Powered By Blogger

Starstruck

Starstruck
Creative Writing for health, well-being and fun!

Sunday 27 September 2009

Handling Feedback Well!

I don’t much like the term ‘Constructive Criticism’, do you? Apart from the alliterative ‘c’s, it doesn’t sound much fun. But learning to handle feedback can be an integral part of a writer’s growth. And a group session is the ideal scenario to practice. Participants are more disposed to be kind to their fellow writers – having more than a little understanding of the courage it takes to share your writing.

But, why bother? Why put yourself through all this? Because if you ever get as far as publishing your work, your own customised techniques for handling feedback well will save you heart-ache. And, perhaps even more important, unless you’re writing in a vacuum, you want to share your writing. And, this sharing is an essential part of communication. Within a group, you understand at first hand how your words impact on your listener/reader. A gift, indeed!

But earlier experience may make you wary of exposing yourself in this way.

This week, in the Out of the Box Creative Writing Coaching Workshops (CWCWs), we tested out some reasons for this and found our own solution.

The discussion was full and frank. Some participants were resistant to being damned by faint praise. They didn’t want their readings to be met with ‘That’s very good!’ and nothing more. ‘Good’ after all is like ‘very’, nice, and ‘interesting’ – words which on the whole have been so used they have lost all meaning. And these are therefore best avoided by writers.

On the other hand, anyone who feels judgmental enough to come out with ‘That’s the worst piece of writing I’ve ever seen!’ has no place in any of the groups I facilitate.

So having rejected faint praise and savage judgmentalism, where next? We adopted the options of self-critique, followed by group contribution and hints for further development of the piece from me as facilitator. And thanks go to Association for Coaching Northwest Co-ordinator Julia Menaul for the suggestion of this executive coaching tool - which in group was then suitably adapted for writing peer appraisal.

In future, the system we’ll use will be this.
Each person will write for five minutes, producing the equivalent of a first draft – warts and all. He/she will then read his/her piece out loud.

As facilitator, I will then ask what the author dislikes about the piece. This differs from the executive coaching tool, as outlined by Julia. But I always work on the principle that a writer knows full well the failings of his/her work, we need to acknowledge these – without reinforcement from colleagues – and move on.

This done, I will ask the author what he/she likes about the piece. When someone is pleased with what they’ve written – and there’s always something they like – you can hear their confidence rising in the voice as he/she expresses this.

The peer group will listen to both dislikes and likes and will – sometimes even before invited – jump in with positive comments supporting the author’s likes and adding their own. The opportunity exists for negative comment but people tend to favour being positive and helpful.

As facilitator, I can then add my suggestions for different ways of developing the ‘story’ and deeper ways into the piece.

If last week’s group experience is anything to go by, this approach sparks an ever-upward spiral of creativity and enthusiasm. And we avoid a potentially dismal session of criticism.

The system is:
• Write freely as inspired
• Read aloud
• Consider what you dislike about your piece
• Consider what you like
• Listen to the suggestions of others.
• Make decisions as to which of these you will take on board and which you will reject. This is your artistic choice.

Disliking the term ‘constructive criticism’, as I do, I prefer ‘Helpful commentary’. Any other suggestions?

No comments: