Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Decide the end result
Attach your lightning rod
Focus

The very first thing you’ll need to do is decide on the end result. By that I mean, what will it look like when it’s done?

Here’s where your Preview comes in handy.

Visualize your Preview stretched out over the length of the Grid. You might have sections you can see clearly. But there’s a lot of empty space, right? The idea doesn’t cover it yet, does it?

That’s what you do now — before you start writing!

Begin by deciding on your outcome. For this book, it was the FAST System, broken down into six sections (Setup, Focus, Apply, Strengthen, Tweak, Payoff). At this point, I didn’t know much more than that.

If you were writing Shawshank, your “end result” might be a story with three major sections (1. Andy goes to prison, 2. Andy becomes a fixture of the system, and 3. life on the outside). That’s the overall ride.

Then, as you start to see the picture more clearly in your mind, lay that out over the grid.

Use Setup and Payoff to help break down your idea. For Shawshank, we might give 25% to the beginning (he goes to prison), 50% to the middle (becomes a fixture), and 25% to the end (life outside). Now we have the broad strokes.

This book had six equal sections. Suddenly, the idea is clear.

And remember, everything you’re doing right now can be changed later. If you’re bouncing between two different ideas, just choose one.

Pick one, and keep moving forward. You’re about to write this thing so fast, you could always chuck it out completely and do it all again, if you wanted to. And you’d still have it finished in less time than the old way of writing.

So once you’ve made your decision, it’s time for some math.