{"id":239013,"date":"2023-06-08T18:58:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T01:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/?p=239013"},"modified":"2024-02-23T05:24:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T13:24:44","slug":"a-writers-checklist-for-workshop-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/2023\/06\/08\/a-writers-checklist-for-workshop-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"A Writer&#8217;s Checklist for Workshop Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.21.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; da_is_popup=&#8221;off&#8221; da_exit_intent=&#8221;off&#8221; da_has_close=&#8221;on&#8221; da_alt_close=&#8221;off&#8221; da_dark_close=&#8221;off&#8221; da_not_modal=&#8221;on&#8221; da_is_singular=&#8221;off&#8221; da_with_loader=&#8221;off&#8221; da_has_shadow=&#8221;on&#8221; da_disable_devices=&#8221;off|off|off&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.21.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column _builder_version=&#8221;4.21.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.21.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When participating in a workshop, one of the critical elements is receiving notes from the instructor and from your fellow writers. Once the workshop concludes, students often form writing groups to continue the work of critique. Nothing is more valuable than getting objective <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">notes from fellow writers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But we also have a responsibility to give notes to writers. It&#8217;s a two-way street. So below is a checklist on how to generate good notes for your fellow writers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CHECKLIST:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Give notes based on the material in front of you. Don&#8217;t turn someone else&#8217;s script into your version of a script or movie you&#8217;d prefer to see.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Personal comments are not welcome. Whether or not it&#8217;s your genre or style, you should still be able to give notes about structure or basic character elements. The phrase that is unwelcome is some form of, &#8220;I hate this kind of movie. I&#8217;d never watch it.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Personal stories about your life, rather than the material before you, is a waste of someone else&#8217;s time.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Stick to the basics first. Structure, character, scene work.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> CONFLICT. Is it evident? Is it working?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Don&#8217;t make the critique personal. Every writer needs honesty but not brutal honesty. Put yourself in the position of a development exec. What is a professional, clinical, and objective means of delivering notes to a writer?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Help the writer present a professional script by pointing out format issues. Help correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If you give a note, be prepared to explain how to execute the note. If you make a statement like: \u201cThis scene doesn&#8217;t work.\u201d Explain to the writer why it doesn&#8217;t work and the steps to make it work.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Be aware of the DRAFT. A first draft is very different than a fourth or polish draft. Meet the writer where he or she is on the page.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Look for ways to help freshen genre, character, and dialogue. Help the writer make ordinary elements of scenes vivid, vibrant, and fascinating.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have a responsibility to give good notes. Here&#8217;s a checklist on how to generate good notes for your fellow writers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-screenwriting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239013"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239019,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239013\/revisions\/239019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}