You Got Feedback. Now What?
This is primarily about what to consider when you get pre-publication feedback--from beta readers, agents, editors, etc.
Know if you need to follow their feedback. One of the most important things to know is whether you are required to follow their feedback. If you are commissioned to write something and they have specific requirements for you? You most likely have to follow that feedback. A friend? You don't.
Know if the feedback is identification of an area for improvement or a recommendation? Most feedback ends up being a mix of both--sometimes people will say xyz isn't working, and sometimes they'll say here's how this could work better. Sometimes one can read as the other, so it's important to be able to identify which a piece of feedback is.
Make sure you understand the feedback. If someone says that something isn't working, do you understand both what isn't working and why it isn't working? If you're not sure, ask. You can end up trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist if you don't understand feedback. Similarly, if someone is providing a recommendation, do you understand what the problem is that the person is trying to solve for, why it's a problem, what their proposed solution is, and how that solution might solve that problem.
Consider all of the feedback in aggregate. No part of your story exists in isolation, so you shouldn't consider feedback in isolation. A problem in one place may be solved in another place, or multiple problems may be symptoms of each other. At the same time, a solution to one problem may also solve another problem--but only if you come up with a solution that solves both.
Work from the outside-in. It's tempting to fix all of the small things early, and if you're working in a section that only has wording issues that won't need to be changed to solve any of your other problems, that can be okay. But there's no point in fixing the grammar of a section today if you're going to cut that section tomorrow.
Consider whether your writing accomplishes what you are trying to accomplish if changed. People giving you feedback aren't in your head, so they don't know exactly what you are trying to accomplish at any given point--with a word, a phrase, a paragraph, a scene, a character, a plot point. At times, implementing someone's recommendation or addressing what they consider an issue may fundamentally change something to a point where it is no longer accomplishing what you want to accomplish. And if it does fundamentally change it, are you okay with that? Sometimes you realize that a change to what you were originally trying to accomplish makes your story better, and that's okay.
Decide whose feedback you trust. You don't need to follow feedback from your friends or your family or a beta reader if you don't trust that their writing/reading sensibilities sufficiently align with yours for them to give good feedback. You can love someone and not want to listen to their feedback on your writing. Find people who you trust to give you good feedback.
Be okay saying no. You don't need to call the person up and explain why you are ignoring their feedback (unless they are your boss or agent or editor, in which case you might) but you can simply not follow feedback you disagree with (with the exception of point 1 in this list).
