One rampant problem common amongst amateur writers is that they cannot take criticism. They are so close to their work, they cannot bear hearing anything but praise for what they’ve written, even if it isn’t the truth.
This tendency isn’t completely their fault. The problem with writing as a career is that everything we write is a reflection of who we are. Every plot decision and story choice and character is borne out of our own personality and life experiences.
The conflict is this:
Writing is an intensely personal pursuit. Filmmaking is all about collaboration.
And in order to be a successful screenwriter, you must distance yourself from your script. It must become something separate from yourself, an entirely separate being. You have to be able to examine it critically and be able to pick which feedback makes sense for your plot. But how do you do this? [Read more…]
