Breaking Bad

Cracking the code on negative feedback

In this blog, I’m going to show you how to crack the code on negative feedback. It’s not hard, there are no equations or algorithms involved. All it takes is a little common sense and an open mind. Ask yourself these questions after reading any feedback:

• Is the feedback helpful? In a review of Whispers at Wongan Creek, a reviewer commented: “Somehow this read a bit too much like mills and boons to me; just couldn’t get absorbed into the story and abandoned it.“ Was this helpful to me as the writer? Yes! It tells me that a) the reader recognised it as a romance, b) I nailed it genre-wise, c) this reader is not my target market. The book was listed as a rural romance in the romance category, so I’m not sure what this reader was expecting.
• Has more than one reader said the same thing? This can apply to critique partners, editors, reviewers or competition judges. The rule of thumb I use is that if 2 out of 3 readers say the same thing, I need to consider an edit. In Montana Daughter, a few readers picked up repetition in the story. “There were parts of the romance that seemed a little forced and contrived, maybe even too cheesy that messed with the chemistry for me. I felt like I read certain explanations more than once which didn’t help ingratiate the characters to me as a couple.” After the four rounds of edits and the complete rewrite this book went through, I was mortified to find that the reviewer was right, and that is a good lesson in why you should have a fresh set of eyes on your final draft.
• Can I take the risk? Editors aren’t always right, but what you need to figure out is if it’s worth the risk not to take their advice. Even if you disagree with their comments, remain the professional. In this example where the protagonist is looking to rent the antagonist’s studio apartment, he says: “That’s no problem. I’ll take you down to the barn and you can choose furniture for the studio. Then I’ll see if Mason is free to help me move it across .” My editor came back with the comment: “The women are right there. Why don’t they help do it? Gendered. It’s a cultural conversation in play and some readers these days might be more inclined to question the gender stereotyping.” Could I take the risk, ignore the feedback and lose a reader? Or would it be more sensible to swallow my pride and simply reword it?
• Is this reader my target market? “Not for me… Couldn’t be bothered with it. Far too overly dramatic about nothing for my taste – read about 40 pages and quit it.” This review of Home to Bindarra Creek says it all. Can I do anything with this feedback? Yes, it tells me there is nothing wrong with the book, the plot, or the writing. This book was simply not the kind of book the reader was looking to read.

Once upon a time I knew an emerging author whose lead characters would throw themselves willy-nilly into danger. While trying to create proactive characters, the author overlooked their strengths and highlighted their weaknesses instead. This unconsciously became a common thread in the books and, unfortunately, this reviewer had a good point:

“The lead character frustrated the ever loving heck out of me. I started off liking her, I really, really did. I thought she was cute, if rather naive and somewhat innocent, and then she got annoying. She turned into one of those typical heroines in horror movies where you tell them “do not go into the haunted house alone”, so what does she do? She goes into the haunted house alone, repeatedly, and then needs to be rescued, repeatedly, and puts the investigation the guys are there for in jeopardy, repeatedly. It’s like she was a perfectly sensible girl, and then the hero comes along, and BAM! suddenly all her brains leak out of her head. In her own way, she thinks she is helping but instead she makes a big muddle of things and then not only does she not help the investigation, she goes off and gets herself in a situation where she is the one who needs rescuing and all efforts end up being focused on that instead. Sheesh, she drove me bananas. I even vented my frustrations on Goodreads.”

Not exactly the kind of review you want, right? And you absolutely don’t want a reader venting their frustrations on social media or book blogs. But this is a good review to learn from. Perfect timing, strong characterisation, good plot structure – these are the key to an engaging read. There is a place for action, a spot for humour, and always room for a cuddle or two in a book. The important thing is to know where they belong and that the timing for delivery fits. Fortunately, the author took the feedback onboard and made the changes. Because they were so close to their plot, they couldn’t see the weakness in the lead character’s behaviour. The second edition of the book produced much more rounded, sensible, proactive and loveable characters.