From Edie: Receiving different advice from agents, editors, and mentors can be confusing. Learn how writers can discern which feedback to apply, protect their voice, and strengthen their manuscript without losing the heart of the story.
When Writing Advice Conflicts: How Writers Can Discern What to Change
by Cindy K. Sproles @CindyDevoted
A real advantage of attending a writing conference is that you are able to put yourself in front of professionals from well-seasoned published authors to agents, editors, and publishers. A conference will allow you to take advantage of paid critiques, mentoring, and coaching, even contests. These are all things that help the aspiring writer…but.
I always hated the “but” when my momma complimented my efforts. “But” can prove a bit daunting if you don’t understand how to discern the writing advice you receive.
When you have a paid critique, appointment with an agent, or other industry professional, it’s important to remember that though their advice is wonderful and useful, writing is subjective. The rules don’t change, but the advice, outside of the basics, is subjective.
For example, you may title a work one way, and an agent might suggest tweaking the title. They may even give you suggestions. Professionals may recommend adding more chapters or deleting some. All that information is great, but it is subjective. What one professional might say may be the opposite of what another says.
Now, it’s important you realize that this information is good. Rarely is it incorrect, but it is subjective. Keep in mind the basics don’t change. Pay close attention to their remarks on the basics, but on the overall work, one has to learn to discern.
A writer's style is their literary fingerprint, just as is their writing voice. These things are you on the page. This is what makes your work stand out. Once you fully understand the controllable ways you can connect words on the page, structure sentences, and even shape your tone, you have a grasp of your writing style. When you wrap your head around the attitude, personality, and perspective of your writing, you’ve taken hold of your voice.
New writers often struggle to find their voice and style primarily because they try too hard. But as quickly as they can find their voice and style, they can lose it without learning to discern professional advice.
You may say that I’m suggesting you should not listen to professionals. Absolutely not. Do listen to them, but learn to discern. It is not uncommon at a conference to meet with more than one agent or editor. Each one has their subjective opinion and their professional basic critique. Let me give you an example.
Early in my career, I wrote a fun chick lit story. My agent read it and loved it. It was filled with humor and fun. The story was simply meant to read and have fun. The plot was simple and a reader could soar mindlessly through it, giggling every here and there. My agent suggested I turn the novel into a YA story which meant rewriting. I did so.
Later, it was suggested by another professional that I change to more general fiction. That meant another rewrite. Then another suggestion, make it this and that. Before I knew it, I’d rewritten the novel four times, not counting the rewrites I did to create the story to begin with. By the time I’d finished the last rewrite, I’d lost the story. I couldn’t remember why and what I wanted the reader to experience. Hours of work were lost. To this day, the story still sits on my shelf, dead in the water.
I didn’t know how to discern professional advice. Instead, I took every suggestion as the next best step not understanding that after a bit, I’d lost the story, and worse—the love for it. Even now, I don’t care if I ever read through it again because I’ve lost the voice and style of the story, and I’ve lost the heart of it. There is no longer joy in this project for me.
No one taught me to discern. In other words, take the important parts of the advice that could apply to me and let the remainder go. Instead, I took every suggestion to heart and made the changes.
Your story is yours. It’s made from your imagination, but it is important to understand that sometimes you pull out important tidbits that grow the story, not make every change. As quickly as you find your style and voice on a project, it can go by the wayside. We work hard to create our story, not to take that vital information, process it, and then apply what improves our work. When you use the advice that applies to your story in a helpful way, you’ll see great improvement.
Learn the skill of discernment. Understand that you don’t have to take every suggestion as what is best for your work. You know the heart of your work best, and sometimes when professionals only have a few pages to read, their suggestions may not work fully throughout your manuscript. Remember, they only have a page or two to look over, and they can only make suggestions on what they see, not the manuscript in full, so learn to discern. Pick the advice that serves the full manuscript and don’t try to make every change that every person suggests. We never want to lose sight of the project, our voice, or our style in the piece.
Bottom line—listen. Absorb. Apply what fits. Hold tight to the story. Discernment is a valuable skill. Use it to your advantage.
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