How to Give Feedback a Writer Actually Wants!
Greetings and salutations, Scribblers!
Today we’re going to explore a simple method you can use to provide meaningful feedback to a writer on their work. Good feedback helps a writer grow and make decisions that will positively impact their story whereas bad feedback just gives them one reader's opinion. Now, it’s important to clarify disagreeing with feedback doesn’t make it bad. There have been plenty of times I’ve gotten feedback I disagree with, but it got me thinking about my story and while the feedback itself wasn’t applicable, it helped me identify the root of the issue or come up with a solution that better fit my manuscript.
Most writers have received vague feedback. Things like:
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t really connect with this character
Something feels off
(or the especially jarring) This is wrong
That feedback might be an honest comment from a reader, but it doesn’t actually give you any direction to move in or ideas on what action to take to improve your manuscript. So, in today’s video I’m going to give you a simple framework to use so you can provide feedback to writers that will help them improve their story and writing craft.
The first step, as a giver of feedback is to understand the difference between a judgement and an observation. A judgement is based in your opinion whereas an observation is based in the information that has been presented to you. For example:
Judgment: “This character is boring.”
Observation: “I found myself less interested when the story shifted to this character.”
Judgment: “The ending doesn't work.”
Observation: “I expected X to happen, so the ending surprised me—but I wasn't sure why the character made that final decision.”
As someone giving feedback, your job isn’t about proving whether an author is right or wrong. It is your job to provide information the author can use to decide what they should do next. If we look at the example about the ending. In the first statement, “The ending doesn’t work,” the author has no inkling of why it didn’t work and this just becomes an opinion of that particular reader. But when you pause and shift it to an observation, explaining how your expectation wasn’t fulfilled and that you didn’t have a clear understanding of why a character did something, now the author has something they can take action on. They might consider having something new happen to the character or maybe they’ll clarify the character’s reasoning through interiority. Either way, it gives them something actionable to work with.
In order to help you make observations rather than judgments, you can follow three simple steps.
Notice
Question
Suggest
As the giver of feedback, you’re being asked to notice things about the manuscript. What did you actually experience as you read. Were you confused? Bored? Did you feel rushed or not emotionally engaged with the characters? Take note of what you’re feeling and thinking and reframe it using “I noticed.
Instead of:
“Your character isn't believable.”
Try:
“I noticed that she goes from refusing to leave to deciding to leave almost immediately.”
Or:
“I noticed I started skimming during this section.”
This keeps the feedback grounded in an actual reading experience rather than presenting your interpretation as an objective truth. Your next step is to question why you feel that way. This is what really moves your judgment to an observation. As you consider the reasons why you noticed something, think about what you might be curious or confused about.
You might ask:
“I was wondering what changed her mind here.”
“I wasn't sure what the character wanted in this scene.”
“I expected the argument to have a bigger consequence. Was that something you intended?”
Providing feedback like this is incredibly helpful for the writer. It leaves room for them to explain their intention and oftentimes, I’ve found that writers can easily answer the question and this kind of feedback helps to remind them to make it clearer on the page.
Now we bring those two elements together to make our suggestions, this is a possible direction the writer might take to address the issue. The more details you can provide, the easier it will be for the writer to understand the root of the problem and decide on a solution. Sometimes they will love your suggestion and add it in exactly as is. Sometimes they’ll tweak a bit of it and use it and sometimes they will completely reject it and do their own thing. As long as it addresses a legitimate issue in the manuscript, their choice is the right one.
Instead of leaving feedback such as:
“You need to rewrite this entire scene.”
Try:
“I wonder if giving us a little more of her thought process before she leaves would make that decision feel clearer.”
Or:
“You might experiment with making the conflict more explicit earlier in the scene.”
The important thing for you to remember as a giver of feedback is that a suggestion is not an instruction to the author. They ultimately get to decide what suggestions they take and which they ignore. So don’t be offended if they don’t take your suggestion.
Okay, let’s break down a full example together. You’re reading a friend’s manuscript there’s a scene that doesn’t make sense. You might be tempted to say something like:
“This scene doesn't work. The character's reaction doesn't make sense.”
A better way to approach this that will be helpful to the writer would be to reframe it and provide additional detail.
“I noticed that when Sam leaves the conversation, I wasn't sure why she was angry. I was wondering if she felt betrayed by what Alex said, or if something else was happening underneath that. You might experiment with giving us a little more of Sam's internal reaction before she leaves.”
Notice: “I wasn't sure why she was angry.”
Question: “What was happening underneath?”
Suggest: “Maybe give us more of her internal reaction.”
Remember, the goal of feedback isn't to rewrite someone else's work for them. It's to give them perspective on what their writing is doing and identify places that are working and those that need strengthening. In the end, the writer makes the decision of how to apply feedback.
Providing comprehensive feedback on a manuscript is a labor of love. I spend 70-100 hours on a full manuscript and leave close to 500 comments. Each of those comments follows this formula. Because you’re reading the manuscript with the intention to note what is and isn’t working, it’s a very different experience from just reading a book for the fun of it. It’s a skill worth developing and every manuscript you read and apply this framework too will help you hone your own writing craft. You’ll become more aware of the elements in your own manuscript that match those you’re noticing and questioning in others manuscripts.
That’s the kind of feedback we believe in at The Scribbler’s Den. Every story will have its own voice and be written in its own way. The Scribbler’s den creates a space where writers can get feedback on how their work is landing with a reader and then decide what they want to do with that feedback.
Until next time, happy writing, Scribblers!
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