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Q&A How to interpret editor feedback?

I've just received the written feedback from an editor in a large publishing house. On the whole it's very critical, with the occassional "could be good" thrown in at the end of sections with a lis...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by Brereton‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:25:30Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/27886
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Brereton‭ · 2019-12-08T06:25:30Z (about 5 years ago)
I've just received the written feedback from an editor in a large publishing house. On the whole it's very critical, with the occassional "could be good" thrown in at the end of sections with a list of negative points.

TLDR: **are editors generally negative with infrequent positive comments, or is this a reality check?**

Fuller question: I understand that I need to focus on the weaknesses to make it a better story in its entirety, but given the sparcity of positive feedback, should I take a step back from the entire project for a while to get a better perspective or should I act line-by-line in the spirit of her response? After getting quite a lot of positive feedback from amateur beta readers, I'm now confused by differing inputs - some are common (therefore easier to implement) whilst others contradict each other.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-05-03T16:32:08Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 6