Anne Skyvington
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Anne Skyvington

The Craft of Writing

  • Writing
    • Craft
      • Structuring a Short Story
      • Alternative Narrative Approaches
      • Genre in Writing
      • A Grain of Folly
        • Novel Writing
          • The Sea Voyage: a metaphor
          • How I Created My Debut Novel
          • What I learnt from writing a novel…
          • Short Story
            • At the Swimming Pool
            • The Night of the Barricades
          • Poetry
            • a funny thing happened …
            • An ancient mystic: Rumi
            • A Window into Poetry
            • The Voice of T.S. Eliot
  • Publishing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
  • Book Reviews
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • Discovering Karrana
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • The Trouble With Flying: A Review
  • Mythos
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Births Deaths and Marriages
    • Duality or Onenness: The Moon
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Pandora’s Box
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • Symbolism of Twins
    • The Agony and the Ecstasy of Change
    • Voices From the Past
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
    • Moree and Insistent Voices
    • Things To Do in Sydney
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    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
    • Back to Cavtat in Croatia
    • Travel to Croatia
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
  • Guest Post
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Psychology
    • Creativity and Mental Illness
    • Networking and Emotional Intelligence
    • C.G.Jung’s Active Imagination and the Dead
    • Psychology as a Field of Study
    • Western Influencers Down Through The Ages
  • Life Stories
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Candidly Yours…
    • Memoir Writing
    • River Girl: An Early Chapter of my Memoir in Progress
Writing

Giving and Receiving Feedback in a Writers’ Group

written by Anne Skyvington May 19, 2014
a-gaggle-of-geese

Establishing Parameters and Guidelines

One of the main benefits of joining a writers group is to receive feedback on your writing. We’d been talking a lot about giving and receiving valid feedback in our writers group, especially in the early days of establishing the group.
Because we were a mixed group, and not focused on one genre, the task of critiquing one another’s work was complex. Obviously, it would have been easier if we were all writing in the same genre, e.g. Creative Nonfiction, Romance Writing, or Crime Fiction. We could then have focused more narrowly on the aspects to do with good writing within that genre.
But as we were a mixed bunch, we had to consider one another’s creative goals,  before we launched into feedback.
Most of us were aware of the sensitive nature of giving criticism, especially in a large group, and we felt that it was right and proper to tread carefully, or at least to be well-informed when critiquing.

During the early weeks, we started developing a list of points to help us improve our skills in this area.

bondi-icebergs

Guidelines from the Bondi Writers’ Group

Suggested Guidelines for Giving Feedback

1.   As an editor of others’ work, it is important, ideally, to be widely read.

2.   Take into account the basic issues of narrative structure, characterisation, evocative and atmospheric language, vivid settings, scenes creation, and believable dialogue, relevant to all types of good creative writing.

3.   Take on the task of critiquing with a positive and helpful intention; read carefully, trying to understand the writer’s purpose and creative goal; consider the genre, the narrator’s point of view, and the voice.

4.   It is better not to offer criticism if you do not like the genre or style of writing under consideration.

5.   Is the emphasis more on character, experimentation with language, psychological/philosophical issues or story?

6.   Remember that some people may be highly sensitive in relation to some pieces on offer. This is especially true for new writers, or those who have not offered their work for feedback before.

7.   Think carefully about what is not working for you, and what is working, before you offer criticism. Give the positives first and say why. Give the negatives next, and say why it doesn’t work for you, and how you think it could be made better.

8.   Be truthful in your criticism. The writer needs guidance, not niceties.

 Some Guidelines for Accepting Feedback

1. Be prepared to accept negative feedback, especially if 2 or more members agree on it.

2.  If possible, look on your work as a “product” after it is “out there.”

3.  Look on feedback as a valuable means of improving your writing.

4.  Rewrite your work in accordance with the feedback received, and see if it is better.

5.  Remember that all writers have received negative feedback at times.

6.  One suggestion is not to show your work until you feel confident about doing so.

7.  A sure sign that you can write is that you keep going after knockbacks.

8.  Ask for suggestions on how to improve your work from the group.

Giving and Receiving Feedback in a Writers’ Group was last modified: August 16th, 2017 by Anne Skyvington
consider genre POV and voicediscuss the positives first before the negativesimportant aspects of good writingthe importance of a positive intentionthe importance of looking on your work as a productwhat is the emphasis of the story?you should be widely read in order to critique
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Anne Skyvington

I have been a reader/writer all of my life as far back as I can remember. Blogging has opened me up to another world, where I can share my skills and continue to create through word and picture. Writing is about seeing the world and recreating it for others to see through different eyes.

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8 comments

Kerry Lown Whalen May 26, 2014 at 3:51 pm

The guidelines provided for both giving and receiving criticism are useful. I’m not sure whether criticism should be withheld if one does not like or read a particular genre. Most writers/readers can distance themselves from the subject matter and offer valuable suggestions for improving style or word choice irrespective of the genre.
I can think of a particular writer who brought her work to the group each week for criticism. She was re-writing Genesis as a love story. The names, places and events were foreign to me, and yet I was swept along by the story and inspired by it. She also wrote horror stories and science fiction, neither of which I read. This writer was dyslexic and appreciated the way I could re-cast her sentences to clarifiy meaning and to swap paragraphs around for greater emphasis.
Often we know whether the recipient of criticism will be able to accept it. Sometimes suggestions
can be made in writing on the piece of work rather than orally. This gives the writer an opportunity
to go home and think about the criticism made by the group. She can then read the written
suggestions and act on them if she feels inclined.
Criticism can be excoriating, especially if it is made by someone lacking empathy. Tact and
kindness should be foremost in a critic’s mind.

Reply
Anne Skyvington May 28, 2014 at 9:02 am

Thanks for the comment, Kerry. Always great to hear from you. Anne

Reply
Anne Skyvington May 30, 2014 at 8:49 pm

Hi Kerry
I think I replied to this, but as I can’t see it, I’m replying again. Thanks for your feedback. It’s great to have input from other writing groups.

Reply
Kay Dunne May 26, 2014 at 7:32 pm

Thanks Anne for the guidelines. I particularly like points 2 and 3 in ‘Giving Criticism’, which provide some guidance to what to look for. Great also to have guidelines for receiving feedback, which is less often considered.
Caution is a good idea, if you don’t like or don’t read a particular genre. Perhaps it’s a matter of making this clear before offering feedback.
Something I’ve found useful, which can get around some of the sensitivities, is for the writer to indicate what stage the writing is at, e.g., first draft, and/or what aspects she/he would like the ‘critiquers’ to focus on.

Reply
Anne Skyvington May 28, 2014 at 9:01 am

Thanks Kay for the comments. All the way from your writing course in Dublin! Do hop;e it’s all going well. Looking forward to reading your novel soon. Anne

Reply
Susan Skyvington May 28, 2014 at 11:15 am

Good read, thank you. Kindle is the best for e(zy)reading, I believe, though they have such strong ownership of all your purchases. And small being beautiful, the new Kindle Paperwhite weighs only 220 grams. This site is a bit of a stretch for me as it requires one to log in – ie. to remember a password, and one has to remember so many of them!

Susan S

Reply
Anne Skyvington May 28, 2014 at 1:17 pm

Thanks Susan. Your input re Kindle is welcome. Anne

Reply
dinadavis2013 May 30, 2014 at 3:44 pm

Thanks, Anne, for posting these guidelines, which we’ve both worked on and modified over the years. It’s important to remember that we’re critiqueing the work, not the person who wrote it. If anything in the author’s work is distressing, and you are unable to detach from it, it’s best to withhold criticism while recognising the power of the writer to arouse such feelings.

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Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

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