Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Grade your writing
Decide which way to go
Strengthen

Don’t worry. This has nothing to do with school. It’s not a “grade” like “A+” or “F”. It’s more like the grade of a ski slope. “Double black diamond” might be a steep cliff. “Double green circle” might be a bunny hill that’s virtually flat.

At this stage, every chunk of your writing will fit into one of four categories. And the categories have nothing to do with how “good” it is. Instead, they grade how “effective” it is.

And we’ll use the grades to make it more effective.

The grades are: Re-Focus, Research, Edit or Tweak.

Re-Focus means the section (chapter/segment/etc.) misses the mark entirely. It needs a major re-think. When you Re-Focus, you’ll send that chunk through the Focus and Apply phases again.

Research means the idea is there, but it’s not very effective, detailed, or authentic. It needs a whole new layer of... well... something. You’ll get that “something” through research.

Edit means the idea is there, and it’s effective, but it’s awkward and clunky, and doesn’t work in the context of your project. You’ll need to blend and cut and re-shape.

And Tweak means the underlying ideas and presentation are pretty solid. The words might need a lot of work — it might need a lot more zing — but the idea is ready for the next phase.

Different sections may go through each of these grades before they’re ready. And that’s perfectly okay. (It won’t take as long as you might suspect, either.)

The grades give us a way of determining where we are, and where we need to go. By grading your work, you’ll map out your rewrite effortlessly. You’ll have a map that shows you exactly which way to go.

But how do we determine which grades to give? How can you tell which way to take your writing? How do you know what “works” and what doesn’t?