106. You haven't run your material by lots of people, early!

Some people think it jinxes a story to tell it before you write it. I disagree. The more you tell your story to people, the more practice you get telling it, and the more you feel the rough spots and, most importantly, the more numerous reactions you get to your tale. You get to hear people's instant take on your great movie idea. If they go all glassy eyed, well… back to the drawing board…

If, consistently, you tell your story to people, and they react with huge grins, looks of amazement, exaltations of joy!.... then you know you're on to something. Tell your story to as many people as possible, as often as possible, all the way through the writing process.... so that you can get a handle on what you are doing. 

I also firmly believe in giving your rough drafts to people to read. As early as possible. Long ago, I was a lot nicer than I am now. A friend had written a novel. A novel! I shudder to think how much reading and note-making that would have involved!!  I asked him if he'd like me to read it and give my comments. He said, “No, before I show it to anyone I'm going to wait until it's completely finished.” I told him I looked forward to reading it when it was published. There's no point in reading someone's work at the very end. All they want to know, or all you will want to know, if that someone happens to be you, is that, no surprise, what you have written is perfect. If you wait until you think you're done, done, done, all you want them to do is fall prostrate before you and weep at the magnitude of your genius. You don’t want to hear about the problems.

When you've way, far down the road, it's hard to change directions.

If someone reads your outline, or your first draft, or maybe even your fifth draft, you're going to be open to suggestions and criticisms. But, if you wait until you’ve sweated out 19 drafts, you will have so much invested in the script, at that late date, you won’t want to hear you wrote your story around the wrong main character.

Give your script to several readers many times during its development. Everyone will have an opinion. Some will to be worthless, and you'll quickly know not to give your script to those people again. Sometimes, however, you will find a reader who not only can give you insightful criticism, but thoughtful suggestions on ways to improve your script. The best readers can solve the problems they point out. These people are worth their weight in free lunches.

When you ask people to critique your work, how can you help the process? Michael Arndt, who wrote Little Miss Sunshine, sends out questionnaires when he gives his script to friends to read. I’ve done the same thing, and it’s helpful. If you have specific questions abut the script, ask your readers to answer them. The more pointed your questions, the more revealing their answers. 

The most talented writer I know, Benedict Fitzgerald, (Wise Blood, The Passion Of The Christ) is the only writer I know who doesn't send scripts to anyone during the writing process. He needs no notes. He writes his scripts and turns them in. He is that good and that self-confident.

I am not, and you probably should not be either.