Bow Tie Kreative Writing System
Run the engine

Rules / editing

EDT-001 Hard constraint layer: document

Do not polish before purpose is stable

IF audience, purpose, outcome, or controlling idea is unresolved, THEN perform strategy or developmental editing before line editing ELSE continue.

Why the rule exists

Sentence polish cannot rescue a document aimed at the wrong reader or outcome.

Condition

The rule fires when this evaluates true. Paths marked below must be present in the fact base; the engine reports the rest rather than guessing them.

  • ANY
    • document.audience missing true
    • document.purpose missing true
    • document.expected_outcome missing true
    • document.controlling_idea missing true

Facts this rule reads

PathSource
document.audience You supply it
document.purpose You supply it
document.expected_outcome You supply it
document.controlling_idea You supply it

Then

  1. route — target document

Else

  1. retain — target current_text, No triggering condition is present.

LAKA

Smallest sufficient intervention
Yes
Primary axes

Sources

  • The Copyeditor's Handbook — Amy Einsohn; Marilyn Schwartz
    Professional copyediting practice, grammar, and editorial process.
  • On Writing Well — William Zinsser
    Clarity, simplicity, voice, and nonfiction craft.
  • Managing Your Documentation Projects — JoAnn T. Hackos
    Planning, resourcing, and managing documentation systems.
The raw rule record

Verbatim from 19-editing-diagnostic-rules.json. Also available at /v1/rules/EDT-001.

{
  "id": "EDT-001",
  "name": "Do not polish before purpose is stable",
  "domain": "editing",
  "layer": "document",
  "strength": "hard_constraint",
  "human_logic": "IF audience, purpose, outcome, or controlling idea is unresolved, THEN perform strategy or developmental editing before line editing ELSE continue.",
  "when": {
    "any": [
      {
        "path": "document.audience",
        "operator": "missing",
        "value": true
      },
      {
        "path": "document.purpose",
        "operator": "missing",
        "value": true
      },
      {
        "path": "document.expected_outcome",
        "operator": "missing",
        "value": true
      },
      {
        "path": "document.controlling_idea",
        "operator": "missing",
        "value": true
      }
    ]
  },
  "then": [
    {
      "action": "route",
      "target": "document",
      "to": "strategy_or_developmental_edit"
    }
  ],
  "else": [
    {
      "action": "retain",
      "target": "current_text",
      "reason": "No triggering condition is present."
    }
  ],
  "unless": [],
  "because": "Sentence polish cannot rescue a document aimed at the wrong reader or outcome.",
  "diagnostics": [],
  "examples": {},
  "source_ids": [
    "BK-007",
    "BK-013",
    "BK-027"
  ],
  "laka": {
    "smallest_sufficient_intervention": true,
    "primary_axes": [
      "scope",
      "depth",
      "magnitude",
      "reversibility"
    ]
  }
}

Other editing rules

  1. EDT-002 Separate editing passes IF one pass attempts strategy, structure, evidence, style, mechanics, and proofing simultaneously, THEN separate the passes ELSE retain. Context default
  2. EDT-003 Protect meaning before changing form IF an edit changes denotation, scope, polarity, actor, time, modality, evidence strength, or legal effect without authorization, THEN reject or escalate it ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  3. EDT-004 Apply smallest sufficient intervention IF a diagnosed failure can be fixed at a lower layer without creating another failure, THEN use that lower-layer fix ELSE escalate one layer. Context default
  4. EDT-005 Track the reason for substantive edits IF an edit changes argument, order, emphasis, evidence, obligation, or reader action, THEN attach a concise rationale ELSE silent mechanical correction is allowed by policy. Context default
  5. EDT-006 Style sheet records local decisions IF spelling, capitalization, hyphenation, numerals, terminology, citation, locale, or exceptions repeat, THEN record the decision in a style sheet ELSE retain. Context default
  6. EDT-007 Query instead of guessing intent IF two plausible interpretations require different edits and context cannot resolve them, THEN ask a focused query ELSE edit. Hard constraint
  7. EDT-008 Verify facts outside copyediting scope IF names, dates, numbers, citations, quotations, links, calculations, or cross-references are present, THEN verify according to assignment scope and flag the rest ELSE retain. Context default
  8. EDT-009 Read at multiple scales IF reviewing a document, THEN inspect outline, section, paragraph, sentence, word, and rendered page views ELSE retain. Heuristic