My/Your/Our Writing Sucks

If you have ever had a piece of literary work that has been brought under close scrutiny you know just how badly it feels to get your guts ripped out from your inside. It is not the best feeling in the world.

We all want validation and we all want someone to tell us that we are doing a good job or that they genuinely liked something we have written.

Unfortunately there are realistic things to be said about your writing and if you don't go into it with this knowledge and become prepared for that eventual determination that what you wrote is maybe perhaps "flawed" or not essentially "good" then you are in the wrong business.

I have (and continue to have) many of my ideas and scripts torn apart and scrutinized, but I revel in it. Okay, maybe not revel, but at least I appreciate it. Whatever it is that I can learn from others about what I had written will help me in making said writing better. It will also save me from a great deal of heartache when I do lay the script on the line and get that feedback from the person(s) who I really want/need to like my writing (like managers, producers, and of course agents).

A few articles have been published lately, one a letter to anyone wishing to send a well-respected industry man their screenplay, the other a list of ten things that you want to try and avoid when trying to submit your work to such people. I hope these two reads help paint a better picture of what it is like to be in their position.

It's not about you, it's about politics and not putting these people in awkward situations.

Josh Olson's "I Will Not Read Your F---ing Script"
(Caution, NSFW - very strong language.)

Script Magazine's "Ten Big Mistakes..."