The Equally Lost Art of Receiving Notes

Somebody once asked me if coming up with all the lines my characters say was the hardest part of being a writer. I can say in all honesty, that probably doesn’t even crack the top ten. Easily ahead of that are: constantly tripping over the sacks of money at my place, being hounded by adoring fans when I’m just trying to have a quiet dinner with friends, and always being lauded as the voice of my generation.

Okay, those may or may not be true. Here’s one that actually is – the hardest part of being a writer is learning how to take creative notes and feedback. I have seen more than a few professional writing careers stall because of a complete inability to process feedback and turn it into a stronger next draft.

The biggest challenge lies in determining what notes you should take and which ones you should discard. If you ignore everything, you’re not going to have a long career in situations where you are in a collaborative creative environment. But if you accept and make changes based on every single note you receive, you’ll lose your own voice and the piece will be a creative disaster.

Consider the following two cases:

When The Walking Dead was being pitched to various networks, NBC wanted to put it on the air with one caveat – they wanted to make it a procedural where lawman Rick Grimes solves a Zombie-related crime each week. Any fan of the show knows that the executive who wanted to take this path needs to “look at the flowers.” 

Then there is the well documented saga of M Night Shamalan’s Lady In Water where the executives at Disney begged him to make changes to clarify the story because they were afraid the script he wanted to shoot would confuse and disappoint audiences. He stuck to his guns and the result was a creative and box office disaster that practically drove him out of Hollywood completely.

So when you receive notes on your writing, how do you know if they are NBC Walking Dead idiotic suggestions or Disney Lady in Water lifelines? This is the question that has tormented writers from the first time a Neanderthal looked at a cave wall and said “I’m liking the Woolly Mammoth motif but is there a way we can skew to a younger demographic?”

There are no easy answers to filtering and processing feedback however, here are some things to consider to help you with this difficult task.

Be of open mind and heart

Receiving feedback on your writing is a difficult process for everyone no matter how long you’ve been doing it or at what level. And it is very natural for any emerging writer to not want to hear a critique on something they have poured their heart and soul into. But sadly, opting out is not an option. You will receive feedback throughout your writing career and you need to approach the process with an open heart and mind.

This means when you give someone that first draft of your short story, screenplay, TV pilot, or novel for feedback, be prepared to hear both the good and the bad. As obvious as this seems, too often when a new writer says they want “honest feedback” what they are really saying is “I need you tell me how great this is.” So when any critical feedback is given, it is often met with anger, frustration, or disinterest. Of course you want to be told your writing is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius (apologies to Dave Eggers) the first time out. But trust me, it’s not. Writing is rewriting so if the only response you will accept is ego-stroking praise, you’re in for a world of disappointment. More importantly, you won’t be in a mindset to take that critique and use it to make the work stronger the next time around.

Consider the source

Another defence mechanism against accepting feedback is to show it to family, friends, or pets, basically anyone who is almost guaranteed to give raving reviews. Then when presented with contradictory feedback from a neutral source, they’ll say defensively “Yeah, well I showed it to my best friend Jenny and she thought it was brilliant.” Jenny has to tell you she thinks it’s brilliant, it’s a requirement of being a BFF so you can’t take her word as Gospel.

On the other hand, if the feedback is coming from an editor, publishing company, literary agent, story editor or anyone else who appraises stories as a living, you might want to consider what they have to say even if you might not like it. And if more than one source says the same thing, give what they say serious consideration.

One flaw I see in a lot of early writing is a lack of clarity. Usually what happens is newbie writers forget that the reader doesn’t have all the information the writer has in their head and so when they try to tease the reader with dribs and drabs of information, all they end up doing is confusing the reader. When I point out the fact that I was confused and I’m afraid the other readers will be as well, they will point to an obscure mention on page three and say “That explains everything so they shouldn’t be confused.”

If there is ever a disagreement over clarity between the writer and the reader, the reader is almost always right. Trust those giving you feedback because there will be many times you are too close to the material to be objective.

Give yourself a cooling off period

The best technique to process difficult notes is one I had to learn the hard way. I had a feature film project in development with a national funding agency and we were getting notes on our application package to go from the first to second round of development. We received notes from the third party reader and when I first saw them, I was apoplectic. They were not very positive and pointed out a lot of structural and thematic holes in the project. So I reacted like any other professional would – I hit the roof.

I showed colleagues the notes and went through them one by one pointing out how the reader completely missed the point and was bringing their own personal agenda to their evaluation. I couldn’t believe how off the mark a so-called professional reader could be.

Jump ahead a week. I decided to give the notes one more look over just so I could once again revel in how right I was. Except, upon a second read, something strange was happening. As I read them I started thinking things like, “Well I guess they have a point there” and “Yeah, I suppose I hadn’t considered that.” I read them yet again a month later and, after an even longer cooling off period, I could see the merit in what was being said.

Here’s the valuable lesson I learned from that experience – notes that incite anger have some merit to them. Because if they were truly off the mark, we wouldn’t care. But when confronted with notes that contain inconvenient truths, we writers protect ourselves by using anger to shield us from those truths.

So I suggest that when you are faced with notes that turn you from Bruce Banner to full blown Hulk, go with it. Yell, scream, throw things around the room. Tell all your friends how wrong they are. Then, with that out of your system and a full two week cooling period behind you, look at them again.

Detach and look for ways to make it better

Last week I wrote about leading with the positive when giving notes however, there will be times when you won’t have this positive experience. Instead, the notes you receive will be very negative. When this happens the first thing you need to do is to remember, the notes are not about you personally, they are about the work.

A good friend and fellow writer recently had an experience where a client in a corporate writing situation responded to her first pass at the assigned work with a panicked “Dear God, what did you do? This is all wrong.” Despite the fact my friend is an incredibly gifted writer who has been doing this professionally for 25 years now, it still shook her to the core. However, she composed herself, probed for deeper analysis and discovered that the problem lied in the fact that the client failed to give proper instructions for what she wanted. With this new information, she was easily able to deliver something more in line with what the client wanted.

The key is that regardless of how negative the feedback may be, you need to sift through it and look for ways you can use it to make the next draft better. Nobody likes to hear negative feedback but in every bit of feedback there is something you can leverage to strengthen it in future drafts.

I think part of the problem is we as writers have been raised on the school/university system of receiving grades as an evaluation tool. We submit writing in the form of essays or assignments and we seek positive appraisal as a result. Writing in the real world is far different. A first draft is just the first step in a long process of completion so when we get early feedback, it’s not about ‘getting an A on the piece’ it’s about finding ways to make it better.

Be the defender of your story’s soul

This is where knowing the craft and understanding the fundamental elements of your story are so important. At some point in the process someone is going to suggest changes that will completely undermine your story’s structural integrity. Everyone else will be coming to the project with a different agenda and you will be the last great defender of the story you want to tell. So you need to know when these “death notes” are coming and find a way to address the issue without ruining your story.

I’ve had several experiences where I had to find a way to push back on producers notes because I could see they would totally unravel the story. Each time, I made my case and found a way to appease the producer without removing those key elements from the story. You need to know your story inside and out because you will certainly face this situation too at some point in your writing career.

The Lost Art of Giving Notes

'Make it super dark'

I recall my first writers group the same way one would recall their first unanesthetized tooth extraction – not fondly. I had just completed my 20-minute short film script and I was eager to get feedback from other writers who were all part of the same community. 

I volunteered to go first and by the time the group was finished sharing their thoughts, I felt like I’d never write anything again. First was the list of things they hated. The list was longer than what I had hoped for. After that, someone else proceeded with everything they thought was lame or clichéd. The next person said they preferred darker stories and went on to detail how he would make my story super dark if he were doing it. It was 45 minutes of people letting their inner critic rampage over my work. The only upside is that it wasn’t just me, every other writer got the same treatment.

Flash forward three years and I have been accepted into the Atlantic Film Festival Script development program with my feature script The Rivals. It was the most exciting thing that had happened to that point in my writing career but it also meant I was going to have go through another critique session with the co-ordinator and the other three participants.

‘Tell me what worked’

When we all got together that first night, I was bracing myself for what was to come. Be strong, suck it up. This is all part of being a writer. Once again I was the first on the block. I’ll never forget the co-ordinator’s first instructions to the group “Let’s go around the table and I want to hear what worked for you in Tony’s script.” Wow, I like the way this is starting. And one by one each of my colleagues said what they enjoyed about the read.

When that was done, he asked everyone to ask any questions that arose during the read — anything that wasn’t clear or was a bit confusing to them. There were some really great questions like, “On page 37 this character says this and then on page 84 they do that and I couldn’t understand why that was. Can you clarify?” I remember thinking that I had never noticed that inconsistency and would look at fixing it. 

I left that first night realizing that the script needed a lot more work than I ever imagined, yet I was really pumped about tackling that next draft. And then on the drive home, another thought hit me like a thunderbolt. At no time did the co-ordinator say “Tell us what you didn’t like about these scripts.” How is that even possible? How did four writers have their scripts completely deconstructed without having them dumped on?

The answer? Someone who understands how to get the best out of creative people was leading the group. 

Constructive criticism?

In the ensuing years I have been in several work situations, either in journalism, TV or corporate communications, where supervisors gave me notes and feedback on my creative work. I wish I could say every experience was as positive as that script development group. I also wish I could say I am 6’3 and 185. In both cases, they would have to be categorized as alternative facts.

It never ceases to amaze me how people whose sole job description is to guide and shape the creative efforts of others have absolutely no idea how to get the best from creative people. I was working in a corporate environment once where a video editor was about to screen his first pass of a much anticipated project for a big client. I didn’t write the script but I was curious to see it so I slipped in the room for the viewing. When it was finished, the account liaison just rattled off everything she didn’t like about it and asked him to fix those things in the next version, then she left. My eyes went immediately to the editor and I saw his physical reaction. His shoulders slumped and he stared ahead blankly. I felt for him because he did really great work on that first pass but you would never know it from the feedback he received. In that situation, she had a choice to either send him into that next edit encouraged and motivated or deflated and unsure of himself. She chose poorly.

So this column isn’t just for creative writing. If you happen to work in a field where you have to give and take notes on others’ work, this is for you too.

What is the real purpose of the feedback?

I would like to think superiors are first and foremost concerned with getting the best work out of employees, but I know that’s not always the case. Sometimes bosses feel they need to put others in their place and they use work critiques to do that. Some are not good at communicating in general, and articulating what they want from the outset — then, they’re disappointed when they don't get the results they envisioned. Others are preoccupied with fighting turf wars or playing office politics. If you fall into any of these categories, nothing I’m about to say will matter. But if you genuinely care about the work product then pay careful attention – your primary objective in giving feedback is to get the best work from that person in the next draft or version.  So it’s not just about what you say but also how you say it. For specific techniques, let the following steps be your guide.

Step #1 – Understand the psyche of creative types

I don’t care if it’s a first novel, travel book, corporate annual report, marketing plan, or video edit, if someone poured their heart and soul into making it the best they can, it is difficult to separate professional from personal when it comes to hearing feedback. There is always immense trepidation that you’re going to hear “This is all wrong” or “This isn’t going to do it.” It’s hard to hear that and not think ‘I’m a failure” or “I can’t do this” or “I’m in way over my head”. If your style of giving feedback is to deal only with what you don’t like in a very direct way, you run the risk of setting off these triggers which will be counterproductive in getting an improved next version or even the next projects down the road. Which is why I strongly suggest…

Step #2 Always lead with the positive

I don’t want to give the impression this is all about coddling sensitive creative types. It bears repeating – it’s all about getting the best work out of the next version. This was the genius in the approach during my session at the AFF program. By starting with the positive, it helped let my guard down and I was more open to hear the more constructive points later in the session. Once I was reassured it was not complete garbage and there was some good stuff in there, I wanted to hear more about the parts of it that weren’t working for the reader. When criticized from the outset, a writer can keep that guard up, not allowing any feedback in. 

Leading with the positive also helps the writer/creator separate baby from bath water. I’ve seen it happen many times where a writer received almost entirely negative feedback and came back with an entirely different draft the next time around. This was usually met with “Why? You got rid of all the parts I liked!” If all the writer hears is what’s not working, it’s very easy to reach the conclusion that nothing in the piece is working. By starting with the positive, you can protect the parts that work when the writer undertakes the next draft.

Step #3 Always frame concerns not as dislikes but ways it can be made better

That second draft of The Rivals was much, much better after having gone through that session and at no point did anyone tell me what they hated about it. There are ways to communicate concerns or parts you bump up against in a way that makes the writer enthused about making those changes. So instead of saying, “I didn’t like the first draft of the annual report. I specifically said we need to highlight the university’s biggest alumni contributors” you could say “I liked A ,B, and C. You know what I think would make it even stronger, what if we put more of a focus on our alumni contributors and share their stories.” Which of those two approaches would send the writer back enthused on providing the approach you want? 

One of the best instances of this I experienced was when I was developing a TV series with my producer and creative partner, Jordan. I was in the middle of wrestling with a script and I knew it wasn’t working. It was one of my weakest efforts in years and I felt lost and discouraged. One day I met with Jordan at our regular coffee spot and I said ‘give it to me straight, I know this is awful, tell me how you think we can fix it.” Jordan took a swig of his coffee, thought about it for a few seconds and said “You know what I really like about your writing? It’s funny but there’s also a lot of heart in it and when I read this script, I’m not seeing a lot of that there.” 

It was like an instant parting of the clouds. He was right. There wasn’t any heart or story in that script, it was just a series of jokes and gags. I couldn’t wait to get back to my computer and write the next draft which was significantly better. And then a couple of days later, it dawned on me the amazing feat Jordan pulled off. He was able to tell my why my writing sucked in a way that made me feel better about myself and led me to producing better work. I would suggest every writer find their Jordan, but you can’t have that one, he’s mine.

Step #4 – Always be honest and develop trust

Jordan and I got to a point where we could be honest with one another when sharing our thoughts on creative issues. We could discuss creative differences openly because we each knew neither one was working from an agenda. This was crucially important in making the work better each time.

Another great working relationship I have is with Andrei. When we first started working on projects together, he was always honest with his feedback but he was also careful to protect the writer. One day I was pitching a direction for a corporate video and this idea was genuinely awful. Even as I was midway through the pitch I realized “oh boy, why am I pitching this.” When I was done, Andrei was the first to speak and he said “I liked where you were going with creating a world where…” He then went on to replace the content of my terrible idea with a much better execution of that general direction. He didn’t BS me or pretend he liked something he didn’t. He found the one element that worked in the pitch and ran with that.  I never forgot that experience and I was determined to make that script the absolute best it possibly could.

So the lesson is you don’t have to lie or say phony positive things about work you are not happy with. But by framing it as “Here’s what I like and this is how I think you can make it better” you will get much better work the second time around.