Stop and Think When Dealing With Feedback

Feedback should make a writer stop and think, not follow blindly.

A writer friend asked me to read an ARC of an upcoming book. I had a couple of issues, and I reported them. He replied that I wasn’t the only one who mentioned the problem, and asked if a suggested fix would solve the problem. The other person with the issue said it was better, but I went deeper and expressed the reasons I still needed more.

One comment was, “I don’t want to change your book.” The exchange brought up the questi...