🥑 take your medicine

What do you do when someone tears a plot hole in your perfect story?

Sure, you hired them to do exactly that. And sure, they might be right.

But it’s your baby.

Taking negative feedback is hard for most people. When an editor gives you developmental feedback that stings, let’s frame it this way.

The editor is shining a light on the areas of your story that could use improvement.

Here are three things to consider when taking this kind of feedback.

1. Some feedback is qualified. Some isn’t.

Insightful feedback will come with context. If your protagonist was unsympathetic, for example, an editor should provide examples of how that comes across in the story. If the story’s climax occurred too early, an editor should tell you why it feels that way. Feedback with no qualification may not be relevant to your story.

My favorite feedback I’ve gotten from my own editors has been in the form of questions and wonderings. Good questions will make you think about your story—and if the answer is obvious in your own mind, you’ll need to make sure it’s obvious on the page as well.

2. Don’t trust your gut.

Seriously? Yes, seriously.

My gut reaction to the feedback on my first two manuscripts was shock and frustration. Four thousand comments in four hundred pages? Really?

But by the time I finished dev edits, I understood. And I was thankful.

Recognize your reaction, whether it’s an inflamed emotion, automatic pushback, or automatic acceptance. Take time to process. And, finally, run through what happens if the feedback is accurate. If your editor offers a follow-up call (as I do), talk through the issues with them.

Be patient with yourself and your story.

3. Connect the dots.

As you study your editor’s feedback, consider how every element affects the story as a whole.

If I change this character’s motivation, how does that affect their romance with this other character? Will they crack the same jokes? Will they make the same choices?

If you sense the overwhelm coming on, take a moment and breathe. This isn’t an endless list of issues, but an end-ful list of decisions. And every decision will make your story stronger.

Rush and panic are the enemy. Patience and progress are your friends. Every single connection you make will strengthen your story.

You might even decide that your editor was wrong or misguided! I expect my clients to take 70–90% of my feedback on average.

And if you need an editor to hand you a paper bag to breathe into, I’m still booking for 2025.

On Friday, let’s talk TYPES of feedback.

Once we reach 100 subscribers, I’ll pick one random subscriber to win 20% off any editing service in the next year. Forward this to your author friends, and thanks for reading Avocado Bites!

^{Avocado Bites is a publication of Avocado Tree Press, LLC, that helps you revise your stories one bite at a time. We love working with indie and traditionally published authors on fiction manuscripts—and if that’s you, welcome to our target audience.}

^{Ready for a sample edit? Here’s our site.}

^{Addison Horner is the chief editor of Avocado Tree Press. Here’s his newsletter. It’s different but still pretty good.}