Over the last two weeks, we discussed How To Review a Book, and How To Be a Great Beta Reader.

Let’s chat about handling negative feedback today. This can be in the form of a poor review or comments from beta readers.

Now, we’re all human here. There will always be that bit of feedback that shreds your soul. That moment when someone says they don’t like the story, or when you get your first one-star review.

It happens and it sucks.

But writers (and all creatives) work in a subjective field, which means opinions everywhere. If we’re going to survive, we must learn how to navigate those opinions.

Know the difference.

If I’ve said this a thousand times, please bear with me, but there’s a difference between critique and criticism. The most important thing a writer can do is learn to spot the difference.

* Criticism

Criticism is given to show disapproval.

People who criticise bring you down to show their superiority OR believe their severe honesty and the brutal dissection of your story’s faults will help you. The latter group means well, though their feedback is more likely to crush someone’s creative dream than uplift it.

Criticism sounds like:

• This book is horrible and no one should read it.
• This author is horrible, and no one should support them.
• I want the hours of my life spent reading this pile of sh*t back!
• The characters/plot/romance/world sucks.
• I would have done it this way.
• You should have done it this way.
• You’re a terrible writer.

* Critique

Critique is given to help someone improve, and is almost always accompanied by suggestions.

Yes, mistakes and problems with the story will be highlighted. Yes, you might still feel like crap when you get that feedback. BUT the person who offers critique truly wants to help you.

Critique sounds like:

• I didn’t really understand Annie’s motivation for running away. Maybe it would be a good idea to elaborate on the events that led her there.
• The narrator keeps telling us Joe is his best friend, but never really acts as if he’s Joe’s friend at all. I’d suggest adding scenes where they interact as bros, so it’s more believable.
• The romantic plot was so sweet that it didn’t fit the otherwise dark tone of the novel. What if the sweetness was toned down a bit? I think it would seem less out of place.
• I think…
• I suggest…
• I loved…
• I hated…
• I didn’t like…
• In my opinion…

Sometimes, the critique will come without a suggestion. A beta reader might notice something off—a feeling. They might find a passage they have to reread multiple times, dislike a character but can’t pinpoint why, etc. They’ll know there’s something wrong, but don’t know how to put it into words.

Then your critique might be delivered in questions or sound like:

• I didn’t connect with Marie. She seems nice enough, but I feel like there was something missing. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong.
• Why didn’t they just destroy the cursed object? They were right there!
• I really struggled with chapter five.
• I don’t understand the magic system.
• Can you explain the technology to me?
• It took me forever to realise Luke is actually half-robot.
• I felt unsure about the world. I can’t picture it clearly.
• Why did Helen lay down her sword? I don’t get it.

* Good feedback or troll?

Beta readers

You can often tell if someone is out to get you or trying to help you by how they phrase their feedback.

Some people reckon beta reading translates to ‘find fault’. They’ll criticise everything, see mistakes where there are none, and send you feedback that makes no sense other than to break your heart.

If the feedback sounds like ‘this, this, and that is wrong,’ ‘I would’ve done it this way,’ or ‘dude, you suck,’ don’t work with this person. They do not spark joy.

If a beta reader says, ‘hey, I see the potential here, but I think you can make it even better,’ they have your best interests at heart. Keep the people who challenge your thought process and help you pluck at the tapestry of your plot without calling you an idiot.

Reviews

In terms of reviewers, you can usually tell which ones are trolls by looking at their review history. If every review they give is a cutting 1-star, ignore them. If their usual rating is 3 stars or higher but they give a book a single star, they didn’t give that rating to be mean.

Readers who tend to give only 5 stars are the happy-go-lucky souls of the universe who will also be the wind beneath your wings. Cherish those reviews, write them in a journal and reread them when you need motivation.

The 3- and 4-star givers are usually the reviewers who have put the most thought into their reviews. They highlight what they love and dislike, and their feedback is gold. You can learn a lot from a reader who cares enough to try and help the author in any small way.

Develop the skill

While I studied art, we were often critiqued by other students. As someone who’s had to deal with feedback up the wazoo even before I took up writing, I can confidently state that dealing with critique is a skill.

As a writer, we must spend many skill points on critique-handling. Here’s why.

* Writers will be critiqued often

We’ll be beta-read, edited, proofread, and reviewed. And, guess what—the people doing the beta reading, editing, proofreading, and reviewing have diverse opinions.

I think The Lord of the Rings is epic, but you might loathe it (what is wrong with you? 😉). If people can’t agree over coffee or tea, cats or dogs, and pirates or ninjas, they won’t agree about loving or hating your book.

In the Internet Age, everyone has an opinion, and we can voice those opinions anonymously. Repercussions? No, ma’am, on the internet, people can say what they want, when they want to say it. People who are nice in person might use the facelessness of the internet to troll or harass.

A writer won’t survive without a thick skin.

* Critique is an important tool

We’ll find truths and inspirations in the critique we receive. Sometimes, that aha moment comes from someone else. We might discover nuances in our characters and the world we’d never imagined, or be inspired to write a plot twist nobody could predict because our beta reader made a throwaway comment.

Good, solid critique will help plug plot holes, write well-rounded characters, or knock the sequel out of the park with all we’ve learned from reviews. That’s what we all want, right?

* Critique will improve our writing if we let it

As an extension of the idea above, learning how to handle critique early on has a noticeable impact on future writing. People will see an improvement from draft to draft or book to book and will comment on it.

When we learn from our mistakes, there will be fewer mistakes in other writing projects, which means fewer rewrites or revisions. There’s something extremely satisfying about opening editor’s notes and finding pages without any red ink.

* How we handle critique will impact how people perceive us

This is probably the most important thing of all. Yes, we’re free to vent about that bad review to someone we trust—but don’t vent online. Everything we put online is a part of our author brand/persona, and we will be judged on every interaction we upload to cyberspace.

If we’re going to be that author who comments harshly on every remotely negative review/feedback of our novel, we will scare off prospective readers and attract trolls. Or, in the case of a beta, that person will either be mysteriously unavailable to ever read anything for us again or turn into a yes-person.

The majority of our readers will never write a review, but many non-reviewers still hang around sites like Goodreads to read the reviews left by others. When they see we’ve written multiple comments explaining why the reviewers are wrong or just plain trolling them, the prospective reader will likely click away and never give our novel another thought. Except maybe to tell a friend not to read that book because the author is a brat.

Reviews are opinions and people don’t like the same things. Authors also don’t like all the books in all the genres. To publically throw a tantrum about a bad review won’t do us any favours.

The way a writer handles critique shows how serious we are about writing. It’s also a good indicator of where we are on our writing journey.

Writers who complain the hardest about feedback are usually newbies or those who ultimately fade away. Meanwhile, writers who buckle down and learn to handle critique are the ones who learn, work hard, and write progressively better.

We’ll continue this topic next week, when we’ll chat about how to implement feedback. See you again then!

What’s been some of the best and worst feedback you’ve ever received? Let’s chat in the comments.

Until next time.

Yolandie