I attended the Live the Universe and Everything symposium. These are notes from one of the panels. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

• Where do you find constructive criticism? When does it start and end being constructive? If you can fix what they suggest, then it is useful.
• You can tell what works well and what does not on criticism if it makes you think about your manuscript in a critical way.
• If criticism gets you jazzed then it is useful.
• Some reviewers will give a criticism on one specific weakness. If they have a chance to review the manuscript again they will then select a separate weakness to concentrate on. It lets the reviewer help the writer skill set by skill set.
• Give feedback with open ended questions.
• As someone is week is settings asked them how they can better ground the reader in sense of place. It is an area of the manuscript that shows a good example of setting place in reference at example.
• Never start a review with I would.
• Point out areas that you like and why. Maybe state seven process 21 criticism. Especially for new writers.
• Separate criticisms from story.
• How to receive feedback with grace. Gracie say thank you for their time in the review. New writers may need to have a lot of encouragement.
• If an author is close to publishing quality tell them one thing they need to do to pull them up to that level of professionalism.
• One storyboard artist excess criticism this way. It’s not my circus is not my monkey. You do things to help your employer.
• Look for a pattern in the story that needs to be fixed for example how many adverbs.
• The way to be a better writer is just to keep writing. The know behind the note. You might be asking for a clown to put in the story but what the reviewers really wanting is some humor. Find ways to address their need. It may not be stated clearly.
• Authors should put the critique on a shelf and give it time and distance. Then when you come back later you can often see with a coming from.
• How to shift from prejudice to bias.
• You may have to definitely reviewers that specialize in certain areas. For one author to have one reviewer that concentrates on weapons. For another reviewer they concentrate on grammar.
• Writers and readers or different. One author will ask their readers to tell them when the B for boring boring, the D for don’t believe it when they don’t believe it, the C when the confused when the confused, and put those letters along the text. Maybe in either indicate the letter E, I’m excited to read more.
• If you don’t have a solution to fix a problem, then brainstorm with your friends.. When you receive a review that hurt, put that material on a shelf and work on something else. Then come back when you’re ready to address that readers concerns.