hkblack:

Delivering Criticism: Balancing Honesty and Helpfulness

Something I’ve heard people say when I tell them to be a beta-reader is: “I’d like to beta-read more, but I’m afraid of offending people with criticism!” “I’m afraid of being mean!”

I get it. As hard as getting feedback is, giving feedback can oftentimes be as scary. But I’ve got some secrets for you.

First off, if someone didn’t want feedback on their writing—especially for fanfiction—they wouldn’t ask for a beta-reader. When someone asks for a beta-reader, they are expecting mistakes to be found in their work. And the biggest disservice you can do for them is ignore those mistakes in an effort to be “nice.” Second off, it’s not nice to lie to someone who has asked for honest feedback and tell them, “Your story is perfect, no errors!” when there are in fact places that they could’ve fixed.

After that, there’s four important things to keep in mind to make sure your feedback is honest and helpful, without being unnecessarily harsh.

1. De-personalize your comments
2. Balance Care and Candor
3. Alwaysfind something you like
4. Have Fun!

Let’s break these down!

Keep reading

Yes, this is soimportant. Beta-reading should be about the story/writing, not the writer.

And finding at least one good thing in the story can make the difference between building the person’s confidence because they know they did at least one thing right and it’s worth continuing, and them give up and stop writing altogether because what’s the use if there’s nothing worthy in there?

I don’t think beta-readers/editors always realize how much power they hold over the writer and how they can lift them up or crush them.

hkblack:

Delivering Criticism: Balancing Honesty and Helpfulness

Something I’ve heard people say when I tell them to be a beta-reader is: “I’d like to beta-read more, but I’m afraid of offending people with criticism!” “I’m afraid of being mean!”

I get it. As hard as getting feedback is, giving feedback can oftentimes be as scary. But I’ve got some secrets for you.

First off, if someone didn’t want feedback on their writing—especially for fanfiction—they wouldn’t ask for a beta-reader. When someone asks for a beta-reader, they are expecting mistakes to be found in their work. And the biggest disservice you can do for them is ignore those mistakes in an effort to be “nice.” Second off, it’s not nice to lie to someone who has asked for honest feedback and tell them, “Your story is perfect, no errors!” when there are in fact places that they could’ve fixed.

After that, there’s four important things to keep in mind to make sure your feedback is honest and helpful, without being unnecessarily harsh.

1. De-personalize your comments
2. Balance Care and Candor
3. Alwaysfind something you like
4. Have Fun!

Let’s break these down!

Keep reading

I found this very helpful. Not only for betaing, but also for giving concrit in general. Here one of the the main lessons is imo: only give it when being asked, but if so, be honest without being hurtful.