Scripted Plays: The Wrong Way to Write a FR
In my opinion the purpose of writing field reports is to provide educational value instead of entertainment value. I notice that a lot of guys in the community have a tendency to write “scripted plays” for their FRs/LRs. Unfortunately not only do they make it difficult for readers to read but the writing style may hinder the author’s ability to communicate the bigger picture of what went on in the interaction. There is something to be said about writing good FRs and scripted plays aren’t the way to do it.
First, what is a scripted play? A scripted play is a FR that looks like the following:
PUA: A, B, C
HB: D, E, F
PUA: J, K, L
HB: M, N, O
PUA: R, S, T
HB: X, Y, Z
While almost all FRs include some quotes of the verbal exchange, scripted plays stand out because they have an exceptionally high amount of information that summarizes the verbal nature of the interaction in a very literal manner. Its disturbing when I see a scripted play because they are not easy on the eyes and I don’t want to skim through two pages of quotes to understand the gist of the FR.
Everyone has heard of the saying that 93% of communication is non-verbal. Well in a sense the same thing applies to FRs since the specific words we use are only about 7% of the communication in the interaction. Instead writers should focus more on the vibe and ambience of the interaction. To some extent readers can infer the nature of the vibe based on the words but overall it is much easier to describe the vibe by summarizing the report in a “paragraph” like manner. The key is to focus on the big picture.
It is important to focus on the big picture because that is where we learn the most from the interaction. With every interaction there is usually a couple things in particular that stand out. Your goal as writer is to focus on them. Separate the meat from the lettuce. If something is redundant and unnecessary then remove it completely.
Lots of FRs consist of a scripted play followed by the lessons learned at the end. However, the very best FRs flow in such a manner that the reader can infer the lessons that the author learned without the author having to explicitly say so. Am I saying that the author shouldn’t summarize what he learned at the very end? No, I think the author should still do so but the goal when writing a FR is to convey as much about the interaction as possible using the fewest amount of words.
Summarizing some verbal exchanges in the interaction is fine but its helpful when the exact words are directly relevant to the big picture. Usually this occurs during key points in the interaction. Key exchanges are those moments where what you said or did may have made or broke the interaction altogether. Another good reason for including verbal exchanges in FRs is when you’re showing specific examples of techniques and concepts such as push-pull or sexual escalation.
Think of your FRs as story telling. Every story has a plot and then a climax. Your goal is to capture the reader and take them through a journey. If it’s going to be a longer FR entice them right from the start with a good title and introductory paragraph. From there talk about the key points in the interaction and in particular talk about points of transition. When necessary quote particular lines verbatim from the interaction and keep the reader hooked. Add emotion to your FRs and give the reader a sense of how you and the other parties felt. Once its all done the readers should have a clear idea of how things went down and will learn from the report.
