Write the Petition Nobody Can Misread

A petition is a sentence people sign. That's all. If the sentence is muddy, the signatures are muddy, and a stack of muddy signatures is worth less than one clear letter.

So we start with the writing, and we use a deliberately small example: a bench at the Quay Street bus stop in Ostmere. It doesn't exist yet. It is a good practice object because nobody will fight you about it, and the lessons carry.

One ask

State the request in one sentence with a verb in it.

We ask the Ostmere Transit Office to install a bench at the Quay Street stop.

Count what's in there. A named reader (the Transit Office). An action (install). A thing (a bench). A place (the Quay Street stop). Four parts, no adjectives. The petition that says "we urge urgent consideration of improved seating infrastructure" has said nothing and will get nothing.

One reader

Write for the person who has the power to say yes, and write so that their assistant can forward it without rewriting. That means the ask goes first, in the first line, in bold if you like. The reasons come after.

If you don't know who the reader is, the first job isn't the petition. It is a phone call to find out.

Reasons, not grievances

Give three reasons, shortest first. Each should be something the reader could check from a desk.

• The stop serves four routes and has no seating.

• The nearest bench is a ten-minute walk away.

• The shelter's roof ends two metres short of the stop's pole.

Notice these are things you can measure. They are not things you feel. "People are tired of being ignored" is a mood. "No seating, four routes" is a fact, and facts are the only thing a reader can act on.

A date

End with a date. "We would like a reply by 30 October." A petition without a date is a message in a bottle. The date isn't a threat. It is a courtesy, because it tells the reader when you will come back and ask.

Make signing boring

Put a line above the signature column that says what signing means: "By signing, I support the request above." Add a column for a printed name and a column for a street, nothing else. Don't ask for a phone number. Don't ask for an email. The less you collect, the less you have to apologise for.

Last, test it on a stranger. Hand the draft to someone who knows nothing about the bench and ask them one question: what happens if I sign this? If they can answer in one sentence, you're finished. If they hesitate, you have more writing to do.

Writing is the work. The signing is what happens after the work is good.

Names, places and events in this demo are fictional.