Creative Process: Evaluation is part four of a five part series on the creative process.
Let’s start with this; you can’t do this stage alone, but it starts with you. Also, the timing of this step is fluid.
This stage is all about making your story better. After you have an outline (or plan) look it over with a critical eye as someone who has never seen it before. Are there any weak scenes? Character motivations not lining up? Try to be critical.
Once you’ve got it the best it can be, it’s time to show some people. At this stage, there are a few people I trust to give me honest feedback on my outlines. Some are writers. Some are readers.
I’m not going to go into the details of how to implement their advice (you can read more about that here and here).
So, once you’ve got their feedback, and you’ve tweaked the outline to your liking, it’s time to move to step five, Implementation.
One other thing to note: I mentioned the timing of this stage is fluid because it’s important to get evaluation (or feedback) once your story is written. Write your story, let it cook, edit, edit, edit, and then come back to this stage had get feedback from people again, now that the story is near completion.
Your beta readers will always catch something you missed; don’t skip this step.
Next week we’ll talk about some practical tips for accomplishing step five, Implementation.
Jump. Build, Fly.
F.C. Shultz