Almost everyone has had to write for someone else at some point in their career, whether you’re writing copy for your client’s website, proofreading your boss’s slideshow, incorporating your editor’s revisions into your book or, like me, writing a video that best represents a brand.

As a screenwriter and author, one of the biggest challenges I face is balancing what I want to write and what my clients need me to write. Sure, I can (and do) write novels and screenplays for myself, where I pour my heart and soul into complex, multi-layered themes and interesting, evocative characters. But as a professional screenwriter for brands and businesses, I’ve found that sometimes my personal style doesn’t exactly translate to what my clients need.

I’d like to share some tips I’ve learned along the way on the best way to write for a client.

1. Be loyal to the brand

When writing for other people, it’s important to speak with their voice, not yours. Ideally, your style will fit exactly how the brand or client imagines themselves, but sometimes you have to write for brands you don’t connect with, and sometimes on topics you don’t even understand. In those cases, never lose sight of who you’re writing for. You need to be careful to write what is best for the brand, including phrases, word choice, tone, audience, and topics.

2. Keep it short

I think in terms of “additive” vs. “Subtractive” scripts for clients. This means I’ve tried writing scripts that are too short, asking the client to add details they think they need, and writing longer, more detailed pieces and asking the client to subtract details that are weird. In my experience, customers love what they do and are excited to learn more. This means that they rarely remove information from a script, and therefore it’s almost always better to write a shorter piece and let your client add anything they think was missed. Furthermore, brevity is the soul of ingenuity.

3. Murder your loved ones

There is simply no way to talk about writing without mentioning this pearl. It’s as true with customer-facing writing as it is with any other type of writing. You should be ready at any moment to completely rewrite, revise, delete, or gut your favorite parts of what you’ve written. It is for the good of the whole project, even if it is difficult.

4. Find out what your customer needs

Spoken or unspoken, articulated or not, it’s your job to discover exactly what your client needs from this particular piece of prose. A good conversation with your client is always ideal to resolve this, but sometimes even your client doesn’t know exactly what he needs. You may need to do some research to familiarize yourself with the best way to talk to your client’s customers – the audience.

5. Know your audience

Actually, he knows both audiences. Your customer is the main audience, so you need to write to engage them. But the best way to make your customer happy is to write to their audience.

6. Take care of your tone

Remember that, at the end of the day, writing is supposed to be ‘heard’ in the minds of the audience. You want your tone and voice to match what the viewer expects to see from the brand. You also want the choice of words you use to match the way a company talks about itself. That way you don’t end up writing a comedy skit to represent a very serious company, or the other way around.

7. Accept suggestions gracefully

Learn to distance yourself from criticism of your work. Usually everyone around you wants to contribute to the project, and that sometimes comes in the form of suggestions. When criticized, it can sometimes feel harsh. But it’s important to remember that the review is about this piece of writing, not your personality or writing skills. Learn to accept criticism without getting angry, understanding that what is best for the project outweighs what is best for your artistic pride.

8. You will be frustrated

It is unavoidable. At some point in your writing career, you will disagree with what you are told to write. I’m not talking about a moral or philosophical conundrum, but rather about disagreeing with the wording, the use of words, the structure, the message, or other fine details. Sometimes what you want to write and what your client wants to say are different. Sometimes what your customer wants will instinctively and profoundly feel wrong to you, but you’ll have to do what he asks anyway. You won’t always be able to write exactly what he wants, and sometimes it will be difficult or frustrating. Alright. Sometimes it’s just part of the creative process.

9. Do your research

Before you start the conversation about what specifically you’re going to write, you may need to study what exactly the client needs to convey. Research their needs and content, but also get familiar with how they talk about themselves, what other mediums already exist for that client/campaign, the types of words they use, and the tone they typically set. Then when we first discuss the script, we both start from the same level.

10. Know when to defend your choices (and when not to)

Part of writing is knowing why you’ve used the words you’ve used, what your reasons are for the decisions you make. Chances are you are writing for your client because you are the expert and they need you. That’s not without merit, and your stylistic or writing choices matter. There is a time to stand up to a suggested change and defend your original idea, because your customer is not infallible, and the old saying is wrong: the customer is not always right. But the writer isn’t always right, either. There are some battles worth fighting and some not worth fighting. It is important to know the difference.

These are just some tips when writing for your client, your boss, your client or whoever. The most important thing to remember is that writing can be extremely rewarding and everyone’s goal is the same: to create something impressive. All you really need is the attitude and the will to make it happen.