Reader-suggested fixes often encode a different problem than the one named

Evidence

Within a day or two of the workshop, novelist-playwright Michelle Carter advises, the author should try to “re-hear criticism,” that is, to assess what it is readers are responding to, which may not be apparent from the suggested “fix.” For example, if a number of readers suggest changing the story’s point of view from third person to first, Carter might reinterpret that to mean that the narrator seems too remote from the characters—not that first-person narration is literally a better choice, but that readers want a more immediate experience of the main character’s emotional dilemma. — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 662

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the technique of “re-hearing” criticism—treating a suggested fix as a symptom of an underlying reader response.
• XREF: Connects to the earlier passage on destructive criticism—bad advice is worth considering for what it reveals —and to generic symptom-vs-cause reasoning. — connects to: AI can incorrectly diagnose problems, leading to misleading solutions. — Joanna Stern, I Am Not a Robot- My Year Using AI to…, 423

Broader Connections

• AI can incorrectly diagnose problems, leading to misleading solutions. #exemplifies (0.62) — Joanna Stern, I Am Not a Robot- My Year Using AI to…, 423