Like any up and coming so-called writer, I have a hard drive FULL of first drafts, half drafts, title pages, notes, treatments, and drool… but this is different for me, for some reason.  I wrote a couple of different drafts myself, ² then, at the point of my most subjectivity, I roped three unsuspecting people into workshopping it with me.

The workshop was comprised of my partner and two of my very close friends. These are among the very few people that I trust enough to read my work without fearing judgement, well, personal judgement.  There is a certain vulnerability to putting a work in progress out to be read.  Not only was I admitting that I put my best efforts into this 100 page pile of papers, but that after  my best efforts it still wasn’t finished.  On top of all that, I was asking them to spend a good chunk of time reading it and then committing several hours to discussing it with me.

After everyone had read it, the four of us talked about the script in general; the characters, the story as a whole, the holes in the whole, the strengths, the weaknesses, etc.  Then we sat down and went through the entire script page by page breaking it down further.  It took better part of a day and a half.  So two days, eaten out of their rare three day weekend.  All that for ONE free lunch.  It’s a big ask, and they were troopers.

It was an amazing process, the workshopping.  There were three very different voices coming at in in three very different ways, being very honest and open with how they felt with the script and the story.  I assure you it wasn’t two days of my besties talking about how awesome I was.  Far from it.  I took none of the criticism to heart, as a personal attack on me or my work, but as criticism and much needed objectivity that will help my project grow to new heights. I got so much out of it.  Perhaps one day when I can afford to buy them two lunches, and perhaps slightly fancier ones, I will do it on another project.  It was an absolutely invaluable process. I recommend it to anyone.

After that, I spent the last day of my holiday working in some of the changes we talked about.  Then every waking moment over the next week.  (Time was starting to bear down on me and I had a deadline to make.) I didn’t take everything they said word for word, because ultimately it was my script and I had to really discern what the story I want to tell was.  However, I now had a better sense of the flaws and how I could possibly make the story more precise and clear.

Then I made my partner read it twice more… in one day.  We worked on the typos and made sure all the lines read right and then… well, and then there was nothing more I could do.  Well, of course, there is always more to do, but I had gotten it to the point of a solid draft.  It told a decent story and showed off my writing potential (whatever that may be).  I was proud to submit what was in front of me.

Then it was gone.  Out of my hands.  There was nothing more I could do.  Now, I can only wait and see what happens with it.

And start on my next project, of course.

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Mary Sue

a term used for a character in a piece of fiction who is really the author’s idealized self-image, often shallow and uninteresting to anyone but the author. Mary Sues dominate any story in which they are included and are most often seen in online fan fiction. The term originated with Paula Smith’s 1974 character from Star Trek fan fiction.

I added a link taking you to a “Mary Sue Litmus Test” to help you determine if you’ve fallen into lazily writing this over-cliched character.

Note: There are many many Mary Sue litmus tests available on the web, some pretty extensive ones at that.  I chose this one because it specifically pertained to the creation for characters in original fiction, whereas most include one or more sections of FanFic and/or RPG characters.  I figured this would be more helpful to people are writing something intended to be actually published.