When it comes to my book writing project, it has to be said that it has taken a lot of work to make the story work. It hasn't been easy to make the story good enough so that I could feel comfortable about sharing it with others.
After all, if your draft isn't good enough, it becomes so difficult to let others check the quality of your writings. It's not easy to give them a chance to read the script and give feedback when there are too many problems with the story and how it's told.
Nevertheless, once I felt that my draft for the book was decent enough, I gave my reader a chance to take a look at it. I gave her (my manager) a chance to read the story, so that she could give me feedback on how to make it better.
So when it comes to the feedback that I got from her, I have to say that her feedback was really well thought out. She managed to find out different problems and noted whether these issues were really important or just minor issues that should likely be fixed.
In any case, when it comes to those 'less than critical issues', she noted that I needed to fix stuff like making sure that the characters sounded their age. I hadn't managed to polish the script so that the characters would always sound as believable as possible.
The reason for this is that when you have a nine year old female protagonist in your story, you have to be careful with the language and the descriptions that you use. Kids don't understand all the things that we adults are able grasp when it comes to life.
In her 'token' feedback, there was also some other fairly minor, mostly language stuff that I needed to fix. These issues had to do with finding better words or sayings for situations that I had somewhat overlooked earlier in the process.
The good thing about all these 'less than critical' problems is that they aren't really that difficult to fix. Once you become aware of them, you can correct these mistakes pretty quickly without having to worry or stress about them that much.
The good thing about all these 'less than critical' problems is that they aren't really that difficult to fix. Once you become aware of them, you can correct these mistakes pretty quickly without having to worry or stress about them that much.
However, the most important feedback that she gave me had to do with a thing that wasn't really that easy to fix. I hadn't thought about the plausibility of one of the scenes that was really crucial in the way the story was constructed.
By that I mean that there was a scene in the script - as it stood - that wasn't plausible (social service legal stuff). I needed to create a workaround for the problem, so that the scene would be plausible enough in real life too.
Not surprisingly, at first I wasn't feeling that confident about the situation that I found myself in. I wasn't that confident that I would be able to find a solution for the problem easily, since I felt that I would have to rewrite the scene almost completely.
After all, had I needed to scrub the scene entirely, I would have been in really big trouble. Since the scene in question happened to be a setup for another storyline, without the existing scene, I would have to come up with tons of new stuff for the story.
Fortunately, when it comes to fixing the problem and the plausibility issues, it didn't turn out to be that difficult to come up with a solution than I had thought at first. It wasn't impossible, even though I did have my doubts and even though I did have to work hard.
After all, as long as I managed to address all the points that my reader had brought up in her notes, I was okay. I just needed to come up with a solid workaround that made the scene plausible and that wasn't too out of character for my protagonist.
In that sense, now that I've gotten reader feedback and have written a new draft, it cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to go through this part of the writing process. It's crucial that you let others read your script and get that feedback at some point.
After all, even though it isn't necessarily easy to let others read your script, giving them an opportunity to evaluate your writings pays off. It will make it so much easier to see the problems in the story (character, language, structure, plausibility etc.).
In the end, that is what being a solid, professional writer really is about. It's about taking that chance and giving your readers the opportunity to take a look at what you've managed to do with your project and not chicken out.
After all, even though they might not be professional readers, that's not a reason to ignore them. You shouldn't be thinking that they're not good enough and that you need to have some kind of a 'guru' to review your script instead.
On the contrary, even though they might not know everything about writing, they still very likely know whether your story works. They know enough to tell whether you're on the right track and what are the things that you still need to improve.
In that sense, not giving them a chance will only lead to you hurting yourself in the process. Not giving them a chance to read will only hurt you and will make it much less likely that you'll create a story that has value and that is eventually going to be worth publishing.
By that I mean that there was a scene in the script - as it stood - that wasn't plausible (social service legal stuff). I needed to create a workaround for the problem, so that the scene would be plausible enough in real life too.
Not surprisingly, at first I wasn't feeling that confident about the situation that I found myself in. I wasn't that confident that I would be able to find a solution for the problem easily, since I felt that I would have to rewrite the scene almost completely.
After all, had I needed to scrub the scene entirely, I would have been in really big trouble. Since the scene in question happened to be a setup for another storyline, without the existing scene, I would have to come up with tons of new stuff for the story.
Fortunately, when it comes to fixing the problem and the plausibility issues, it didn't turn out to be that difficult to come up with a solution than I had thought at first. It wasn't impossible, even though I did have my doubts and even though I did have to work hard.
After all, as long as I managed to address all the points that my reader had brought up in her notes, I was okay. I just needed to come up with a solid workaround that made the scene plausible and that wasn't too out of character for my protagonist.
In that sense, now that I've gotten reader feedback and have written a new draft, it cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to go through this part of the writing process. It's crucial that you let others read your script and get that feedback at some point.
After all, even though it isn't necessarily easy to let others read your script, giving them an opportunity to evaluate your writings pays off. It will make it so much easier to see the problems in the story (character, language, structure, plausibility etc.).
In the end, that is what being a solid, professional writer really is about. It's about taking that chance and giving your readers the opportunity to take a look at what you've managed to do with your project and not chicken out.
After all, even though they might not be professional readers, that's not a reason to ignore them. You shouldn't be thinking that they're not good enough and that you need to have some kind of a 'guru' to review your script instead.
On the contrary, even though they might not know everything about writing, they still very likely know whether your story works. They know enough to tell whether you're on the right track and what are the things that you still need to improve.
In that sense, not giving them a chance will only lead to you hurting yourself in the process. Not giving them a chance to read will only hurt you and will make it much less likely that you'll create a story that has value and that is eventually going to be worth publishing.
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