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Suave View Drop Down
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    Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 1:16am
I want to hear what others think of the reviews they are getting?  Want to see if I am doing things right.

I have had people apologize for maybe being too ruff, and others hesitant to really give their opinion(that is just the feeling I got).

I, for one, always give my real thoughts on any story I read, I don't see how a person can improve if they don't hear the truth, the hard reviews tell me the most - I am not saying that someone telling me they think I suk and they hope I will die shortly are any good - I do love the ones that sing my praise even though I know I am not worthy, but I like it anyway.

In some of the earlier contests I entered here, being honest was not what some wanted I think, as I received some really nasty feed back after leaving what I thought was constructive feedback.  Have not run into that for quite a while.

What has been your experience and what kinda feedback do you want? 




Edited by Suave - 22 Oct 2018 at 1:31am
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wateringcan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote wateringcan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 3:47am
I don't know if it's because people think it's too late to give feedback, but I have found that Beta gave me more insight as to what was not working than on the forum. I prefer people to be honest and point out what doesn't work or how it could be improved. I'm not going to continue with any story I write for this competition, so it's not for a redraft, but it's useful to know so you can learn for the future.

When giving feedback, I just try to be balanced, I suppose. I think it's really important to point out what's working well in someone's story so they know they have something to build on. I've never read anything (anywhere) where I've thought "this person just should not write" because everybody's got something so I wouldn't want to only point out what needs improved because I don't want to crush anyone's confidence and potentially deprive the world of a great writer-in-development!

So I tend to pick out everything I loved, start there, then bullet point everything I think could be improved, but return to the positives at the end so they hopefully don't feel go away feeling down. 

One thing I'm in the habit of doing that I don't know whether I should is make suggestions (e.g. "I would prefer it if x happened instead of y, as I think it would give me more sympathy for the character" rather than just saying "could you make the character more sympathetic?"). I guess I feel like if I'm just saying vague things like that, I'm not really helping that much. It makes more sense to me to point how exactly how you can - for e.g. - make a character more sympathetic so the person can apply that to their next story, but I don't know if people feel it's intrusive.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote callmedeb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 9:26am
I tend to err on the side of niceness, but if there's something that can be learned for the next script I will definitely point it out (nicely - I am Canadian after all).

I always appreciate the fact that someone took the time to read my scrip and welcome all feedback, as long as it's constructive. Specific examples are great to give too.

Cheers,

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 9:35am
I am probably one of the rough ones. I come from a background of feedback from editors, professors and university classmates, and public reviews, which don't carry a 'compliment sandwich' obligation. OTOH if I have absolutely nothing positive to say, i don't review at all. 

Feedback? Most of what I get on here is taste things, where I'm probably going to smile, nod, and disregard, or something I hear a lot which is that I write complicated sentences. That I try to listen to, but as I know I'm not writing Eco, let alone Joyce, I'm rarely sure how much simpler I can make things. It annoys me at times, honestly, when it's grammatically correct but just not simple. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Random Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 9:48am
I will say what I think, but I'll try to ease the delivery and make sure I include the positive as well.  Problem is it might take three days to decide what I think.

Over time I've discovered most people don't like honesty, though, so I limit the pieces about which I have an opinion.  I'm also a corner case (as Christoph Morin found to his chagrin), so what I think might not apply to a normal person.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Zblugg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 9:54am
I tend to be just a tad too positive if I'm not careful. Not that I'm not being honest, but I will put more emphasis on the positive things than on the negative ones. 

So I make a conscious effort to try and find constructive things to say, kinks to iron out, etc. It's quite hard for me, in general. I would probably suck as a literary editor! LOL 

EDIT: Also, good work, me, for completely missing the initial question. 
The reviews I'm getting are usually pretty fair, I find. I've had harsher reviews here and there (I've seen Jennifer Quail's ill-quill spilled on my last Short Story entry, hehehe... LOL), but as far as I'm concerned, nothing ever felt undeserved, not one bit. 


Edited by Zblugg - 22 Oct 2018 at 10:04am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote thesaura73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 10:00am
Nixie's topic on this the creative writing forum has lots of thoughts on feedback that I think hold true for screenplay! I go in first as a reader and try and limit my criticism to what tripped me up as a reader (with often a caveat that maybe I am just being obtuse in my reading at the moment!). I try not to make suggestions because it's their story/screenplay and I'm not there to rewrite what they did. I try to give the kind of feedback I'd like to get. 

I have read some things that I felt were lacking where I am surprised by the number of only-kind, encouraging reviews with lines like "That was amazing, great job!" While I get being encouraging, I don't understand not giving constructive feedback if it's warranted. Especially since on those entries, I'm not sure the writers had the benefit of betas (so they might really need or be seeking feedback).

I think for screenplay it is a little different from short story because I have seen people make comments on missing things in SPs (not mine) that are apparent if you are following the scene headings, action lines, etc. I feel some people read SPs as if they are short stories and then are missing the SP elements (then missing the point of the SP).

Edited to add: Just went back to read what NYCM tells contestants about the forums: "This forum is to help writers receive honest and helpful feedback, and has no effect on the judging."

Edited to further add: Hey, I missed Suave's question, too! LOL I think my reviews are fair and overall, echo the doubts I had as I was writing it (except for Suave's, which hit on something that never even crossed my mind! And it was a good catch!). I always wonder about the nice ones (what is so horrible that they are refraining from mentioning to me?!)...


Edited by thesaura73 - 22 Oct 2018 at 10:24am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lisafox10800 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 10:03am
It's funny, having participated in NYCM prose and screenplay comps, I find the reviews on the Prose forums to be more detailed and constructive than in Screenplay. I'm not sure if it's because people are more honest there, more active there, or because it's actually harder to write a Short Screenplay than it is a short story, given all the formatting constraints...

I personally tend to be more detailed over in the Creative Writing Corner. Not sure why that is. Maybe I'm just more comfortable there since I'm still very much a Screenwriting newbie?

Either way, I always try to point to the positive and if I have something constructive to say, I say it. Politely and with respect for the author who toiled over his or her piece, just like I did with mine. 

And to the earlier point about beta versus forums - they serve two very different purposes. Beta is ALWAYS more useful and detailed than forum because your beta readers are like your doulas as you're giving birth to an idea. Forum reads are the people coming to visit that baby once you're home. They may comments that you could have/should have done things differently, and you take that with you for when the next kid arrives. Very rarely will someone tell you outright that your baby is ugly. And if they do, well, that's just not nice.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wateringcan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 10:18am
Originally posted by Random Random wrote:


Over time I've discovered most people don't like honesty

Is it totally unfair that I kinda think if you can't take the heat you should get out of the kitchen? Actually, maybe it is...

I guess like Jennifer I'm coming from years of workshopping, editing, and jobs where you write a comedy and the only fb you get is 'not funny' 😂 maybe this is one of those 'if I have to take it others should too' biases, although at the same time I'd think people want to learn if they're paying money for this and if they do want to take their writing further then accepting negative feedback is an essential skill to learn  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Random Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Oct 2018 at 10:32am
Originally posted by lisafox10800 lisafox10800 wrote:

It's funny, having participated in NYCM prose and screenplay comps, I find the reviews on the Prose forums to be more detailed and constructive than in Screenplay. I'm not sure if it's because people are more honest there, more active there, or because it's actually harder to write a Short Screenplay than it is a short story, given all the formatting constraints...


That or it's much harder to wrap your head around a screenplay, where action and dialog are separate entities.  In prose everything is laid out in words, and you can track what is going on.  In screenplay you have to 'imagine' the finished product as a whole.

Add to that the requirement of keeping direction to a minimum and you end up with half-painted scenes and dry dialog.  If you're not used to adding the emotion and set dressing what you end up with is much, much harder to immerse yourself into.

I'm not convinced the people who do this for a living are any better at it, hence the 'pitch', where you fill in all those blanks.
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