JaneEspenson.com

Having friends who are willing and able to give you notes on your scripts is a hugely valuable thing. Especially if they’re good at it. But there is a certain note that you should be very careful of. The “more like this” note. Sometimes someone will say “I love it every time Character A insults Character B. Put in more of that.” Or “All your action stuff is so great. I wish there was more.”

It’s really tempting, of course, to go chasing that praise and to add more of the thing they like. And sometimes it’s a good idea. But lots of times, the reason they love the insults, or the action, or whatever, so much is because there’s exactly the right amount of it.

It’s like cheesecake. You don’t know you’ve had enough until you’ve had too much.

This is one reason to keep some fresh eyes in your stable of friends-who-can-give-notes. If you’ve plumped up some part of the script in response to requests, the people who requested more aren’t going to be likely to read the rewrite and say, “Oh. You were right. Now there’s too much.” They’ve got a bit of ego invested in the note now. So a fresh reader is going to be really helpful. “Gahh!” they may say, “Too much cheesecake!”

Lunch: a tuna sandwich from the gas station. It sounds bad, I know, but it’s a really good gas station.