Script Doctoring - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 164

Two, listen. There's usually one spot in the line where the actor is obviously
having trouble. That's where you want to make your change. Your ears should tell
you what your fingers should change.
Three, chopping is usually winning. The shorter a line is, the less chance there is
for something to go wrong with it. When in doubt, throw words out.
And finally, remember that you're not in charge. It's the voice director's show,
not the writer's, and your role is to support, assist, and inform. Keep to that, and
establish a good working relationship with the voice director, and everything else is
details.
Quick-and-Dirty Secrets
The basics aside, there are certain tips and tricks that you can use when script doc-
toring to make your life easier, your work come out better, and your inevitable panic
attacks end more quickly. While nothing replaces the basics of being organized, ef-
ficient, and open, there are ways to shave time off the corners of what you're doing
while strengthening the quality of the work.
Break assignments into manageable sizes. Trying to tackle everything at once is
foolhardy, not to mention potentially very depressing when you constantly look up
and see how much is left to do. Instead, you're better off taking some time at the start
to chop the work into manageable chunks that you stand a good chance of finishing
quickly. The sense of accomplishment that comes from wrapping up a discrete piece
of work is often vital fuel in powering on to the next one, and the next, and the next.
Furthermore, it helps your coworkers. If you're completing stuff in chunks, you
can hand it off in chunks, and the people down the deliverable chain can get work-
ing on it that much sooner. Sitting on the entire script until it's done means that
other folks are potentially twiddling their thumbs waiting for you, something that
no project can afford. Writing in easily handled units also helps with setting up feed-
back loops, and with helping to make sure that problems get tackled quickly and
before they get out of hand. After all, if the team cuts a level, it's a lot easier to
make the necessary adjustments a few hundred lines at a time, as opposed to a few
thousand.
Set up quick feedback loops. Figure out who needs to sign off on what you're
doing (as opposed to who just wants to get their fingers in the pie), and make sure
you set up a clean and easy process for getting feedback from them. This is imperative
for producing a fast workflow, otherwise one party or the other is going to be sitting
around waiting, unable to move forward.
Building the loop means building the parameters—who gets it, how much time
they have to turn it around, and what happens if they don't. The number of people
involved should be pared back as far as possible; the more people involved in any
given feedback process, the longer it takes, and the rate of increase is most decidedly
not linear. Be merciless in chopping unnecessary names, and get the producer or the
equivalent to back your play. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting bogged down