Feedback: Friend or Foe?

Last night I hosted a reading of a new and very funny screenplay in my living room. I love being surrounded by talent - actors, writers and comics - and it's wonderful to see a writer's growth on the page, when a draft has actually changed and has gotten better as a result of those changes. I've always believed that rewriting reveals a writer's true talent - do you have the bravery to "kill your babies" and to completely overhaul those first instinctive raw words? Are you able to retain the original intention in the process?


After the reading, a few people stayed behind to offer the writer feedback and it got me thinking about this component of creativity - the "notes sessions" that are part of the creative process. Certainly, we can lose sight of our own work while in the midst of it - we often speak about being "too close" to the material or feeling overwhelmed by the size of the task. Maybe the changes we're making seem to be unraveling every line, the paints we've chosen to "correct" have now "ruined" the original vision or an actor is "grasping" in the middle of a limited rehearsal schedule.

There is that moment, in the middle, when it seems we will never reach the end. It is often when we are feeling the most lost that we reach out and ask for help, ask for notes, ask for feedback -- I'm starting to think that is THE WORST time to ask. The work itself is fragile and the artist behind the work needs nothing but love and passion and support to keep going. If we aren't very careful as artists, we may hear words that STOP our creativity rather than SUPPORT it.

How can you keep this from happening?

HANDPICK THE PEOPLE IN THE ROOM.

If you need to hear something read, work with actors you trust and know. If the song isn't working, schedule a meeting with your mentor. If you're just about to throw the painting through a window, take a breath and track down an old classmate to talk shop.

If you can't handpick the people, is it possible to meet with a cheerleader in advance to boost your confidence? Or perhaps, you can visualize the meeting/notes session in advance and come up with a plan about how you can handle yourself if the going gets tough - ask for a glass of water or step out for a bathroom break to stop the flow if you're feeling overwhelmed.

CONTROL THE CONVERSATION, IF YOU CAN

Limit your audience to three questions you want answered during the feedback session. Write those questions down and have them in front of you. Give each person a limited period of time in which to answer those questions. When the time is up, it's up.

In industry situations, this may not be possible but have you tried? Some wonderful ways I've heard of artists dealing with executive notes sessions is to A. request written notes in advance of the meeting, B. to take a tape recorder to the meeting or C. to request that the notes sessions be broken into "acts" so that there is more frequent feedback but the information becomes very specific.

FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE

Don't ask what is wrong with your piece - ask what works, what moved people, what stuck out as really interesting, what they liked, what draws their eye, what makes them feel. Focus on ways in which those positive aspects can be enhanced.

As they say in the South - you catch more bears with honey...if you know what people love about your work, you'll focus on your strengths and hey, you may even be more motivated to finish!

Last night's screenplay had already been through numerous drafts and the writer was seeking very specific information from her audience. Her readers had read several drafts and were able to reference the changes and speak about the script with the full history of the project in mind. The tone was helpful and friendly and the notes were uber-specific.

But I've certainly witnessed NIGHTMARE situations with other creative projects where an artist is nearly being attacked by a well-meaning friend who actually harbors quiet jealousy or even worse, given notes by a room full of strangers who have no concept of an artists entire body of work and how this piece relates.

Maybe your piece is in an earlier state and needs more protection. Maybe it's ready to be seen and you're feeling super confident. Either way, the most important element is your own awareness of what you NEED from the feedback in order to continue the work.

Before you open yourself to feedback, listen to your gut then choose the format and venue and way that you WANT to receive your notes. We are only at the mercy of others if we allow ourselves to be.

How do you handle feedback?

the art of ritual

For the past two weeks, I've been a writing monster. I have churned out pages and I have worked non-stop for hours. It's been a long, long time since I've had such an uber-productive run and I was completely enjoying the flow until yesterday, suddenly, it all stopped. I got not one word on the page. Barely even opened up my laptop except to check Facebook. My agitation was palpable. I was easily irritated, grumpy and tired. I knew my emotions were a result of not being creative but I didn't know what had happened to stop the momentum.

I wanted to know why.

So this morning, I'm taking a look at my ritual. I'm asking myself, "What are the actions I take from the moment I wake up until the moment I sit down to work?"

In the past two weeks, I started my mornings with breakfast then a meditation that calmed me. I also announced out loud to the Universe or whoever else may be listening, my creative intentions for the day such as, "Today, I will write 5,000 new words." or "Today, I will revise the first 30 pages." My mornings were quiet, disconnected and completely focused on creation. There were no phone calls. There was some email checking and Facebook posting but mostly, there was the wonderful nothingness of being. I fed myself and I had a deadline: at 3:30 pm, my fiance would return from his rehearsals and my writing day would end.

So, my effective ritual had been...

Get Up Quietly
Tend the Body -- Clean & Eat
Social Stuff on Computer
Meditation -- Announcing Daily Creative Intention Aloud
Writing Until Imposed Deadline

That had worked.  How did it get stopped yesterday? Yesterday, I woke up and immediately returned a phone call while I was still in bed. I didn't eat or shower first thing. My fiance had the day off so I didn't meditate or announce my intentions and there was no deadline so the day seemed entirely free for my use. How did I use it? Cleaning and piddling about and "computerizing" which is being on a computer with no results to show for it.

Then I got angry at myself for not writing and that turned into aggravation and grumpiness and snapping and the anxiety that comes when you feel like you should be doing something other than what you are doing at that exact moment in time.

Sound familiar?

TODAY'S CREATIVITY EXERCISE

What is your most effective ritual? Do you have one? Do you need one? Take a moment today to analyze the ways in which you support your creative work. On a good day, what did you do? On a bad day, what did you do? How did they differ? What aspects or actions are helpful to your creative process and which are damaging?

It can be as simple as looking at what you are eating or drinking. Is coffee necessary for your wake up? Does sugar give you a lift and then drop you like a hot potato halfway through the work? Are you hung-over and slow to start? Are you treating your body like an extension of your creativity or is your intellect/talent dragging that body around with you? Can the two learn to work together?

Just take the next few days and pay attention to the way you work. In what ways can your creative process be enhanced, further supported? Do you need noise? Do you need quiet? Do you need more light?

When you spot a problem, fix it. If something works, keep it.

And please, feel free to share your helpful suggestions through the comments section below.

Creative Goal Setting for 2010

A. Make a list of your CREATIVE GOALS for 2010.

-- Any projects that you've started and want to finish, ideas you've had but never started, projects that pay the bills, projects that seem unrealistic, dream projects and forgotten scripts. Make a comprehensive list.

B. Now, prioritize those goals.

-- Number them starting with 1. Which is most pressing? Which is most urgent? Which is most important to you?

C. Now, starting with Project #1, make a list of the steps you need to take to take that project to completion.

Example:

1. Finish Ghostwriting Novel

-- Ten pages a day for ten days

-- Collect photo images

-- Ask agent about how to insert into manuscript

-- Notes from author

-- Notes from agent

-- Final polish

D. Do this for each project.

E. Now, go back and assign dates for each of these steps. The date by which it will be completed.

F. Now, put the list away and close your eyes. Which project has your heart? Why aren't you working on that one? What can you do to make room for that project?

G. Visualize yourself at the end of your creative journey for that dream project, your heart project. What does it look like? Are you holding an Oscar in your hand? Are you signing books at the Union Square B&N? Are you shooting a film? Are you staring up at the marquee with your name in lights?

DREAM BIG!!!!

writing intensive in nyc

PLEASURE AND RISK: Testing the Limits
a weekend writing intensive with Brooke Berman and Karen Hartman

Explore pleasure and risk-taking (and the pleasure of risk-taking) in this two day exploration of what lives at the edges of your own writing.

Saturday August 8th and Sunday August 9th
1-6 pm both days
Art New York - 520 8th Avenue b/w 36th and 37th

What is more delicious, safety or breaking boundaries? This workshop will help you figure out what is SAFE, how to make a haven for yourself as an artist. We will also approach what is UNSAFE, how to move beyond individual boundaries and "limits" to create work at a new level.

Both instructors will be present the entire time, with lots of writing ideas and exercises, and opportunity to share work as well.

$250 for the weekend.

Limited space, write to Brooke and Karen at karensworkshop@gmail.com
with questions or to reserve.

Who We Are:

BROOKE BERMAN's plays have been produced and workshopped across the US and in London. She is a two-time recipient of both the Francesca Primus and Lecompte du Nouy awards; she is a recipient of a Berilla Kerr Award, a Helen Merrill Award, and a commissioning grant from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture for the play Until We Find Each Other, which was produced at Steppenwolf in 2002, directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Brooke’s play Hunting and Gathering premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, and was named one of the Ten Best of 2008 by New York Magazine. Her memoir, NO PLACE LIKE HOME, will be published by Random House in July, 2010. Brooke is also a screenwriter whose credits include the short ALL SAINTS DAY (directed by Will Frears), MAJOR MINOR DETAILS (the Mark Gordon Company), DISOBEDIENCE (Vox films), and an adaptation of her play SMASHING. Brooke has taught playwriting and creative writing as a guest artist in the New York City public school system, at assorted colleges, as well as privately to adults and through the “24 With 5 Teaching Collective” which she co-created at New Dramatists with Karen Hartman, Lynn Nottage, Jorge Cortinas and Dominick Taylor.

KAREN HARTMAN has taught playwriting for years at the Yale School of Drama, Yale University, Bennington College, and other universities and New York companies. She is the author of Gum, Leah’s Train, Goliath (Dorothy Silver New Play Prize), Going Gone (N.E.A. New Play Grant); Anatomy 1968; Girl Under Grain (Best Drama in NY Fringe; ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl (Music by Gina Leishman, AT&T Onstage Award); Troy Women; Donna Wants, Goldie, Max, and Milk; Sea Change, a musical with AnnMarie Milazzo, and MotherBone, an opera with Graham Reynolds. Her plays have been performed in New York at the Women’s Project, NAATCO, P73, the NY Fringe, and Summer Play Festival, and at regional theaters including Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Magic Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and elsewhere. She was awarded new play commissions from ACT in San Francisco, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, and others. Her work is published by Theater Communications Group, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Backstage Books, and NoPassport Press. An alumna of New Dramatists and Yale (B.A., M.F.A.), Karen has received playwriting support from Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, the N.E.A., the Helen Merrill Foundation, a Daryl Roth "Creative Spirit" Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship to Jerusalem, and Core Membership at the Playwrights Center.

the artist's journey

free membership to omebo.com

THIS WAS SENT TO US BY DAILY CREATOR, LUCIA:

There is a really dynamic website that I would like to share: http://omebo.com

This is a web-site that a friend of mine (Blake Roberts), who is an inspiring, loving, thoughtful & generous human being & artist started as an open forum for maintaining & documenting individual dreams. Blake has offered me & any of my friends free membership. So come on board & join Omebo.com!!!

Here is a little info about Omebo.com:

Omebo is an online magazine dedicated solely to promoting, inspiring and helping people to live their dreams. Each month we do features on members of Omebo from all around the world who are want to share their story, their dreams and their world with us. We have a collection of some the most amazing and inspiring stories, told by individuals in their own words. Since the beginning of Omebo, we have three of our members who have already had their dreams come true, shortly having others read them and come to their aid. We also just gave out our first $1000.00 Ombeo members scholarship to a member to aid in helping them fulfill an immediate need. In addition to our popular Expressions section we have articles and entertainment and lots more to come!!!! Take a tour at www.omebo.com

Here is how to sign up for free membership:

Go to www.omebo.com click on the Sign UP and go directly to the sign up page. Then click on the drop down where it says type of membership, put in promo, then complete the rest of the information requested...in the bottom box it will ask for promotional code. type in friends1825 and you will have a free membership. Please feel free to give the promo code to anyone and everyone that you think might be interested in Omebo. For the next 90 days we are offering free memberships to anyone who wants to join the site. We don't allow anyone under the age of 14 years old however.

using poetry for character development 5

Forcing our characters to keep their thoughts succinct, brief, helps to solidify exactly what is important to them. It cuts to the core of their motivations and desires.

DAILY CREATIVE EXERCISE:

WRITE A TANKA

Tanka is an ancient form of Japanese poetry believed to exist for the last 1300 years which makes it older than haiku. As a form, the tanka poem consists of 31 syllables arranged in a metric pattern of 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7.

In Japanese, tanka is written in one straight line with no stresses and no rhyme scheme though the sounds and words are meant to resonate emotionally as in contemporary American free verse.

In English, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units:

5
7
5
7
7

Use this form to explore the driving motivation behind all of your characters actions. You can choose a theme such as OBSESSION or LOSS and have each of your characters write a tanka to express their "take" on it.

Use the below poems as a guide for structure and form. Tankas often deal with how nature is reflective of our inner emotional states. How a tree can symbolize our own growth, how the weather express our moods. Let your characters grow nostalgic, self-reflective. Let them wallow a bit.

Lying alone
my black hair tangled
uncombed,
I long for the one
who touched it first.

-- IZUMI SHIKIBU

Did he appear
because I fell asleep
thinking of him?
If only I'd known I was dreaming,
I'd never have wakened.

-- ONO NO KOMACHI