Giving feedback on creative projects...
... As a shared responsibility.
Dear reader,
Below is a short excerpt from my e-booklet on giving and receiving feedback on creative projects. Enjoy.
"Man is a god when he dreams, a beggar when he reflects. " ~ Friedrich Holderlin
Light bulb moment!
That wonderful alchemical moment when a new idea pops into your head.
“This’ll be great!”
In his Discworld novels, Terry Pratchett describes how ideas “sleet” across the universe and drop into people’s heads.
“This’ll be great!”
In the inner recesses of our mind, our imagination shows us an enticing scenario of our newly conceived project unfolding fluently and wowing the masses. I often think of the imagination as a trickster god who beguiles and seduces us with golden apples or tales of treasure, only to lead us into the wild to see if we can slog our way out of the thickets again.
Creative projects are conceived of in the privacy of our heads or, if you are co-creating, within the confines of an intimate conversation with a select group of collaborators. In the privacy of a little hive mind if you will. The project will be conceived of, planned, and worked on, for a little while at least, in this intimate setting. And then it needs to be shown and feedback sought.
The moment of going from working on a creative project privately, whether that be solo or with co-creators, to showing it to others who are not familiar with it and viewing it afresh is one of great vulnerability.
“The privacy of a manuscript is both safe and frustrating. How strange publication is, to take such a thing after so many years and open it to everyone's scrutiny, to change its status so completely.” ~ Nathan Hobby on Twitter, Feb. 2021
Opening up work to the examination of others is a strange moment. The creator goes from being actively involved in teasing out an idea, nursing it along, gradually shaping it into something and then, suddenly, that work in progress is an object of someone else’s cold-eyed scrutiny. It is a change of status, both for the work and for the creator, who must go from actively developing the work to being, very temporarily, a passive receiver of feedback.
“Waiting for feedback on a #WIP is a special kind of torture,” tweeted novelist Eleni Hale in 2021. It is a hugely vulnerable moment in the creative process, and, when giving feedback, we need to understand that.
When giving feedback, we assume that the onus of responsibility is on the person receiving feedback: be tough; take it on the chin; not complain. But how about we flip that around and assume the discipline needs to be on the part of the feedback-giver as well: “I know you feel in a vulnerable place right now, so I am going to give you honest feedback framed as tactfully as I can.”
This does not preclude being honest, of course, but honesty and tact are not mutually exclusive.
Giving feedback should feel hard to do. In considering what we are going to say about the work and considering how we are going to frame this without cruelty or carelessness, while still being honest about the work, we should break out in a mental sweat.
Being approached for feedback is a privilege; it means that we have been elevated to a place of trust and assumed to have high levels of discernment, insight, and integrity. Don’t betray this trust through carelessness or lack of consideration. Embrace the opportunity to give your communication muscles a good workout. Don’t consign the creator to torture, support their work with your discerning and honest opinion and support them with your consideration.
Edifying quotes:
"Do not let people's opinions of you mould your destiny. Let unhappy people have their unhappy thoughts. Continue on your path courageously." ~ Haemin Sunim
and
"Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner." ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.
This: consider “how we are going to frame this without cruelty or carelessness, while still being honest…”