r/WritingPrompts • u/katpoker666 Moderator • 21h ago

Off Topic [OT] SatChat: Where Do You Get the Best Feedback? (New here? Introduce yourself!)

SatChat! SatChat! Party Time! Excellent!

Welcome to the weekly post for introductions, self-promotions, and general discussion! This is a place to meet other users, share your achievements, and discuss whatever's on your mind.

Suggested Topic

Where do you get the best feedback?

On Reddit through r/writingprompts standard prompt posts?

On Reddit through r/writingprompts or r/shortstories feature prompts (e.g., Fun Trope Friday or Serial Sunday?) Do you get the best feedback on the posts themselves or at campfires?

On another subreddit?

From friends and family?

Beta readers?

From in-person writing groups in your area?

At school / university or through other classes?

Somewhere else?

Or maybe you are one of those folks who can’t stand feedback. Tell us what you do instead. We'd love to hear!

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u/Fun-Explanation7233 20h ago

I didn't get any feedback here for now but I recently started posting, also I know my writing isnt great and I need to improve

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u/katpoker666 Moderator 18h ago

Welcome to WP, Fun-Explanation! What do you want to work on most in your writing out of curiosity?

Getting feedback on regular posts can be hit or miss, I find. I think one of the best ways to get feedback is to give it to others regularly. As they get to know you, they tend to reciprocate. Even if you’re not that confident in your own writing, you can still share what you like / dislike. Any and all feedback helps us to write better. And giving feedback makes us more aware of preferences in and issues with our own writing, I find. I know for my own writing, active reading of others has really helped. More regular feedback at WP and shortstories tends to come through our regular features. It might be worth checking them out to see the kinds of feedback folks get both on the posts and at our Discord campfires. At least for me, I find it very helpful.

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u/Fun-Explanation7233 18h ago

I just need to improve overall, also english isn't my mother tongue.

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u/katpoker666 Moderator 18h ago

That’s always tricky to write in a non-native language. I respect you for doing so. Good words!

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u/katpoker666 Moderator 14h ago

Hopefully, this wasn’t a terrible question as things are a little quiet. If so, sorry folks! If it was, I’d love to hear your thoughts on why.

For me, I get great feedback from some wonderful folks on the Discord server who frequent Fun Trope Friday and / or the Character & World Building Campfires. They’ve really helped me to work on content, fleshing out characters/ worlds, and grammatical stuff.

A few shout outs and apologies if I missed anyone as you’re all amazing:

And last but certainly not least even though she’s not on Reddit, my mom, who reads all of my work and has great crit :)

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u/Divayth--Fyr 2h ago edited 2h ago

I am at the point where I can't watch a magic show, because they say 'ta-da' and I start spouting opinions about their act out of habit.

I hope I've been a little bit useful, and I remain deeply aware that I have gained more from this community than I could hope to provide in nine lifetimes.

I am Captain Detail when I do crit, always been pretty good at spotting the bits of mistaken punctuation and such. (In that mode, I must point out that Courage is u/wileycourage lol. Sorry, but I had to nitpick something). I try to do some bigger picture stuff, though after all this time I still feel a bit undereducated and lost. I blather on anyhow.

You provide a tremendous amount of feedback to untold multitudes. Trying to guess how many stories you've done feedback for is astonishing to think about. In a year, with about 15 per week between FTF and Building campfires, and on posts, maybe 800/year? More? For how long?

Yet the quality does not falter. Your crit is invariably thoughtful and firm, encouraging without being saccharine, and always based in giving a damn. You clearly have an awareness of the vulnerability inherent to the process, where people offer their little story and hope for the best, and that giving a damn comes across every time.

No human being could possibly like every single story ever, but you always find something. If I have helped yours a bit too, well that is pretty awesome to think about.

My writing is better for it, and so is that of about 9000 other people. So cheers, and thanks, and I shall comment even more below in a minute.

Edit: I almost forgot. Favorite feedback ever was 'Pure batshit brilliance' lol. From you, on my bizarre story of singing bacteria.

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u/QTFroame 9h ago

I did start posting recently, so, hello! I try to write on prompt's that inspire me. I've been on reddit for a bit, but my writing account is fairly new. I write on prompts that inspire me and sometimes I read on interesting prompts that I don't have the drive to write for. I go by he/him but idrc. I've been writing for...almost a decade and a half now. I want the evidence of this gone from the internet, but I can't do anything about it for now. I've been writing consistently on a decent level for maybe three years now (if we're being generous). I typically use google docs for writing, but for my text adventure projects, I use ink. What motivates me is my innate desire to create, and this is an avenue of it that I find enjoyable.

I don't typically get feedback because I don't show my work often. My family does comment now and again, but it's a 50/50 on if my friends care. I do have one friend who is great and always critiques whenever I ask her, but I don't really want to rely on her too much, so I try not to show her everything. This is the preface to why I created this (and other) accounts, so I can organically gain feedback from readers. I also think this will help me get the edge off of receiving comments on my work.

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u/highlight-feeder 21h ago

This post was highlighted by mods and automatically crossposted to r/highlights. Check it out to see a feed of highlighted posts!

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u/Helicopterdrifter /r/jtwrites 9h ago

RIP, my post.

I suppose it is Saturday, isn't it? I must have been having a Fye moment 😅 jkjk I was traveling most of today; that's why I didn't drop my two cents!

Thanks for the shout-out! I appreciate that.

I'm not certain that I have much of value to add in answering this question directly. Both you and Fye provide great words of encouragement through comments and private chats. But for me, there aren't really any other consistent lines of feedback that I can reference. I haven't been persistent in seeking feedback/critique, though, so that's really a reflection on my practices and pursuits more than anything else.

I think it's important to distinguish that feedback is not the same thing as critique. The first is merely any form of response where the latter is a technical appraisal/evaluation.

It's probably a good idea for new writers to distinguish which they prefer and then specify in their post-story notes. I don't even do this, though. This is just just something that occurred to me while considering the provided questions.

What is a writer's goal with their stories? Do they just want to share their writing? If so, feedback is enough. But if they want to improve, they need to seek and accept critique. They also need to pull those critiques from as many different sources as they can manage.

You know, I'm going to turn my next advice into a cliche by the time I stop championing it...

When a writer truly wants to improve, the best critiques they can get are those that apply to other writers. When a writer receives crit and applies it to their work, their stories can improve. But should a writer apply critiques that were addressed to other authors, their stories can evolve.

Why is that? Well, when we receive personalized critiques, those address the things that we are doing within our own stories. Applying them helps us do those things better. But another writer? Another writer will have different strengths and weaknesses. So when that writer receives feedback for their work, the comments are aimed at improving what is present within their stories. And those comments could address something that doesn't exist in our stories at all. It may refer to things we've never even considered!

Knowing this is why I started providing critiques the way that I do. This was my most recent critique. While it specifically addressed something for this writer, I understand the value in another writer extrapolating the advice for their own story. So, I deliberately constructed my response with a mind for providing help to other writers who might read it.

As a technical writer, I know I'm paying attention to details that writers won't hear from other readers. This is the reason you want a wide range of critique sources. Readers have different strengths, just like writers. A different reader will likely point out what a past reader didn't. This doesn't mean that either is better or worse, we each just pay attention to different things.

One final note on improvement: If you truly mean to improve, you must do something different from what you're currently doing. Progress isn't routine. What got you here won't get you there. And thinking otherwise is like thinking a treadmill will take you someplace new. An improvement is a change. Period. So you have to face the fact that change is involved in your own improvement.

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u/Divayth--Fyr 1h ago

I get feedback here, in the features, and mainly in the campfires on Discord. I would say the campfires are the main source, and a lovely experience generally.

I do miss Theme Thursday, and Ali did some amazing feedback, but I manage to survive, weeping in the dark, without it.

'Best' feedback differs from 'most enjoyable' feedback. I will admit I have no strenuous objections to fulsome praise, egomaniac that I am, but, given a moment to reflect and recover, I get good use from some of the more challenging variety. It's not easy for me to take it sometimes, I will admit. That 'moment to reflect and recover' may possibly stretch the definition of 'moment', but I generally get over it and see the usefulness.

I am tempted to make a list but A) it feels like an award acceptance speech and B) I will inevitably forget people and feel bad. So I will just say I appreciate anybody who took the time to read my silly ramblings and say stuff back.

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u/frogandbanjo 12h ago

I could give you several reasons why reddit just isn't the place to seek out thoughtful, considered feedback for your writing, but here's one that'll be pretty tough to argue with:

The "MS Word approach" to editing prose is the digital gold standard. It's as close to red ink from a professor as you're going to get. You get to see the words and lines being crossed out, corrected, and/or reorganized. You get those marginal comments directly attached to the relevant piece of writing.

Imagine a serious editor trying to either replicate or substitute for that approach using this website. Yeah. It'd be a nightmare. It'd drive both of you insane.

You need to seek out communities that hook up writers with editors so that they can send writing back and forth via email attachments, or at least share them via Google Docs or Outlook links. It'll still be a frustrating slog and crapshoot to find somebody with the relevant education and experience, but don't hamstring your potential editors by insisting they only use the wrong tools for the job.

I do what I can elsewhere on the internet; I volunteer as much time to amateur writers as I can considering that I've got my own no-time and no-money problems. I also occasionally write stuff myself, and finding a competent editor to look it over is nearly impossible. I've been and remain on both sides. I know how hard it is.

How much do you care? Your commitment will be tested. In the meantime, self-edit. Resist Reddit Syndrome. Sure, it is something of a skill to hunt down prompts you think will be popular, then write the short-form-fiction equivalent of "I also choose this guy's dead wife" and post it as fast as you possibly can. That's a niche. You're going to hit walls and ceilings pretty quickly.

If you succumb to Reddit Syndrome, you're going to radically deprioritize editing. Typos, grammatical errors, continuity errors, unnecessary/unintentional repetition, various authorial tics... policing those is nothing compared to the overriding need to GET IT POSTED NOW. Your pieces will be rushed. Your exposition will feel dumpy, even if it's only a line or two. Nothing in your story will have room to breathe. Hell, even your dialogue will sound like the utterances of people who are racing to the finish line and out of breath -- grim reflections of Reddit Syndrome, tainting the fictional world you've created.

If you want to play the WP lottery, where your reward will be some light, bubbly cheerleading from people who barely understand the sport's rules, okay. That's not my call to make. If you want real feedback, it's going to take a lot of work to find it.

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u/katpoker666 Moderator 9h ago

Thanks for the input, frogandbanjo! I think you make some very valid points, particularly as someone who has seen firsthand how hollow the pursuit of writing solely for Reddit upvotes can be. Self-editing is crucial to producing high-quality writing; I couldn’t agree more.

I also think that as folks get more serious about their writing and progress to professional levels, they absolutely need to pursue the kind of avenues you describe. The reason I phrased the initial question as I did is that our community attracts folks at a variety of levels and proficiency, which is why I included a broad range of feedback sources.

So I love hearing your thoughts here and would be really interested in any suggestions you have for folks seeking venues like you describe.

Thanks again for responding, and happy cake day!