Let's face it: most writers quit. They may start with an idea for a novel, a memoir, or a non-fiction book, but (if the polls can be trusted) over 80 percent give up before they finish.
What makes them quit? Lack of discipline? Failure to commit to their project?
I suspect that the answer is simpler and sadder than we think: Most writers just don't get the kind of timely reader feedback they need. As a result, they succumb to excruciating, energy-sapping uncertainty—which can lead, in time, to abandoning their writing project.
Feedback from Oral Storytelling
Oral storytellers have an advantage when dealing with this kind of problem. How? They tell to live audiences and adjust to instantaneous listener feedback: facial expressions, laughter, body language, etc.
Such rapid feedback not only allows the teller to make rapid changes in a story, but it also reduces uncertainty. That is, we can respond to a specific group of listeners' nonverbal feedback as we tell—and then notice the result. If the changes work, we soon notice the improvement. If they don't, we notice that, too (and are quickly freed to try other changes).
After you tell a story to live listeners, in fact, you will probably have learned a lot about what kept their attention (and what didn't)—and whether they were satisfied by the story's impact.
Further, by asking a few "helping listeners" to give you further feedback (either before or after you tell the story to a formal audience) you can get an even more complete picture of your listeners' responses.
Feedback from Written Storytelling?
Most writers, on the other hand, have few and infrequent opportunities to share their drafts with others. Writer's groups are helpful here—but they too often turn into "advice" groups: "I think you should change the scene where...."
Such advice can sometimes be helpful, of course, but it too often replaces the feedback that most matters: "When are my readers with me? And when are they going off the rails? That is, where do they begin to respond in ways contrary to my goals for them?"
An Experiment in Essential Feedback
Yes, tellers can read their listener responses from the faces, bodies, and behaviors in front of them.
But how can writers get that kind of information? As far as I can tell, up until now, they've had to do that indirectly, even unconsciously. And, along the way, they've had to fend off the opinions of their fellow writers about how best to accomplish the writer's goals.
But what if writers could hear directly what our readers are experiencing? Not how readers believe our writing should change, but the actual effects of our writing as it is?
After all, in-person listeners don't usually give advice; they simply respond (mostly non-verbally) to the story.
How to Read Your Readers?
If you can find some readers who are willing to share their responses to something you've written, can't you simply ask them?
By this, I don't mean to ask them what they think about your story, much less how you should improve it. (That takes us back to opinions instead of experiences.)
But what if you were to ask individual readers questions like these:
As you read this part of my writing (silently or aloud):
What did you imagine?
What did you feel?
What did you learn?
What struck you in what I wrote? How might that be helpful to you?
How did it advance the story (or article, etc.) for you?
Such questions speak to reader experiences as readers, not to their opinions. As a result, the answers give you direct insight into readers' mental and emotional responses to reading what you wrote.
I believe that answers to such questions approach the kind of feedback that live listeners give to oral storytellers.
Want to Experiment Along These Lines?
This process is still experimental. But, because it focuses more on reader experience and less on reader interpretation and advice, I suspect it might help us avoid the tangle of interpretations and opinions that can hobble the effectiveness of more common forms of feedback.
What's your take on this? Have you tried anything roughly similar? What questions does it bring up for you?