s3unha on Warpcast

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Anyone have protips for getting productive feedback on an essay? Problem: I write about a topic I'm passionate about, send a draft to friends, they get riled and the feedback results in nearly a full rewrite x3 the original length to address all the arguments, at which point I'm burned out and don't want to publish.

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i still have this problem from time to time! some things ive done differently: 1. @twinfin and i have a weekly writing date where we meet, read what we wrote that week, and give feedback to each other. at the beginning our feedback was vague. we went back, researched, and now our feedback game has gotten better

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2. when i receive feedback i separate them as long and short run feedback. i rewrite my piece with those short run feedback but when it comes to the long run feedback i try to apply them for my next piece of work

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3. ive switched my process where i edit myself (a couple days inbetween), publish, then ask for feedback from my friends. it's not a sin to go back and improve what has already been published and i keep it moving

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I like the dichotomy of short run and long run feedback, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you have a healthy and thoughtful process.

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im just iterating and trying to see what processes work. id love to know more about your process 🙏

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1. Try to explain the same thing to 5+ people 2. Write a quick dump draft 3. Expand to a comfy 800 words 4. Share with a few friends, get the full gamut of reactions 5. Edit to address feedback, diluting the original point and now too long at 1500+ words 6. Get demoralized and leave it in drafts forever 7. Goto 1 🙃

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I think I need to force myself to keep it under some length budget to prevent myself from actually trying to address every nitpick. Not sure how to go shorter after you go long. A lot of the feedback is often "more examples!" which is always longer.

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length budget may be key. my suggestions would be: 1. "show, not tell" in your dump draft as much as possible that you're not adding examples but taking them away. 2. be the "samurai" and not the editor. your initial edit and even later edits should focus first and foremost on eliminating not editing.

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One realization I had yesterday while thinking more about this thread: If I'm doing a rewrite, I'm going to try inverting the structure. Start with the conclusion, work backwards to the intro. Not sure if this is a great idea, but somehow feels less tedious as a rewrite.

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i believe some ppl do actually write this way. they start w/ the final sentence, come to the beginning, and work towards that end

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Sometimes I read that way (especially if I'm not committed to reading the whole thing, but I get increasingly intrigued as I start from the end and work backwards lol)

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