Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Feedback is a bittersweet thing, at least to me. On one hand, I dislike criticism, but on the other, I know that to improve, I need different viewpoints. And the latter usually outweighs the former, unless the feedback isn't constructive at all. Sometimes (and I'm guilty of this too..) people are just commenting something random to fulfill the assignment checklist and I can tell they didn't really read the entire story. For example, someone would comment on a specific part of the story about how something could be explained more, but I explicitly stated the explanation further along in the story. In general, though, I like to hear feedback about what I could change to make things more clear for the reader - explaining some story element further, more character development, possible changes, etc.

As I read others' works, I'm inspired to make changes to my own work and feedback as well. Some feedback I receive is really good, and I am able to then use it to evaluate others' stories. It's the whetstone of writing. Like this computer cat says:

(cheezburger cat)
Then incorporate and improve based on those patterns. 

One thing I think could use improvement is the interaction between writer and reader on the blogs. On most blog comments I see, it's usually a one-sided interaction, where the reader provides feedback/asks questions, but then is just left hanging with no response from the writer. I feel like this disconnects the two because the author seemingly doesn't even read the feedback (I'm sure they do!). I need to work on this more myself.

Comments

  1. CSimonton15April 1, 2019 at 3:11 AM

    Criticism sucks, but it is a necessary evil. It's a great way to see how other people are reading your stories. We all know that sometimes when we write we don't get exactly what we pictured in our minds into words, so seeing others point out where they were confused or mislead helps us to also see where our stories or posts may fall short. I also agree and wish that there was more interaction. Right now I read comments but don't feel the need to reply to many of them...

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