Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Looking back at the feedback I've received, I think two kinds of comments have been most useful to me. First are the ones that tell me specifically what I've done well. I haven't really done any kind of creative writing since high school, so this is all pretty new to me, and I'm more or less learning as I go. Because I'm just kinda throwing stuff out there and seeing what sticks, it's really useful to have people telling me what parts of my writing work best so I can look through my stories and say "okay, this works, lets keep doing this" and just kinda have a continual process of building up my writing style, tacking on more and more stuff as I experiment and find what myself (and perhaps more importantly, other readers, do and don't like). Second are the comments that ask questions about the plots of the stories themselves. One of the most difficult parts of writing a story is making sure the reader sees it as you see it, something which is made pretty complex given that you are already predisposed to seeing the story the way it plays out in your head, even if they way you've written it doesn't necessarily convey that. When people ask questions about elements of the plot, it brings to light things I just kinda took for granted as obvious (because that's how I saw the story before I wrote it) and gets me thinking about how I could've better conveyed that information to the reader. More importantly than specifics, these questions key me into the general kinds of things I'm failing to convey--information I can use to make my future stories better.

Concerning the feedback I've been giving, I find it extremely difficult to be critical so instead I focus on two things: what the author did well and should keep doing, and things they could add to their stories to make them even better. I figure I will leave the criticism to people who are better at articulating it and focus on what I am good at. That, in my opinion, is the beauty of having such a large group of people commenting on each others' writing--not everyone is good at giving the same kinds of advice, but they don't have to be. If you're getting 3 or 4 comments on every story, you don't need each comment to say everything. One commenter can focus on what you did well, another can ask you questions, another can tell you what you could've done better, etc.

Next, when it comes to connecting with classmates via blog comments, I think it works pretty well, and I do feel I've somewhat gotten to know the classmates whose introductions I've read and who've commented on mine. There is, however, definitely an element missing that you don't get without real-time communication. I wonder if we could get a class GroupMe going, or maybe an optional Zoom meet-up?

Last but not least, the image. This one that I've chosen from the Feedback Infographics page is about being a good listener. It is specifically talking about conversation, but I felt the steps were also applicable to reading and commenting on stories.

Great Listeners. Source: Feedback Infographics