I must admit I do enjoy watching Strictly – it’s something to look forward to on the long autumn / winter nights in the run up to Christmas.
I love the learning curve that the celebrities go on in their quest to learn to dance.
It’s a more intense version of the path to becoming a writer, although most of us writers learn our craft on the side-lines rather than in the glare of the public eye.
The other similarity to writing is that the dancers have to learn to listen to the feedback of the judges in order to progress.
One of the things I like about Strictly, compared with other similar programmes, is that I feel the judges are not being intentionally nasty in their feedback, they have a genuine desire to show the dancers how they can improve, to progress through to the next stage. But sometimes the way feedback is received is down to the delivery.
Craig is viewed as the nasty judge because he always marks lower than the other judges and because he is super critical. But I think part of the audience’s reaction to him is because he always starts off with the bad points before praising anything that is good. I received advice a long time ago that feedback should be like a sandwich: start with something good, put the meaty feedback in the middle and then finish on something good too. I have been part of several readers groups and given feedback to other writers and the process has helped me to develop my own writing as it helps me to focus on both what does and doesn’t work. It would never be my wish to demoralise any writer, but I also think there’s no point in simply praising what is good and ignoring what can be improved upon. And so the sandwich method has enabled me to deliver what I will always hope to be constructive criticism.
It can be crushing to receive harsh feedback, especially when you have put your heart and soul into something. As writers, we know how demoralising that can be, but we also know that constructive criticism is what makes us better writers.
Reading feedback for the first time can be daunting, but from personal experience I find that if I put it aside for a few days, when I come to re-read it, I can connect with it more rationally. I’ve always found that constructive criticism often rings true and highlights issues that I have known were there but which I haven’t been able to fully acknowledge.
Similarly, if deep down the feedback doesn’t sit right with you, then you can make your own decision to disregard it. If you are a true writer, you will think carefully about the feedback you receive and take on board the parts of it that you know will help you develop as a writer and produce an improved piece of work.
So as we are coming towards the end of Strictly for another year, we can sit back, relax and enjoy watching how much the dancers have improved over the series.
And when its finished, well, then it will be Christmas.
