Friends and Family feedback

by Amanda Harvey
18th January 2014

I hand out my stories to friends and family and sometimes they all come back with different comments and suggestions. How do you edit with so many different comments all different?

Replies

I generally ask friends to point out any bits they didn't quite understand, which usually means something I have some knowledge of but they don't and I've not 'explained' it well enough in the narrative. There shouldn't really be any holes in the story at that point.

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Jonathan
Hopkins
6735 points
Practical publishing
Fiction
Historical
Adventure
The writing process
The publishing process
Self-Publishing
Jonathan Hopkins
18/01/2014

Most authors seek a confidence boost for their exhaustive efforts, but I advise you against asking friends or family for their opinions. They are unlikely to be harshly-rejecting. Also, are they familiar enough with the aspects of a novel to do an objective critique.

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Adrian
Sroka
19900 points
Ready to publish
Fiction
Historical
Middle Grade (Children's)
Young Adult (YA)
Adventure
Adrian Sroka
18/01/2014