What Advice to Keep and What to Ignore

I’d like to share with you something that occurred that had me temporarily doubting my writing style.

A neighbor is a new writer and asked me to be a beta reader for his novella. In turn, I sent him a few chapters of the novel I was currently writing.

The feedback I received wasn’t what I expected. In my head, I anticipated comments such as, “There’s a plot hole here,” “I was confused there,” “Maybe elaborate more here and here.”

That’s not what I got at all. They told me things such as, “I would…,” “You should add…,” “You need a worse antagonist.” “More bad things should happen here and at this point…”

I wrote down his feedback and for a week I was torn. I thought long and hard about the suggestions and couldn’t bring myself to implement any of them.

I stepped aside from it and thought about why I couldn’t bring myself to use the suggestions. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The suggestions WERE IN HIS STYLE, NOT MINE.

“If you are your authentic self, you have no competition”

When I was a young child, I used to write little stories. EVERY SINGLE ONE ended with, “And they lived happily ever after in a happy world.”

So, I thought about what I love that opposed his suggestions and this is what I came up with:

• Hallmark Christmas movies
• uplifting quotes
• stories of triumph
• anything with a happy ending

That is why I couldn’t implement his suggestions. I like “feel good” stories with minor conflicts and happy endings. He told me that without bad things happening and bad antagonists, a story will be boring.

I know that there’s a reason the Hallmark Christmas specials are so popular– PEOPLE LOVE TO FEEL GOOD.

I will never change my style for anyone. There are books for EVERY style and I am only going to write what was satisfying to me.

So, my suggestion to you is to take advice on things like:

• parts where your story lags
• if your writing could be tightened by using show–not tell
• where you could use stronger words, fewer adjectives
• plot holes you’ve overlooked

As for the story itself, if you love it, others will too.

Stay true to yourself and happy writing!

Gina