Best Practices for Getting Manuscript Feedback

In this episode of the Writing Momentum Podcast, hosts Chris and Gena discuss the best time to seek feedback on your manuscript. They address a common pitfall writers face by sharing an email from a listener who received conflicting advice on their first draft. The episode emphasizes the importance of completing your manuscript before seeking critique and explores how different writing and critiquing styles can affect feedback. The hosts offer practical tips on how to choose the right person for feedback and encourage listeners to finish their first draft to avoid creative paralysis. Tune in for valuable insights to keep your writing momentum going!

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• [00:00] Introduction: Who Should Give Feedback on Your Manuscript?
• [00:49] Reading the Listener’s Email
• [01:51] The Importance of Finishing Your First Draft
• [03:17] When to Share Your Manuscript
• [06:53] Choosing the Right Critique Partner
• [09:40] Chris’s Personal Experience with Feedback
• [11:08] Conclusion and Encouragement

LINKS:

• Liz Wilcox’s Email Marketing Membership at http://wmdeal.com/liz
• Get your FREE Move the Needle goal-setting for authors ebook at https://www.writingmomentum.com
• Write with us! Join Chris, Gena, and Rene each Wednesday at noon Central and let’s get our writing DONE! https://www.writingmoments.com

episode 119 transcription:

[00:00:00] Gena: Who's the best person to give you feedback on your manuscript? 

[00:00:03] Christopher: Let's dive into that.

[00:00:07] Christopher: Hello and welcome to the Writing Momentum Podcast. I'm Chris. I'm here with my lovely wife. 

[[00:00:13] Gena: Gena Maselli. 

[00:00:14] Christopher: Gena, so good to hear. Alright. This week, we have received an email that we had to share with you because it's really good. And, uh, I think it answers a very important question, doesn't it? 

[00:00:25] Gena: It does. And this is the scenario that this person lays out for us is very, I think it's a common 

[[00:00:32] Christopher: Yeah.

[[00:00:33] Gena: Scenario. And I also think it is a pitfall that we can probably help some people avoid. 

[00:00:38] Christopher: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is a pitfall that we have fallen into before. So we understand where this email is coming from and we are changing the names to protect the innocent. All right. So here's what the email says.

[[00:00:49] Christopher: It says, when I started my novel, I swore I would not show the draft to anyone. Of course I did. I showed bits to my spouse to see if the financial [[00:01:00] information was right and bits to other friends regarding the theme of the book. I felt great when I got amazing feedback. Then I got some that was not so amazing.

[00:01:09] Christopher: They might say, I'll change this part of the story or I don't see a connection here. And so yesterday a writing friend told me it wasn't working for them and that I needed to change one of the main relationships in the book. So now I'm paralyzed. This is a first draft. I told them I would make changes during the revision stage, but they said, you're making too much work for yourself.

[00:01:30] Christopher: And isn't that what we're supposed to do? Not try to write so close to the finished product the first time around? Oh, good question. 

[00:01:39] Gena: That is a great question. Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever given your work to someone too early? That's what I think. I think that this person, you have given your work out too early.

[00:01:50] Gena: You weren't ready for it because you know that Chris and I are big advocates of just finishing your manuscript. [[00:02:00] Finish your manuscript. Finish it first and then make those changes. And somebody might say that that is going to bring on more work for them. What would you say to that? 

[[00:02:11] Christopher: Well, I would say, yes, it probably will.

[00:02:14] Christopher: And that's okay though, because you will have finished the hardest portion of the manuscript, which is just getting the first draft done, right? That, that first draft creating something from nothing is the hardest thing to do when it comes to writing your manuscript. Editing is much easier because you have something to work with.

[00:02:35] Christopher: And if you stop in the middle of writing to start fixing things, it's just going to make it harder in the long run. And, you know, I think the argument could be made of when is it time to show your manuscript to someone, right, because, because anytime you show it you're gonna probably get some form of criticism, right?

[[00:02:53] Gena: Well, yes. 

[[00:02:54] Christopher: That you may or may not agree with. 

[00:02:55] Gena: And I think that's the thing too, is that we have to be prepared that [00:03:00] when we've written something, when it at is at that stage where we're ready for some critique or we're ready for some content editing, uh, that it's at that point that we give it out. We and and prepare ourselves for that editing and for that feedback.

[00:03:17] Christopher: Yeah, I don't know that I would suggest showing pretty much anything to anyone while you're still writing that first draft. Now, that's just me I know that people have people like to go sometimes to writing groups where they will critique ten pages at a time with each other. And that's kind of okay as long as, you know, if, if, if, for instance, you're only finished chapter one and then you want to share chapter one with a group and try to work out some things like that, that's kind of how a lot of, um, critique groups work.

[00:03:50] Christopher: That's one thing. But to be you know, 8, 10 chapters in on a 20 chapter fiction book, for instance, and then [00:04:00] show someone chapter one, you're just asking for something that's going to become completely unraveled. You know? 

[00:04:07] Gena: And that's it. When you're writing a book like this, you're, it's really like weaving a tapestry.

[00:04:12] Gena: And so when someone says, no, I don't really like this, the effects of that really can, Really, it creates like a run in a piece of fabric. It'll create a run that then you're trying to fix. I think it's much better to get it done and then be looking at that with the exception of if you're working with a coach.

[00:04:34] Gena: I do think that if you're working with a writing coach who's kind of helping you along the way, but here's the thing, you can be dialoguing about what's happening, 

[00:04:43] Christopher: and again, that's 

[00:04:44] Gena: why you're making the choices you're making. 

[00:04:46] Christopher: That's on a progression. when you're doing that, right? You're sharing one chapter at a time, and you're working your way forward in the book.

[00:04:52] Christopher: So that's different than working on your book yourself, and then when you're halfway done, [00:05:00] showing a piece of it to someone, because like we said, that's when things start to unravel, and it's not that they may not have good feedback. It's not that it may not be the right feedback, right? We don't know, because the book's not finished, but it's that what makes it wrong at that stage is that you're, you're, you're just not, it's not completed yet.

[[00:05:25] Christopher: And because of that, it could stop you from writing and then you may never complete it. 

[00:05:30] Gena: Yeah, that's the thing. What has happened to this person who wrote us this letter is the same way. She said, I'm paralyzed now. I don't know what to do. So we would say, go ahead and write the book, at least I would say this, write the book the way you want it written, the way you envision it.

[00:05:47] Gena: But then you'll go back before you hand it off to be edited. You're going to go back and read through it again. And you may see some of these, uh, areas that aren't coming together. Relationships in the book that aren't working, [00:06:00] characters that need to be fleshed out a little bit more. You're going to see that or, or you might see it then.

[00:06:05] Gena: And here's the thing is I think there's often that some of those questions may need a big rewrite. I'm not saying that that doesn't happen, but there are also times when sometimes changes can, can happen by changing a scene or by adding a scene or by even just little edits here and there that you kind of start weaving through.

[00:06:29] Gena: And all of a sudden it can bring a whole different facet to the book. So I think it's dangerous to get to a place and be like, Oh my gosh, they hate my characters. Well, you're not done with the book yet. And, and maybe they don't even understand who your characters are yet. Maybe you need to get all the way through the book, even for you to understand who your characters are, and then go back, and as you read through it, then come back and get to the place where you're giving it to someone.

[00:06:55] Christopher: Yeah, that's good. Now, when you're working with someone on your [00:07:00] book, in other words, when you're asking someone to actually critique it, you want to keep a few things in mind. First of all, are they, do they know the genre that you're writing in, right? Do they write in your genre or are they very familiar with it?

[00:07:17] Christopher: Because it's very easy for us all to give advice. But for instance, if I don't, write or read in the romance genre. I really don't want to be giving advice about how a romance genre book should work because I don't really understand it. So you need to find someone who works in the same genre or the advice may be completely off from what they're suggesting.

[00:07:43] Christopher: Second, what is their knowledge of actually building story, right? Is this someone who actually has finished books of their own? They know how stories work. Have they sold books? Are they an editor? Like what, what is it that they know? That's important because we all, we all have opinions, [00:08:00] right? But that doesn't mean that there's actually knowledgeable opinions.

[00:08:03] Christopher: So you want to make sure the person actually knows what they're talking about. And then third, what is their style of writing? In other words, I am a plotter. I love to plot books very detailed as I write them. 

[[00:08:20] Gena: Before you write them. 

[[00:08:21] Christopher: Before I write them. Our friend Rene is a pantser. She likes to not plot hardly at all.

[[00:08:27] Christopher: She likes to write as she goes. Gena, you are somewhere in between, I think. 

[00:08:32] Gena: I'm a hybrid. 

[00:08:33] Christopher: Right, she's a hybrid. So, for someone who's a pantser to be giving advice to a plotter, not that they shouldn't, but it it makes it a little more difficult because they're going to approach writing in a different way than a plotter would approach writing and vice versa, right?

[00:08:53] Christopher: It's not that the, the advice won't overall work. They might, you might be able to look at the story on whether you're either and say, Oh, this [00:09:00] character's plot isn't working for instance. 

[00:09:02] Christopher: But as far as someone telling you how to write your book, because that's often what happens in critique groups or one on one someone will say, Hey, you should do this.

[00:09:13] Christopher: You should do this. You should do that. That may be fine, but not if they don't write the way you do. You kind of have to do you, right? You do you, write the way you would write the book. And then once it's done, then you can go back and fix a lot of that. 

[00:09:27] Gena: Well, and Chris, you've had the experience of, you know, we say that someone gives feedback and we've all had experiences.

[00:09:34] Gena: If we've, I think if you've written anything, any of us have written anything, we have had moments where the feedback we receive changes depending on who's giving it. 

[[00:09:44] Gena: And you have had experience. You, we were talking about this before we went live today or before we started talking and you were sharing about an experience you had with this as well.

[00:09:54] Christopher: I had finished a manuscript when I was going through my master's program and I was getting a master's [00:10:00] for writing and I was written a children's manuscript for middle graders. And I did wait until I finished the book. As I was going through the program, I shared it chapter by chapter with my advisors.

[00:10:10] Christopher: But then I finished the last half of the book after I was out of the program. And so then I thought, okay, now I want to share the whole book with some people. So I had three people that I really trusted in the program that, uh, wrote in my genre, kind of understood what I was writing cause they'd already read portions of it.

[00:10:27] Christopher: And I asked each one of them if they would give me feedback. And so I sent the manuscript to all three and was pleasantly surprised with how great a feedback they all gave me. But here's what I want you to hear from this. The feedback from each one of them, while there were some things that were in common, a good portion of what each of them wrote back to me was completely different.

[00:10:49] Christopher: Different scenes rung out to different ones of them. It resonated with them. And so some of them might've read one scene and said, this is wonderful. And another one read it and said, I don't get [00:11:00] this. And so you have to, again, realize that people may or may not follow it and it's okay. It's just people are going to approach it different.

[00:11:10] Christopher: And so just kind of know who you're asking to critique your work. 

[[00:11:13] Gena: Yeah, absolutely. Well, we hope that you have enjoyed this podcast today. Um, we hope that you are encouraged to finish your book, go ahead and get it done and, uh, then be looking for who would be the best fit to give you the feedback on it.

[00:11:30] Gena: And, and also be prepared for the things in your book that you do need to fix. I mean, we're not saying that you're not ever going to need to fix something, you are, we all do. There are things that we think we understand or we think we've communicated and the person reading it says yeah, I didn't get that.

[00:11:48] Gena: You've never had that, have you? 

[00:11:50] Christopher: That happens all the time still today. Right. And so that's, that's all right. It's all part of the process. And yeah, don't, don't feel like you have to take things like this too personal because it's all part of the [00:12:00] process. But that's where, again, it's always easier if you've got the rough draft done because then it's easier not to quite take it as personally because at least you know that now I can rework portions instead of, man, what I'm working on isn't working.

[00:12:14] Gena: Yeah. So we hope that if you have enjoyed this podcast that you will rate it, that you will leave us a review. It doesn't have to be a super long one, but we'd love to hear your honest review of this podcast. And that what was the other thing, Chris, we want them to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the podcast.

[00:12:33] Gena: So you never miss one and share it with a friend. If you know someone who is struggling in their story, maybe they've received feedback that has left them just paralyzed. Share this with them so hopefully we can encourage them. 

[00:12:47] Christopher: Yes, and hey, if you'd like someone to write with, we like to write with other writers every single week.

[00:12:52] Christopher: We do so on Wednesdays at noon central time, and we'd love to have you join us. Go to writingmomentum. com and join our [00:13:00] writing group and let's write together. 

[00:13:02] Gena: That's right. 

[00:13:03] Christopher: Until next time, don't forget that it is together 

[[00:13:06] Gena: that we have writing momentum. 

[[00:13:08] Christopher: Bye bye.