Writing in a Team - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 72

Naturally, you will want to tell your team what you expect from them and what they
can expect from you. Even if your writers don't ask, you may want to answer the
questions from Section 8.3. Not only should you be honest with them, you should
be honest with yourself. If you want your team to check in with you every day, don't
say “Check in with me when convenient.� Both you and your team will benefit.

8.5 Giving Feedback on Game Writing
Feedback, or “notes� as it is called in Hollywood, is an integral part of the creative
process. Everyone needs feedback, both positive and negative.
Ever heard of the feedback sandwich? It is the ideal structure for giving feedback.
Positive feedback is the bread, while criticism is the meat. Feedback should be quite
specific and relevant to the matter at hand. �You're a friendly person. Your writing
needs work, but overall, good job� will only serve to confuse your writer. The feed-
back sandwich for this paragraph so far might be, “I like how you start out with a
question to engage the reader. You do tend to use passive verbs like 'to be' a bit too
much. Overall, it looks like you're on track.� Simple, straightforward, and honest.
Despite the benefits of the sandwich, a few excuses do tend to crop up. If you
encounter them, here are a few answers.

•

“I don't have time to tell them what they're doing right.� Well, do you have
time to hire a new writer after this one quits? In the crunch of content devel-
opment, the answer will most likely be no.

•

“They know I like all the work I haven't specifically criticized.� Oh, really?
If your writer is half as neurotic as most, your writer may think you hate
everything but only had the time to critique the most serious gaffes. This
scenario rings even more true in game development, when you often don't
have time to critique everything.

•

“I don't want to step on the writers' creative toes.� Unless you will lose your
job because of it, step on those toes! This may come as a shock to you, but the
game industry occasionally suffers from a lack of good writing. This problem
may very well stem from the fact that no one had the guts to say that the story
or writing wasn't working. Airing your thoughts earlier rather than later will
save everyone a lot of time and anguish. If the story is working, your writers
need to know that as well, or else they may change things for the worse.

Warning! While the feedback sandwich works, never use it in isolation. If you
only give positive feedback moments before tearing into your writers' work, they will
alreadybe steeling themselveswhenever theyhear “I like howyou...� Worse still,
writers familiar with the feedback sandwich may think you're merely manufacturing
positive feedback and ignore it completely in favor of the “real� negative feedback.
Try to give positive feedback five times for each time you must use the feedback
sandwich to serve up criticism.