FILE 02.02
// DOCTRINE / FORM
THE SHAPE
> Form is the contract with the reader. A paragraph that does not earn its length has broken the contract.
Decide the shape.
Then put words in it.
Not the other way around.
// THE FOUR SHAPES
SHAPE 01 // THE SPIKE
One sentence. One specific. Used when there is one thing to say. Often used wrong.
SHAPE 02 // THE CASCADE
A sentence, a smaller sentence, a smaller sentence. Each weighs less than the one above. The reader descends.
SHAPE 03 // THE PIVOT
Two sentences. The second contradicts the first. The pivot is the entire piece. If the pivot is missing, the piece is two halves of nothing.
SHAPE 04 // THE LIST
A list earns its bullets by being a list. If the items are paragraphs, it was a section, not a list. Stop bulleting paragraphs.
// ORDER OF OPERATIONS
- 01 > Decide the shape on paper or in your head. Not later.
- 02 > Write the load-bearing sentence first.
- 03 > Write the rest only if the load-bearing sentence requires it.
- 04 > Cut the first paragraph. It was warm-up. The second was the start.