Feedback: friend or foe?

Part of being a writer is getting and giving feedback. Both can sometimes not be the easiest thing, especially for new writers. Getting feedback when you're a newbie can be tougher than anything you've ever been through. I've been through childbirth, so I would know! But over the years, you develop a thick skin and learn you can survive even the most brutal feedback.

But to give feedback, that takes skill too. And it's not something people really tell you how to do. See...giving notes is more than just making the script better. Shocking right? It also means as a writer you can learn how to pump up the writer so they can hear the bad notes along with the good notes. And that means, giving positive feedback too. I had one of my favorite screenwriting teachers once put it this way, "Say at least one nice thing at the start of your feedback." Even if that means, "Wow, I love how you used three brads!" Okay, maybe not a huge compliment. But if that's all you can find nice to say, it's better than nothing. Here's Corey's website if you're curious to get on his email list and read some of his other thoughts on screenwriting. He's a talented writer with lots to teach. http://coreymandell.net/

But back to giving positive feedback. First of all, there usually is something good about the script to say. But for some reason, we readers want to tear into the script. It's like we see these good scripts, or are surrounded by good writers, and we have this "Ah-ha!" moment when we catch mistakes. It's almost like we think, "I knew you weren't better than me! And now I have proof!". Of course we don't consciously think that, well, I hope not! But it's just our way of naturally trying to even out the odds when we feel, darn, that writer is better than me! But the truth is, one, maybe they are and that's okay. Or two, maybe they're not and that's okay too. The thing is, we're not in a competition with others writers. We should only be competing with ourselves. Always trying to make ourself a better and better writer. So it's not our goal to forget to focus on the strengths of other writers.

The good thing about focusing on positives when giving feedback is that they of course love hearing it. It also helps them realize, they don't suck. Even a newbie writer must be doing something good. So tell them! And then even the best writers are insecure. So pump them up with the good feedback too. Then once you've told them all the good things you like about their script, when you go to give them constructive notes on how to make their script better, now they will be more open to hearing the feedback. And doing a rewrite won't feel so daunting. Doesn't that sound better? Wouldn't you like writers to give you feedback like that? I suggest you tell your writer's groups to start doing this if they haven't already. I promise you, you'll all come out better for it.