When I write out Step Eight, I write out the background, what I did, what I should have done instead, and who suffered and how.
Here are some tips.
Background
- This should be enough information to understand the actions but no more
- It should be presented in a sequence of bullet points (or dashed points or similar)
- Ask with each item: does the reader need to know this to understand the action and judge whether or not the action accorded with standards of morality and custom?
- Do not include any other information, as otherwise you're giving the reader extra work and distracting from what is important
- Do not pre-empt the action, the 'insteads', and the harms, in other words there is no need to describe the action in the background and also under 'action'
Action
- This should record all key actions I took in the situation
- They should be in the order they were taken
- They should be clear, concrete, concise, and complete
- They should be the actions as apparent to others
- They should not be abstract characterisations of the actions
- If verbal, they should, however, be the substance of the 'message' not the words, as the words themselves can be hard for the reader to 'get behind' to access the message
- We're not interested in motivation
- We're not interested in internal state
Instead
- This should present what I should have done instead at each juncture in the sequence
- The instead should be just as clear, concrete, concise, and complete as the action
- The 'insteads' should match the actions, in the same order, preferably
- They should not be general codes of conduct: they should be specific to the situation
- They should reflect a positive alternative action, not merely not plus a restatement of the action
- We're not interested in internal state
Harm
- This should show the practical ways in which (an) other(s) suffered in the form of:
- Altered conditions (i.e. practical effects)
- Negative emotions (say which)
- Some speculation is required, but the speculation must be realistics
- Avoid abstraction or generalisation: be specific
- The description should discuss the person only, not merely reiterate the action or the instead: a distinction must be made between cause (action and 'instead') and effect (harm)
With all areas
- This is an art not a science, so there are times where some of the above principles have to be breached to effectively communicate the situation
- There are innumerable situations that might be thus discussed, so a little flexibility with the above is going to be required to achieve a good final result
- Stand in the shoes of the reader and consider this: would a reader instinctively understand each element of the description and how it fits into the whole?
- If not, a brief description in parentheses (round 'brackets') immediately after the item in question, in the same point, can remedy the logical gap