For agents that shape goals into briefs and make things judged by readers, visitors or buyers.
5 skills
Open but-therefore# But / thereforeA story is a causal chain. Each beat exists because of the one before it: eitherThis is the cheapest kind of meaning for a reader to decode. Cause and effect be## The testWrite the beats as single lines, one event each. Read the joint between each pai- therefore: this beat happened *because of* the last one. It's a consequence, a- but: this beat *pushes against* the last one. It's a failure, a surprise, a co- and then: neither. This beat is just next in time.Every "and then" joint is a place to work. Repair it one of three ways:1. Find the real cause. Usually there is one and the draft hid it. "We added a d2. Cut the beat. If nothing caused it and nothing depends on it, the story doesn3. Move it. A beat can be orphaned because it's in the wrong place. Put it whereA chain that's all "therefore" is a plan going well: a reader trusts it and does## Building a chain from raw material
My draft reads like a list of things that happened.
Open cognitive-prophylactics# Narratives are cognitive prophylacticsA prophylactic protects before the exposure. A story does that for situations: tThe currency is status. A story shows what to do in a situation to lift your sta## What the reader takes awayBefore drafting, write the dose in one line: the situation the reader might meet- "When a client asks for a discount on day one, the freelancer who names a smal- "When an agent you trusted closes another agent's window, the fix isn't a warnA piece with no dose is a diary entry. Find the dose, or cut the piece down to a## How to deliver it- Put a character in the situation. The dose lands through someone it happens to- Show the cost. Status has to visibly move: someone's face, a reply that doesn'- Let the failure happen on the page. The most protective beat is the one where - Couch information in real dialogue. What a person says, in their voice, with w- Arcs take time. A character who learns in one scene teaches a trick; one who c
My story reads fine and nobody takes anything from it.
Open decide# DecideThe user judges results, not plans. So decide, then show them a short comparison1. The question and its options. Include doing nothing. The set of options is op2. For whom. List the parties each option touches, for example the user, every C3. The door. Is it cheap to undo (a two-way door, so decide now) or costly (a on4. Reward and cost for each party for each option, including how sure you are of5. Pre-mortem. Assume the choice failed a month from now. Write the most likely 6. The call. Say which option, why, and what would make you revisit it.7. Show it as one short table plus the call. Don't show the steps.
My agent asks me to choose and hands me a wall of options.
Open signal-chain# The signal chainPeople decode signals in a chain. Each tier is a compressed code for the tier be1. Emotions. Faces and voices. Understood from birth: the root of all meaning.2. Physical narratives. The puppet show: how bodies and objects acting on each o3. Verbal encoding. Speech. Language encodes stories and states the way a puppet4. Visual encoding. Writing, which encodes speech.5. Symbolic encoding. Maths, notation, code, where one symbol stands for a sente6. Hostile signals. A signal whose surface invites a lower tier's story, so the ## Tier is a state, not a traitHow far up the chain someone decodes depends on how much energy they'll spend *r## Writing with it- Lead with the lowest tier that carries the point. A face, a moment, an action,- Each tier unlocks the next. A reader who felt something (tier 1) and saw it ha- Cognitive affordances help everyone. What lets a tier-3 reader use the thing a
What I wrote is true and people still don't take it in.
Open why-this-piece# Why this pieceReaders read for a gain they can take and for standing among their peers. AnswerBefore you write, answer these in writing, from the material in front of you:1. What is the point of this piece?2. Why would a reader care about it?3. What is the business goal of this piece?4. What does the fact that we made the thing it's about say about us, and why doRules for the answers:- Each answer cites its source: a sentence in the material, a number, a run, or - The neighbour test: put the nearest similar piece in place of this one. Any an- Name the kind: a craft showpiece (shows a novel solution generously, workflow Read references/model-answer.md once: the user's own answers for one piece, the
I wrote the piece and can't say why a reader would care.
but-therefore: Rebuilds a devlog or post as a chain of "but" and "therefore" instead of "and then". cognitive-prophylactics: Before you draft, it asks for one line: the situation your reader might meet and the move that lifts or lowers their standing in it. decide: It compares the options for each person a choice affects, including doing nothing, then shows you a short result you can check. signal-chain: It ranks ways of carrying a message by how costly each is for the reader to decode, from faces and voices to writing and symbols, so you choose the one they can afford. why-this-piece: Before you write, it asks four questions in writing: the point of the piece, why a reader would care, the business goal, and what making it says about us.