Constructive Criticism Makes You a Better Writer & Human Being

Egos aside, who doesn't love a five star review on their work. Depending on the context, such reviews can either be helpful, or they can rightly downgrading, depending on what was said in such reviews. Earning a Top Story award on Vocal Media (and appropriately enough; speaking of things being in fives rather than threes); it has been fifth time successful for yours truly in that regard. Moreover, I digress. Successful outcomes as a by-product of your writing work; from winning a Top Story award on Vocal Media, to achieving yet another payout on Stripe, and even gaining new subscribers out of the blue; would such milestones in producing such quality workmanship be the keys towards being open to some constructive criticism/feedback on your work the majority (if not all) of the time? Absolutely.

No matter as to whether or not it is your first day (and if so, welcome), five years, 15, 25 or 50 years of being a writer (freelance or otherwise); success lies in being more than ok with being the recipient of some timely and totally appropriate feedback.

It is common (and rightly so) to ask for feedback on your writing work in areas of weakness. That is right, fiction writing, I am personally speaking to you. It is interesting to know that constructive feedback from your written work can come in a myriad of forms, and therefore is not limited to the following:

• Free advice (free, because you did not ask) from a helpful and well- meaning editor. Even from a mentor, who is also a few steps ahead of you.
• Comments from your readers. I am speaking to you, dear reader, because you honestly care about writers on this platform deep down. If you did not give two hoots about us writers on the platform, then you would not invest a few minutes of your precious time in reading our work. (In basic economics, there has to be a suitable supply for every demand.) If you are suggesting any area/s of improvement in your comments; then a smart writer would listen to them. Listening in this sense involves the writer reading, and then applying those recommendations to improve their work.
• Self reflection. Let me explain. Upon reviewing my Vocal Media account, I realised that there is an article about traveling interstate in the Journal community. For the life of me, it beats me as to why I ended up selecting that category for a travel piece, when the Journal category on Vocal Media is reserved for work and career related content only. On the do list to fix ASAP, and rightly so.

Constructive criticism is not to be seen as a personal attack on the recipient. If you have studied business or commerce at University (college in America), you might be aware of the sandwich approach to providing constructive feedback to someone (aka. a fellow stakeholder). This approach means that you open up with something that you the writer in question is doing right. No prizes for guessing what happens next. That's right, the filling (in other words the meat and potatoes) is the actual constructive criticism in all its glory. This is where the giver of the critique in question explains the problem/challenge, and how that can be improved upon. In other words, that person provides a possible solution to help that person improve, and hence become a better writer. Then the base of the sandwich closes off with some more praise. If not some encouragement.

For example, what an editor would say to a writer:

" Hi (writer first name) thank you for your article submission. I like the headline/article title that you have suggested, as it is rich in relevant keywords. This means that your article will be optimised in search engines, which is great, because you are likely to earn more money, as more and more readers will be able to find your work. On the other hand, the article was filled with spelling and grammatical errors that I have had to correct. I suggest you please proofread your work before submitting for publication. If you do that already, then I suggest you please check it twice. Once again, thank you for your submission, and you are well on the way to becoming a really good writer."

The above comment is a true recollection of my time as an editor in the past. That is not a joke. The score out of 10 that I had to give this writer would also be classed as constructive feedback, but more of a quantitative nature, while the written feedback/constructive critique above is more qualitative. This occurred because the time I spent correcting the writers spelling and grammar mistakes actually costed me a golden opportunity, even though I appreciate that at the end of the day we are all human, and sure thing, we do make mistakes and errors. Why? In saying this, I could have easily written another feature article in that time, where I would have earned more in CPM income. Just saying. Hence the power of constructive criticism.

With my main business, I am in a field of work (still at junior level) where constructive criticism literally comes 'as part of the territory' beyond just a standard job interview on such. It is relentless and constant, with a mix of asking and not asking for such critiques to be sent my way.

Furthermore, as a result of being in the process of changing specialties in the IT profession from UX Design to Data Analytics; it just goes to show that the more uncertain your career is; the more adept you need to be in accepting boatloads of constructive criticism; no different to how (say) a telemarketer would have to deal with copious amounts of rejection on a daily basis. Critiques are (of course) provided on incorrect answers in examinations, and when deciding on the right graphical representations of data in the data vizualizations phase (to tell the right story). This is part of the recruitment process for such a role, and good employers will put such tests in, to see how well you respond to constructive criticism (or otherwise) without getting defensive.

People want to help other people, and therefore us humans would generally not offer critiques to others unless they directly ask for it; or will withhold such voluntarily if it will not be beneficial to the recipient at that point in time. Not everyone is ready to receive constructive feedback at the best of times. Being agile and resilient is trumps for your career. Such qualities in an individual means that not only are they comfortable with asking for help if they are unsure of something; they are also ok with uncertainty, and most of all, being open to constructive feedback, even if they are words that might be painful to hear at the onset.

Another example. Yours truly is also a part-time paid research academic (on a stipend) at a University in Sydney, Australia (where I live) that is ranked among the top 20 of all Universities in the world. Part of this research may involve using a lancet to take a few blood samples in a laboratory setting. My supervisor recently suggested I soak the relevant fingers in warm water for longer than I have been doing, so to minimize prick marks, and hence to speed up the healing process of such. It is a win/win. For me. For the client. For my superiors. For the University, and for those who will ultimately benefit from such research findings.

On that, I know that my fiction writing work is quite weak. Please refer to the link on such articles here. I appreciate my courage in submitting these articles on the Vocal Media platform; yet some feedback would be most greatly appreciated in the comments section in this article. Let's apply this, so that we can all become better, both at giving, and at receiving constructive feedback. Thank you in advance.

Case in point yet again: Vocal Media is a platform that is continually evolving and adapting to the needs of its users/stakeholders - that is their readers and writers.

If Vocal Media did not listen to those constructive words through various communication mediums; then we all would be missing out.