Monday memo #48
Zoom.
The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.
Hi everyone,
Last week I challenged you to boil down your creative project into a short summary that you can deliver in two or three minutes. This is great if you want feedback on your overall project. But what if you want feedback on a specific part of your project?
That’s the purpose of zooming in. Think about which pieces or elements of your project you are struggling with the most, and the kind of feedback you want.
For example, maybe there’s a scene in your novel, a feeling you want to capture, or you want a way to make your project more compelling, more valuable, more useful.
Zoom in and think about a specific thing you want feedback on. Here are some questions you might consider:
Help me with my work process.
Give me your gut check/gut reaction.
Help me explore more options.
Talk it through with me.
Make your non-negotiables explicit: What I DON’T want feedback on.
Help me make a choice.
Am I being true to myself?
Break it/shred it.
How did it make you feel?
Help me compare the current state with my goal.
What is the one thing you’ll take away?
Help me with the ideas.
When you first saw/heard it did it make you think of something else?
What am I not thinking about that I should be thinking about?
Help me identify constraints.
Build on it, add to it, expand it
Help me with the form.
What can I take out/eliminate?
How memorable is this?
What could make this better?
What should I keep? What is core?
What else is out there that I should be looking at?
Cheer me on. Help me stay motivated to keep going.
What would need to be true for you to buy this?
Who out there can help me with this?
Who else should I talk to?
What do you like about it? What do you wish was here? What do you wonder about it?
What else should I be asking?
How would you describe it in 3 words (or a sentence)?
What stands out to you? What's the first thing you notice?
Just listen to me describe it out loud.
Exercise.
Here’s your exercise for the week: think about a specific thing you want feedback on, and zoom in. Ask a question that will help people quickly grasp your idea, bounce it, and throw it back in a way that helps you think about it or makes it better.
See what happens.
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