creative writing

Let’s Talk: Receiving Feedback On Your Writing

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

So, you’ve posted a piece of writing (not necessarily creative writing, we’re talking about anything here) or submitted it for publication, and you get some feedback. Even if the piece is jaw-droppingly amazing, there’s probably still going to be some critiques in any feedback you receive. Today I’m going to give you a little overview of how to respond to feedback, how to get better at reacting to it, and how to actually take it into account. If you’re interested, keep on reading!

There are a couple different ways and places I receive feedback on my writing: comments on this blog, responses from literary magazines I submit my pieces to (Polyphony Lit specifically is an international teen lit mag that gives every submission 3 rounds of feedback sent back to the author), and just simply sharing my pieces with other people for peer review. I don’t get many comments on my work here on this blog, so I’m able to respond to every one that I get and think deeply about the feedback given. Most literary magazines/publications don’t give you too much feedback other than acceptance/rejection, but in the case of the ones that do, I try to comb through the feedback for points I may not have thought about before and am willing to actually rework and change in my piece.

As far as sharing my pieces with others for peer review, I’m very weird about sharing my writing (I made a post about this not too long ago) and I don’t do this as often as I should. I know it’s one of the most helpful things you can do to get feedback on your work in a more gentle manner, but I’m still working up the confidence to do so. I will actually be doing a lot of peer review very soon in the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference these coming weeks, and I will surely give an update on how that goes.

When someone provides you with feedback, no matter the case, make sure to thank them!! This is crucial because you want to show that you are gracious for their time in reading over your piece and telling you how to make it even better. Please do not get discouraged by a lot of criticism or negative-seeming feedback. It is all in your best interest to hear the perspectives of others and how they may have interpreted your work.

Another thing to consider is you don’t have to take all feedback into account when revising your piece. Definitely read it all, but if changes are suggested that would alter your piece in a way you’re not willing to or would take away from your intended meaning, then don’t make those changes. It’s completely okay to listen to parts of someone’s feedback and not all. That being said, if the source of the feedback is someone you trust and/or someone with a lot of writing experience and knowledge, you might reconsider ignoring what they say. I know it probably sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but I promise I’m not! This is just how it goes– as a writer, you’re probably already used to looking at everything from both sides and all the angles in between.

You may be wondering, how do I actually implement the changes suggested in the feedback I’ve gotten? I would first comb through all the feedback and highlight the points that you agree with most/want to rework in your piece. If these are more specific, I would just start attacking those parts of your piece and implementing a first round of change. If the feedback was more general, you could read through your piece and highlight portions that relate to what you’re trying to change. After you’ve done that throughout the whole piece, start working on those.

When you’re done with that first round of reworking, take a break. Come back and look at the piece later, and see if it reflects the changes suggested in the feedback and the changes you wanted to make. If so, pass it on somewhere else for feedback again. If not, go through another round of reworking yourself. Repeat. This is what I do, and it tends to move the revision process along pretty quick.

I hope this helped you with anything related to feedback on your writing! Please let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to leave some feedback on this piece 🙂 Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Pen Pal – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
putting pen to paper and spilling one's guts 
felt unnatural at first, with her tendency to 

pick up the phone to call her mother or run
to a friend down the hall. but something about

sitting down and writing relaxed her-- her 
shoulders stopped tensing and her posture

relaxed. you could just see it. what you couldn't 
see was her trying to assemble the pieces, put

together fragments of information from the letters
to stitch together a fabricated version of the person

behind them. she could only imagine their face,
their laugh, and their genuine reactions to 

her words if they were to have an in-person conversation.
can you send a picture of yourself? i'll send you one of me, 

she wrote. enclosed with the latest letter was a photo
of her, smiling on the beach with hair blowing 

in the wind. she would await a response patiently.

I hope you enjoyed this piece. I’ve never actually had a pen pal, but during quarantine one of my friends and I have been sending letters back and forth to each other. It’s been fun, especially when I see I’ve gotten a letter in the mail. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy out there!

Brooke

Odds and Evens – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
2, 4, 14, 24
numbers that mean something to me, 
most of them not for any particular reason

i prefer evens to odds-- i always have
and you're about as even as it gets

if i had to attach a number to you, it would
be 14. maybe that's part of the reason why
i was first drawn to you. i can't explain
why i have to quantify everything with 
numbers, i just do.

i find a number to describe everyone
it's a good thing you're even and not 
odd.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was something a little odd that just popped into my head, and although I don’t actually describe everything/people with numbers, I really do prefer even to odd numbers 🙂 Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Borrowed – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
yellow sheet on the ground
right next to the chinaberry tree
thrown aside in the heat of the moment
running away from history
sobbing and balled up on the ground
full off of nasty-looking, good tasting
catfish and fries
I couldn't breathe
so I laid there and waited

I hope you enjoyed this poem! The reason it’s so short is it was actually a little challenge using page 85 of Kiese Laymon’s Long Division. I took some portions of sentences from that page of the book and added in/edited a couple things to make this poem. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Valleys – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
the syllables get caught in my throat trying to 
slide off my tongue-- the word doesn't look
right when i type it out in a paper. 

v a l l e y s
forget these silly grammar rules of words ending in
Y and changing it to -ies

forget the word itself, forget the valleys (and the valleies)
where the heat traps itself in the air, where
the wind blows just a little bit harder

This was a short one, but I thought it was kinda fun since I focused in on a specific word. I technically live in a valley (valley is part of my city’s name!) so it’s just something I thought about using as the topic of a poem. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Picnic in the Park – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
a lazy afternoon, summertime starting to bloom
     a picnic basket holds down a checkered blanket
on the overgrown grass, shaded by an equally 
     overgrown oak tree. a middle-aged woman can

usually be seen complaining about the maintenance
     somewhere on the grounds. a slight breeze
blows by, leaving the leaves and weaker branches
     to sway in the air, almost suspended in 

movement for a few seconds each way. an attractive
     young couple opens the basket hungrily, to 
reveal sandwiches, fruits, and a bottle of champagne.
     the same middle-aged woman will pause her

complaining to lecture the couple on their 
    drinking in public, but they will laugh it off. they
pretend to stow the bottle away in the basket
    again until she leaves. the sun beats down on

your forehead. you continue to watch the
    couple enjoy their late lunch, as you are the
observer,
    like always

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was a fun one to write. I could honestly write tons of poems about the different scenes and people I observe while taking my daily walks around my neighborhood park. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Home – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
home is the place i have not yet traveled to, 
a place i hope to one day know

where i'm familiar and comfortable with
every inch of what i see, it being as much

a part of me as i am a part of it. home is not
a building, something contained to four walls

and a roof dangling over our heads. home is
a concept, a feeling, and an idea. 

you tell me your home is the mountains, 
where you can catch snowflakes on your tongue.

you're comforted by the isolation and nature
all around you, with white Christmases for the family.

i tell you my home is to be determined, possibly
in some far-off land, possibly with a tropical climate.

but you are also my home, so we will settle
into a cabin in the mountains, sledding down

hills and cuddling with cups of hot cocoa. home is
here, for now.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! As someone who wants to get out of her current suburban bubble after high school/college, I have no idea where I hope to call home later on in life. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

A Few Wishes Of Mine – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
horseback riding on the shoreline, waters
turning darker shades of blue as the sun goes down
and i'm left with the warm animal under me and
my thoughts of how beautiful life is

wandering with wanderlust across the globe,
from small towns along the Spanish coastline to 
climbing the Great Wall. on top of the world,
experiencing it all

nights out in the city talking to people i've never
met and people i'll never see again, a sticky 
warmth enveloping me in the darkness while
the occasional bright light shines my way

too many lives i want to live, too many places i 
want to see, and too many versions of myself
i want to be. one day i'll pack a bag, set out for
adventure, and see which one wins.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! There are so many things I would love to do in life and so many things that I hope to accomplish; it’s sometimes overwhelming, especially being young with most of my life ahead of me. For now, I’ll continue to daydream. 🙂 Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or if you have any writing challenges you’d like me to do in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

It’s Greener Now – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
fern green fields filled with lucky clovers await
ready to be rolled in and jumped on and matted down

by the stomping of young enthusiasm. the rain
came down and flooded through the dirt paths, but 

allowed for this growth of green beauty to take over. 
the hills roll on for miles, like words off my tongue

as i attempt to describe what i've just seen in this 
haven. it's impossible, so i bring you here to see for

yourself. my paradise becomes your paradise and we 
sit in the grass and talk and laugh because it's a place

out of a movie and we need to act accordingly.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It’s definitely not based off of my personal experiences, although it is greener in southern California compared to when we had the drought a few years ago. However, I absolutely love seeing greenery and I hope to move to a place that’s not as hot and very green someday. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Looking For A Way Out – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
i ask my friends, don't you ever want to leave this place? 
i'm alone in many ways, this opinion being one of them

from the outside it's a paradise, a beautiful town in a 
beautiful state that draws tourists and transplants alike

but from the inside (my insides) it's a toxic bubble filled
with people that refused to grow up and get out themselves

a hike in the hills, a dip in the pool, a trip to the beach;
experiences that i cherish but that don't change my mind

i long for more. not in the materialistic way, in the way that
i want to feed my soul. i seek new landscapes and new skies,

new roads and new signs on the sides, new grocery stores
and new people watching. i'll latch onto anything as a reason

to leave that's drawing me elsewhere. to where? i don't know.
anywhere sounds desirable when you're looking for a 
 
way out.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I feel like it sounds a little too cliché, but it comes from the heart. I literally grew up in my dad’s childhood home (my parents bought it from my grandparents but we’ve since moved) and neither of my parents has ever seriously lived anywhere that’s not in this county. I’m dying to experience new things and move onto new places, so I can’t wait for college, and I’m sure lots of other kids my age can relate. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke