Feedback Focus

Reading Out Loud

I’ve always found that reading my own work out loud helps me catch mistakes and monitor the rhythm of my writing, so it makes sense that doing the same thing with other stories would be just as helpful. More than anything else, though, I find it distracting, which is kind of a shame. I think my main issue is that I’m a very visual person, and part of how I keep the events of a story in mind is by picturing what’s happened. But when I read out loud, I tend to get caught up in that and fail to see the story unfold, so it all kind of goes in one ear and out the other.

Copy-and-Delete

I found quite a bit more success with this technique, possibly because I use a variation of it every week for my reading notes posts. When I do that, though, I only copy and paste the lines or paragraphs that catch my interest—this was the first time I tried the process with each paragraph, and I ended up with more notes because of it.

Using a Timer

I doubt I would’ve thought to use this technique on my own, but I’m glad it’s been pointed out to me, because I did find it helpful. Looking at the timer and seeing plenty of time left over encouraged me to go back and look for specific elements (in this case, descriptions and character voice) that I might’ve just lumped together with the rest of the story otherwise.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I'd say the copy-and-delete technique was the most useful to me, because it applies well to my reading process. But the "using a timer" tip was definitely the breakout star of this little exercise for me—it was a new concept, but it helped steer me towards giving feedback with specific levels and objectives instead of just a generalized reaction with a few specific examples. As a reader, it made me more proactive instead of reactive, which I can only imagine would lead to more pointed, helpful feedback.

Image Credit: Hand with Stopwatch. Source: Pexels.