Scenario: Your friend / colleague is writing their Magnum Opus, the next Big Thing, and they want you to read their screenplay / manuscript to offer some feedback.
Panic!
Offering feedback on someone’s writing is a delicate process. Writers are inherently fragile things that require constant nurturing and validation, or they’ll hang up the pen forever. Except they’re not.
Subconsciously, writers know what they are. They know their work isn’t perfect. What they need is a careful balance of validation, criticism, and construction.
Don’t worry, there are ways to make your points delicately and efficiently. After reading this post you’ll be able to confidently take that Magnum Opus, rip it a new one, and have the writer thank you for your time.
Things NOT to Tell a Writer:
1. Never Give Specific Advice on Changes to Make
It can be easy to see what would make the story a hundred times better. Perhaps you lived through a similar situation to what’s on the page. Do not let that cloud your judgement. This is not your story.
Giving writers specific instructions diminishes their autonomy in the writing process. They can initially be grateful; your solution seems to perfectly fits the hole in their story.
As time goes on it may become clear that the solution doesn’t fit at all, but with no other option, the writer will force your idea in, and the story will suffer as a result.
2. Never Prescribe the Next Steps in the Development Process
Every writer’s process is different. Some plan, others improvise. Some make index cards; others create enormous binders of backstory. Your process (if you have one) is not superior to theirs.
If something in their process is slowing them down, then tell them. We all get caught up in the significance of triviality from time to time. But telling a writer to abandon a process they feel is working in favour of one that suits you is a sure-fire way to irritate both parties at the expense of the story.
3. Never Tell Them Their Work is Bad
This may seem obvious, but sometimes a piece of work really is shocking. Telling a writer this can be earth shattering, and nobody wants that.
For ways around this, you can look to the list of things TO tell a writer below.
4. Never Tell Them Their Work is the Best Thing Since Poppers
This writer is your friend, of course you want to tell them they’ve done it! They’ve rocked storytelling forever! A writer will be overjoyed, initially. Then they’ll go home, ponder it, and read their story back. The holes will start appearing. You clearly lied to them.
Goodbye friendship.
Telling a writer their work is perfect is actually more damaging than telling them it’s awful. If a work is awful, it is the fault of the artist. If it’s perfect until it isn’t, it’s the fault of both artist and confidant.
Of course, you can love a story, and tell them if you do! But don’t let that love blind you to the elements that aren’t working.
5. Don’t Focus on the Trivial
The easy thing to do when someone gives you their work is to get the red pen out and start highlighting typos, grammar, and formatting mistakes. That isn’t why you’ve been asked to read the work and doing it at all shows you haven’t properly engaged with the material.
There is a time for doing line edits, but that would never be your responsibility. Steer clear of this and show the writer you are actually invested in their work and their voice.
Things TO Tell a Writer:
1. The Elements You Liked
Writers love hearing what specific elements you liked. It shows you read the story, engaged with it, and had an emotional response. Don’t forget, though, balance is everything.
Following on from points three and four of the above list, I’d like to introduce you to the ‘s**t sandwich’.
The basics of this process are to start with what you liked, feed that into something that isn’t working, and conclude with a suggestion from the rest of this list, or a suggestion of your own.
The ‘s**t sandwich’ is a tried and tested method that appeals to the ego of the writer, reminds them they’re not perfect, and gets their brain focused on solutions rather than spiralling.
2. Discipline is Key
If the writer is serious about implementing the feedback, discipline is a cornerstone of achieving this. It is no good offering feedback to a writer that is going to put it on a shelf and either ignore it or abandon the story altogether.
While it can be a difficult conversation, not having it could waste both your time if you feel the writer needs to hear it.
Some helpful guides to disciplined writing:
3. Which Guidelines or Rules May Help
Rules are made to be broken, but there is a thin line between breaking the rules and looking like an amateur.
If something isn’t working in a story, it is better to tell them to look up character arcs or structure studies than to tell them their characters are boring, and their story doesn’t go anywhere.
This tip is most helpful if you, as the reader, are also a writer. If you are not a writer or don’t know the rules, then point 07 on this list may be of more help.
Some helpful Guides:
4. Structural / Pacing Issues
All stories have structure. It’s what separates them from anecdotes. Anyone can tell a great anecdote, but your writer isn’t just anybody. They’re an Artist.
If a story feels like it’s winding, diverging, or straight up off the rails, it’s worth reminding the writer of some basic structuring rules.
Some writers feel like their story is a sweeping epic when it’s actually an intimate story about personal relationships. Notes on structure may be hard for a writer to hear, but if the story needs it, they will ultimately thank you for the note.
Some helpful resources on story structure:
5. Character Issues
What are stories without characters? To some writers, the characters are more important than the story itself.
Characters should be varied, dynamic, and unique. If a writer has lost sight of this, it's crucial to remind them. If two characters sound the same, or if their style of dialogue seems borrowed from disparaging genres, then a writer needs to know this.
Also remember, when writing for screen, that it is a visual medium. If characters talk where they should move, then point this out as well.
This may be a sensitive point for writers, as their characters may be based on real people in their lives, so the best rule to remember is this:
It may have happened in real life, but it has no place in this story.
Some great character resources:
6. Specific Exercises
This may seem to work against the first point on never giving specific advice, but ‘exercises’ are a great way to get a writer out of their own head and considering other options.
You could know in your heart of hearts that the mentor needs to die at the start of the final act for the protagonist to fully take shape. Rather than telling a writer to do this, give it to them as an exercise. They can then take it away, play, and pull what they find in the exercise.
Chances are, it’ll be better than anything you imagined.
This works for characters, story, worldbuilding, any element you feel isn’t working. Giving writers exercises to do can be a refreshing way for a writer to view their work.
Resources on writing exercises:
7. Suggested Reading / Viewing
It’s the first rule. All writers must consume the medium they hope to contribute to. They should know craft, have tools of creation, and discipline to follow through. Life, however, is busy, and sometimes writers miss things.
This is where you come in. Maybe there’s a book that covers the themes they’re writing, or a film that is driven by a similar protagonist. Maybe their craft is lacking, or their discipline could do with some fine tuning. There is always more to learn, and the more you help a writer to learn, the better they will become.
For scriptwriters, this means more than just watching TV and films. It means reading them. This can be difficult, screenplays are rarely in the bestseller lists, but taking the time to read the best is the best way to improve writing craft. Remind the writer of this. They’ll roll their eyes, but they’ll know you’re right.
Script Libraries:
Some Scenarios:
The script is flimsy. It meanders through thirty pages of talky dialogue and peaks with a terrorist bombing their little shop.
- Address the action, the explosion is shocking and dynamic. There’s clearly a lot to mine there.
- It takes too long to get there; you’re struggling to understand what the drama is in the dialogue.
- As an exercise, try starting with the explosion and see how the same scene plays out afterwards. Here’s some guidelines on scene structure to help:
The protagonist is an archaeologist with a cool hat that travels the world trying to liberate ancient artifacts for his private collection. A particular collection becomes difficult to complete when the natives try to keep the final piece from him.
- The concept of the countries indigenous people trying to hide their heritage from the West is a compelling idea
- The protagonist is clearly an Indiana Jones rip-off that doesn’t suit the story being told.
- Try focusing more on the indigenous people. Do some research around countries trying to reclaim artifacts from places such as the British Museum. How does that research reframe the story to make it truly unique?
By starting with what works, evolving to what doesn’t, and offering some guidance on potential fixes, a writer should feel validated and inspired to make the changes that will make their story the strongest it can be.
REMEMBER: When a writer asks you for help, they may think they want you to fix it for them, but they don’t. Writers are not students to be instructed on how to fix problems. They are a traveller, asking for directions on a journey they must ultimately take alone.
Finally, don’t worry. So long as you’re kind, even if you mess it up, the writer will be grateful you took the time to help them create something beautiful.
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