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Unpopular opinion: a guy at my writing group in Tulsa ripped apart my first draft and it helped more than 6 months of nice comments
I joined a small writing group at a bookstore in Tulsa about a year ago and for the first 6 months everyone was super nice about my drafts, which honestly did nothing for me. Then last month this retired English teacher named Dale read my 12 page short story and just went off on it, but in a good way. He pointed out that I start every single scene with the weather, which I never noticed until he pointed it out and I went back and counted 9 weather openings in one story. He also said my dialogue all sounds the same, like every character talks exactly like me, which stung but he was spot on. So now before I bring anything to the group I read it out loud and do a pass just for dialogue, trying to give each person their own rhythm. My current draft has a mechanic character who talks in short clipped sentences and a teacher who never finishes a thought, and Dale actually smiled at the last meeting. Has anyone else gotten feedback that felt harsh in the moment but ended up being the most useful thing you ever heard?
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paul_webb451d ago
Had a buddy tell me my main character was boring (brutal, but true) and it flipped my whole story around.
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