Richard Dyter’s 'Clean Sequences' workflow for generating content – explained in 500 words
Here's a 500-word article with bonus resources including a short video.
I’m proposing a way of generating content that helps Get Things Written despite the various blocks that can affect even the best writers. My workflow for writing brings together several genius ideas (by others!) into a system that’s very practical. It includes ‘Clean Sequences’ which are sets of questions that provide scaffolds for writing and thinking.
Here’s an overview:
Phases
To explain in a little more detail, the phases of the workflow are:
Warm-up the brain and prime it for the task ahead.
Pre-writing
Decide on a ‘Chunk’ to write about – my default size of chunk is 300-600 words but it depends on the context.
‘Explore’ the chunk – this is about getting initial ideas out of your head.
Writing
Generate a first ‘Draft’ about the chunk - this is done by responding to a set of questions which provide a ‘scaffold’. When the scaffold is removed, the content that has been generated should be a pretty reasonable first draft.
Re-writing
‘Edit’ the draft – inevitably there will be some editing to make sure the content flows.
‘Test’ the draft – this phase is a valuable but often ignored.
‘Polish’ the draft – this is where you might use apps like Grammarly and (if you’re lucky) human proofreaders.
Complete the task. This might include a quick review and preparing to repeat the cycle again with another chunk.
Are you with me so far?
Now here comes an important innovation…
Clean Sequences
For each of the phases, I’ve written sets of questions that people can work through in order to develop their thinking/writing. I call them ‘Clean Sequences’. Each Sequence is identified by a code such as 706152.
Depending on what people would like to write, they can use different Clean Sequences. For example:
1@writer may be someone who just needs to put their thoughts on paper so they only need a few core Clean Sequences. Maybe 6 in total.
2@writer may someone who is writing blogs for LinkedIn so they will need Clean Sequences that help them really connect with audiences and be more persuasive. Maybe 30 in total.
3@writer may be someone who is writing an extremely complex dissertation so they will need specialist Clean Sequences. Maybe 60 in total.
Let’s add this into the overview, with ‘(codes)’ meaning the codes of Clean Sequences:
Benefits
Just by sticking with the workflow things will, inexorably and inevitably, get written.
When people work through a succession of Clean Sequences, it’s like they have a writing coach at their side - but without the huge cost that’s normally associated with one-on-one involvement.
In all this, ‘we writers’ can increase the sense of creative satisfaction and decrease the amount of overwhelm. And that makes life a little bit better.
<ends>
Extra resources:
1. Here’s a short video of someone using Clean Sequence 706152 to draft content:
2. Check out more articles here on Substack (scroll right to the bottom to see them all). Good starting points are these articles on ‘exploring ideas with a Clean Sequence’ and metaphors & Clean Sequences.
3. Try the ‘Dyter’ mobile app for Android, available from the Google Play Store, which allows you to try out some Clean Sequences. Contact me at richard.dyter[@]facilitatedwriting.com for login details.
Acknowledgement: the ‘Clean’ aspect of Clean Sequences is inspired by the work of the late David Grove who was the inventor of Clean Language and Emergent Knowledge, and by the work of Matthew Hudson and others in the Clean community.