"Why It's So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback" by Tim Herrera of the NY Times and "Make Good Art" - which is advice by Neil Gaiman on feedback in the creative world.
Reflecting on both of these calls me back to an art class I took my sophomore year at OU, which has been to this day one of my favorite classes with one of my favorite professors. And the reason for that might seem strange: I loved that class because my professor was harsh; if your work was garbage, he was going to let you know it (I mean that in a good, now-I-can-improve way). But he did humorously and tailored to each student. For students who were more likely to be hurt by hard negative feedback, he would be more gentle; for those who, as Herrera put it, "craved" that negative feedback, he would be quite open (and often very funny) in his delivery. Yet, if he ever sensed that a student was genuinely feeling that their art was hopeless, he would build them up and defend them with voracity.
Similarly, I have had a few writing classes here where the class setting has been cultivated into one where genuine negative feedback is offered by all the students in the class on each other's work. These have been my favorite writing classes here, too.
The reason these classes have been some of the best I've taken here is that I actually really enjoy receiving critical feedback on my work. Granted, the pleasure I take in receiving it can vary greatly depending on how it's delivered and in what setting, which again goes along with what Herrera has to say, but in the way these classes have been set up, getting this negative feedback from my peers and professors has been immensely helpful to me in improving my work. Here's a shocker: you can't fix what you don't know is broken. If not for my professor pointing out that I need to work on the composition of some of my art, how would I know that was an area I needed to improve? Of course, potentially I would have reached that realization on my own, but it certainly would have taken much longer and would have required quite a few frustrated drawing hitting the floor of my trash can. Or if my peers didn't point out an inconsistency in a story I wrote, how much longer would it have taken me to catch it, if I did at all?
All this said, you do also have to filter carefully through the critiques you receive. There have been times when I have received feedback on my writing that is either a matter of opinion - in which I, as the author, have to make the ultimate say - or I can say with certainty that the person offering me the feedback is plain wrong (like if someone tries to correct what they think is a grammatical issue, but I know is actually correct as is). Not all critical feedback is useful feedback, but some of it is. It's up to us to sort out the difference.
Ultimately, it's best not to sugarcoat things, but to be honest about what needs to be improved (and be open to hearing what you can improve).
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| "Sugar Free"PC Mark Morgan |
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