Draft, Rinse and Repeat?

Last week I read George Saunders' Story Club, the author's Substack newsletter that's full of useful information and inspiration.

In it, he responded to a question about the etiquette around how many times you're committed to read someone else's draft. A writer had submitted pages to a friend, then revised with the friend's notes and asked for comments on the same pages again. Then, rinse and repeat: They went through the cycle again.

We get addicted to the consensus mind and lose track of our own vision. Or, trying to get the big “OK!” from the group, we forget that what the world really wants from us is our own form of realized excess. -George Saunders

You can read the complete newsletter here.

When I read it, I remembered an experience with a critique circle, where I felt caught in the same feedback hamster wheel.

I submitted an early draft of the opening pages of a mystery story to a group I was with. By incorporating my writing buddies' comments, my story underwent a complete transformation in terms of direction and tone.

That result surprised even me, and I was curious. Had they seen something in the original story that I couldn't see? Was this new material what readers wanted to read? Did the adjustments fulfill their purpose? Was this revised work okay? And, BTW, what made 'okay' okay, anyway?

My curiosity compelled me to resubmit the pages to the circle. Guess what? The group provided comments that reshaped the story again, and I itched to resubmit the pages once more.

Feedback doom loop.

In my corporate communications world, it was normal to go through multiple reviews.

In my creative writing world, however, I needed to learn two important things. First, how to own my vision. I had to learn to tap into my obsession with my work. There's nothing wrong with someone introducing another point of view, but I can't let that other idea cloud my vision.

That brings me to the second thing I needed to learn: how to listen to feedback. I had to learn to discern between a useful suggestion and comments that hurt my process and my work.

I hope you read the George Saunders newsletter to examine this feedback loop situation, and that my experience helps you.

Are you with a writing group today? Are comments or people, intentionally or unintentionally, hurting your work? Let me know in the comments below!