3 Ways To Tell Someone You Don’t Like Their Writing
When you’re asked to give feedback, you’re being entrusted with tremendous responsibility: a responsibility to speak your truth
“What do you think?”
The dreaded question that always comes just after a writer looks up from a piece, having just spent the last 10 minutes reading their work aloud. Usually, when I’m asked this question I have a response in mind. Something about how the piece spoke to me in this way but confused me here, or how I’m walking away from it with a new understanding of this or that.
But, there are occasions where I find myself stumped — unable to form a helpful response for the writer who’s obviously labored over this particular work for hours, days even. For the writer whose work just feels… off.
The writer whose work is just bad.
You should know that when I say something is bad, I’m referring to the deficiencies a piece may possess in multiple categories. An essay may be bad because it’s grammatically incorrect, while a narrative might earn this designation simply because it was confusing or didn’t impress me.
No piece is universally bad or devoid of value, and my definition of what constitutes a dismal piece is my…
