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Andrei Atanasov's avatar

I can’t express how shitty it feels. I sent a story of mine to a former Twitter buddy for feedback. Now, he’s an accomplished short story writer in the lit mag space, having published stuff in some of the best magazines, and been shortlisted for a Stoker. I figured if anyone could give competent feedback, it would be him. And he did… he told me everything that was wrong with my story. Now, his advice was pertinent, I see it now. But there was not a single ray of light in what he said. Everything was negative. By contrast, I shared the story with two other readers and the experience was much more positive. Uff. When giving feedback, we should keep in mind how much power our words may have.

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Federico's avatar

This is a hard to balance to strike! I would put a premium on kindness over everything else. And this quote by Anne Lamott about this very thing came to mind, even if years and years have passed since I read it: "You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too" (Bird by Bird).

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