In his book Novelist as a Vocation, Haruki Murakami describes how he takes feedback from his first reader – his wife – and his editors over the years.

The key point that stood out for me is that if a reader says one part doesn’t work then Murakami will rewrite it. He may disagree completely about the passage not working, or that it needs to do something else, but he recognises that if the reader has an issue with it then it must be rewritten.

But he doesn’t rewrite it how they suggest. In fact, with one editor he would often do the opposite. If the suggest was to shorten a passage then he extended it. If the suggestion was to lengthen it then he would cut it right down.

Often particular direct feedback that offers a solution misses the point. As in my post last week, a book relies heavily on overall architecture to work. If something is a surprise then it hasn’t been set up properly somewhere else. The scene hasn’t had the right introduction. The character hasn’t had the proper set up in earlier chapters, or the wrong pay off later.

When I give feedback on another writer’s work I will ask what kind of feedback they want. Very rarely will I give another writer direct feedback on how I would fix a scene or a passage. Often it’s just that something didn’t hit right. It didn’t have the right tone, or the proper resonance.

Of course, if they ask me for that – and I have an idea that would work – then I suggest it.

If a passage of a book isn’t working, it might not be the passage itself. But something needs to change.