Today in my writing class we did critiques. The class before, several of my classmates gave everyone in the class 750 words from their manuscript. We came to class today having read and made comments about the manuscript section. We spent several minutes talking about what was done well and several minutes giving "helps."
As a writer myself, I love feedback. I love knowing where I can improve. Sometimes I like it more than knowing what works. Because I want to get better and be publishable, so knowing what isn't working or what is confusing is valuable to me. But it can be hard if this information is not communicated correctly or kindly.
So, when giving feedback I always made sure I had said something positive as well. And I made sure to be polite and respectful. I would try to suggest what would make the writing better and never imply that the writing was bad. Because it usually wasn't. I tried to provide building blocks rather than tear the writing apart. I felt good as I did this and know I would want feedback in the same way.
No comments:
Post a Comment