changing the terms instead of meeting something on its terms

A generous critic will do some intuitive work - theyll look at what you’ve made and infer what you were going for. They’ll see the kind of thing you wanted this draft to be and give you feedback about fulfilling the criteria of that kind of thing. They meet your work on its own terms.

Sometimes the most useful feedback to get, even if it’s some of the hardest to hear, is the suggestion of new terms. This memoir you think you’re writing really wants to be an essay. The company you’re trying to fundraise for is better as a non profit. The young program manager that you’re training should actually run her own shop.

To get this kind of feedback, you can ask for it directly. “Right now, I’m trying to make this a really high quality x. I’d love your take on what it needs to become that. I’d also love to hear if you think there’s a different thing it could or should be altogether.”

-eric