
5) Keep an Open Mind
It’s very easy to read through a reader’s comments and suggestions and arrive at the conclusion that they are wrong about everything. They don’t understand your story the way you do and it’s fine the way it is.
I would encourage you to keep an open mind when reading through your reader’s critique. Maybe you never considered giving a secondary character a larger role or adding a certain twist, but don’t let your own stubbornness stand in the way of what could be a great idea.
Many people think of writing as a solo pursuit, but a lot of the best work out there is a product of writers being open-minded to suggestions from others.
6) Don’t Be Afraid of Big Changes
When my boyfriend was reading over my novel Vita and the Monsters of Moorhouse, he suggested eliminating an entire subplot. I had worked hard on that subplot and thought it was important to the story. But eventually, I relented, got rid of the subplot, and realized that the story was now much better and more streamlined than before.
I know it can be scary when a reader recommends making a big change. It will require a great deal of work and may involve cutting many of your cherished words.
But you should try not to immediately write off such suggestions—a suggestion like that may just be the difference between a good book and a great one. Just remember to keep anything you cut since it could be used later on for reader extras or as short stories.
7) Tackle One Issue at a Time
Sometimes a reader’s many critiques can seem overwhelming. A good way to deal with this is to focus on one issue at a time. Say your reader points out that a particular character’s development needs work. In this round of revision, just work on fleshing out that character, and leave the other problems for the next round.
It would be awesome to be able to get through all of your reader’s critiques in just one round of revision, but that’s not really realistic. Go easy on yourself and give yourself time to revise your novel at a manageable pace.
You may feel like you’ll never finish with all this work, but just take things one issue at a time, and eventually, you will reach the finish line.
8) Ask Questions
As you’re going through your reader’s critiques, you may come across a comment you don’t understand or doesn’t make sense to you. You might feel silly or embarrassed asking your reader for clarification, but don’t. They will likely be happy to provide clarification and be glad that you are taking their critique so seriously.
I know I’ve had moments where I wanted to know more about how a reader felt about a certain character or plot point. I’m so glad I asked about it since I got a ton of helpful information back.
You might just skip over a comment you don’t quite get, but you never know—that comment might be one that will make your story that much better.
9) Take a Break
When it comes to writing, I am a huge fan of breaks. My “Inception to Completion” series is riddled with recommendations to take breaks throughout the writing process. I know there are plenty of great writers out there who swear by writing every day, and maybe that works for them. But I know breaks have always been an essential part of writing for me.
Once you’re done incorporating the feedback from your various readers into your manuscript, it’s time to walk away for a while. Spend at least a few days—ideally a few weeks—doing what you enjoy and not thinking about your book at all. Give yourself some time to relax after all that revising.
You may feel like you’re in a rush to finish your book up when it’s so close to being done. But taking this time away from your story will help you to see it with fresh eyes when you come back to it, as we’ll discuss in the next section.
10) Read It All Over
After you’ve taken some time to rest and recharge, the first thing you should do is read your book over from beginning to end. The time off will have given you some much-needed distance and you will be able to see what changes worked and what didn’t.
Try to read the book as not just a writer but as a reader. Really take in this new version of your manuscript and judge if the changes made it better or worse. If it’s better, great! If not, you can always put things back the way they were.
It’s likely that you will see that your book has gotten better, and it’s all thanks to your lovely first readers (and your hard work, of course). Now you’re ready to send your book to a wider group of beta readers (your outer circle)—fans of the type of book you just wrote. While your first readers gave you in-depth critiques, beta readers will provide more general impressions.
Hopefully, these tips will help you through what can be the arduous journey of incorporating feedback into your writing. It’s a very vulnerable thing, putting your writing out there for others to criticize, but you never know the amazing ideas people might have to improve your story.
Soak Yourself in Fiction
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