short non-fiction · creativity
Make ten versions before choosing one
A variation sheet separates producing options from defending the first acceptable answer.
Take one small element—a title, opening sentence, silhouette or rhythm—and make ten variants on a single page. Change only one dimension at first, then let later versions break the rule. Do not rank them until the page is full. Side by side, repeated habits become visible: the same cadence, proportion or safe solution returning.
Ten is a prompt, not an evidence-based optimum, and quantity alone does not guarantee novelty or quality. This exercise comes from a family of practitioner methods that externalise alternatives before selection. It may be wrong for costly materials or a nearly finished work. Used early and cheaply, it creates something judgment can compare instead of asking imagination to perfect its first arrival.
Based on the work of
John Berger
· 1972
Why this bookA sharp invitation to compare images, contexts and habits of looking rather than accept the first reading.
What to keep in view
The number ten is a practitioner constraint, not a universal research threshold; adapt it to medium, cost and stage.