“The responses of the public will make you think more deeply about what you are producing. Such feedback will help make visible what is generally invisible to your eyes—the objective reality of your work and its flaws, as reflected through the eyes of many people.” (Robert Greene, Mastery)
Writing Exercise: Seeing Your Work Through Other Eyes
Techniques Illustrated by the Quotation:
1. Objective Self-Assessment – The ability to detach from one’s own emotional investment in a work and see it as a reader might.
2. Character Perspective & Emotional Truth – Creating characters whose thoughts and reactions feel true to life rather than reflecting only what the writer wants them to express.
3. Implicit vs. Explicit Meaning – Allowing readers to interpret themes and subtext without over-explaining, making room for ambiguity and multiple perspectives.
500-Word Writing Prompt:
Write a scene in which a character receives feedback—solicited or unsolicited—about something deeply personal to them. It could be a piece of writing, a work of art, a performance, a decision, or even an aspect of their personality. The scene should focus on their immediate emotional reaction, but also on the longer-term impact of the feedback. Do they resist it? Dismiss it? Absorb it too quickly? Do they change something as a result, and if so, is the change for better or worse?
The challenge in this exercise is to create a scene where the feedback functions on multiple levels—what is said vs. what is meant, how the character understands it vs. how an objective reader might understand it. Keep dialogue and body language layered, with room for interpretation. Let the reader decide whether the feedback is fair, misguided, or even manipulative.
Evaluation Criteria for Success:
• The character’s emotional response feels authentic, not exaggerated or simplified.
• The feedback given is complex—ideally, it contains both truth and bias, rather than being wholly right or wrong.
• The scene has subtext; what is left unsaid is just as important as what is said.
• The perspective of the giver and receiver of feedback is distinct; both feel like real individuals rather than serving only to move the plot forward.
• The ending of the scene suggests consequences—either immediate or potential—based on the character’s reaction to the feedback.
Weak vs. Strong Examples:
• Weak: The character receives feedback and instantly changes, as if they were waiting for someone to point out the flaw. The giver of feedback is either completely correct or completely wrong. Dialogue is overly direct, with no room for interpretation.
• Strong: The feedback causes internal conflict. The character may react defensively at first but later reconsider. The feedback itself is complex, possibly revealing as much about the person giving it as the person receiving it. The dialogue and body language are nuanced, allowing the reader to infer more than what is stated outright.
Follow-Up Questions for Workshopping/Revision:
1. What does the reader understand about the feedback that the character does not?
2. Does the dialogue feel authentic and layered, or is it too on-the-nose?
3. How does the scene change if the feedback giver has a hidden agenda?
4. What remains unresolved at the end of the scene? Does this add depth or should it be clarified?
5. Does the scene allow for multiple interpretations, or does it push the reader toward only one conclusion?
Recommended Reading:
• Good People by David Foster Wallace – A short story that demonstrates layered interiority and ambiguous moral dilemmas, allowing the reader to interpret what the characters cannot fully articulate.
• Reunion by John Cheever – A masterful short story where the protagonist’s shifting perception of his father creates tension between expectation and reality, much like how external feedback can shift a character’s self-perception.
This exercise should challenge writers to see their work through multiple perspectives, just as their characters must.
Leave a comment