Right now, “Windfall” my current baby is being read and reviewed by other screenwriters. This is the part of writing that I love and hate. “The Dissection.”
The “fresh eyes” are good. It is always interesting to me to see the various directions other writers want to take my story. And I appreciate writers giving their time and thoughts to me.
What I have learned is to be patient and wait for all the “reviews and comments” to come. I usually see a pattern. If one reader tells me the second act is weak, that’s an opinion. If all the readers tell me they think the second act is weak, then I’ve probably got a problem.
Some ideas are beginning to surface, ways to improve “Windfall”. But, rather than jump in and start a rewrite, I’m going to take a break and see what develops as the reviews come in.
In the meantime, I’m going to coax another idea out of my tiny brain and see if it develops into anything. And, on May 1, I’ll tackle MoviePoet.com’s next challenge.
Hi! You are so right! The dissection process is both painful and beautiful. Last fall I farmed out the manuscript for my second novel to six beta readers. Their input turned out to be incredibly valuable, although the ensuing edits added another two+ months to the process.
But the final result is going to be totally worth the effort and extra months–and I’m so grateful that six people took some of their precious time to weigh in on my work.
I wrote several blog posts about all of their input and the resulting changes, hoping that what I learned would also be of value to other writers in the same position/stage. I’ll be anxious to hear what you’ll be learning too. (Feels sort of funny, doesn’t it, to put the manuscript in “a corner” where you’re not touching it until you get the input.)
How are you going to collect their input? Are you using a standardized form or set of questions? Several writers asked me that question while I was blogging about the beta process, so I published the questionnaire that I gave to my six people. If you’d like, please check it out as an example: http://www.filedby.com/author/cheri_laser/2721580/documents/26694439/.
Wishing you a happy and busy waiting period …
–Cheri
I don’t burden my readers with a questionnaire. I want to get the reader’s reaction without bias of specifically asked questions. I can see how a questionnaire could be beneficial but with screenplays, I do not think it is necessary.
Good luck with your writing.
Good luck to you too.