Don't Quit Your Day Job-Page Judge's Notes

[doitafraid User Find all posts View Profile Close doitafraid]

Well, received my coverage today from Page Awards, and am impressed. Being my first one, it blowing chunks was almost certain, but the notes were not as Simon Cowell-ish as I had feared.
The problems were pretty much what I had already figured out, ie, structure, pacing, etc. It supposedly has commercial potential (or maybe they were just being 'positive'), so guess I'm going to sweat through another half-dozen re-writes.

Coverage was definitely worth the money. And even encouraging somehow.

[ReoA Regular Find all posts View Profile Close ReoA]

Re: Don't Quit Your Day Job-Page Judge's Notes

Good for you. Don't quit your day job but don't quit writing either.

I'm sure you already know this but someone once said "Nothing good is ever written, only rewritten" or something to that effect. Martin Cruz Smith, who wrote the best-selling novel Gorkey Park, said he rewrote the first page over 800 times. I probably rewrote The Vicious Lamb of God, my action-adventure script that advanced to this year's Nicholl quarterfinals, twenty or thirty times - maybe more. Hopefully you're more skilled than I and can pick things up quicker so you don't need that many. But FWIW, if they think it's commercial (and not just blowing smoke to make you feel good), take their notes, decide the ones that make sense (as readers often skim, miss stuff, then suggest things that don't make sense), make it better, and get people you trust to go over it with a fine-tooth comb and dispassionately tell you the cold, hard truth - while perhaps sketching in another script.

Keep writing. You're one step closer to success.