Bow Tie Kreative Writing System
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Rules / structure

STR-006 Heuristic layer: paragraph

Delete orphan paragraphs

IF a paragraph neither advances the purpose nor supports another necessary move, THEN delete or relocate it ELSE retain.

Why the rule exists

Interesting material is still noise when it does not serve the document.

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.

  • ALL
    • paragraph.advances_document_purpose eq false
    • paragraph.supports_required_move eq false

Facts this rule reads

PathSource
paragraph.advances_document_purpose You supply it
paragraph.supports_required_move You supply it

Then

  1. delete — target paragraph
  2. move — target paragraph

Else

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

LAKA

Smallest sufficient intervention
Yes
Primary axes

Sources

  • The Elements of Style — William Strunk Jr.; E. B. White
    Conciseness, conventional usage, and composition principles.
  • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft — Stephen King
    Writing habits, revision, description, and storytelling craft.
  • On Writing Well — William Zinsser
    Clarity, simplicity, voice, and nonfiction craft.
The raw rule record

Verbatim from 10-paragraph-document-rules.json. Also available at /v1/rules/STR-006.

{
  "id": "STR-006",
  "name": "Delete orphan paragraphs",
  "domain": "structure",
  "layer": "paragraph",
  "strength": "heuristic",
  "human_logic": "IF a paragraph neither advances the purpose nor supports another necessary move, THEN delete or relocate it ELSE retain.",
  "when": {
    "all": [
      {
        "path": "paragraph.advances_document_purpose",
        "operator": "eq",
        "value": false
      },
      {
        "path": "paragraph.supports_required_move",
        "operator": "eq",
        "value": false
      }
    ]
  },
  "then": [
    {
      "action": "delete",
      "target": "paragraph"
    },
    {
      "action": "move",
      "target": "paragraph",
      "when": "useful_elsewhere",
      "destination": "appropriate_section"
    }
  ],
  "else": [
    {
      "action": "retain",
      "target": "current_text",
      "reason": "No triggering condition is present."
    }
  ],
  "unless": [],
  "because": "Interesting material is still noise when it does not serve the document.",
  "diagnostics": [],
  "examples": {},
  "source_ids": [
    "BK-001",
    "BK-011",
    "BK-013"
  ],
  "laka": {
    "smallest_sufficient_intervention": true,
    "primary_axes": [
      "scope",
      "depth",
      "magnitude",
      "reversibility"
    ]
  }
}

Other structure rules

  1. STR-001 One controlling move per paragraph IF a paragraph performs more than one unrelated rhetorical move, THEN split it at the move boundary ELSE retain. Context default
  2. STR-002 Expose the paragraph point IF the paragraph’s controlling point is absent or recoverable only after rereading, THEN state or move it to a strategic position ELSE retain an intentional delayed reveal. Heuristic
  3. STR-003 Support consequential claims IF a paragraph makes a consequential factual claim, THEN provide evidence, cite it, qualify it, or remove the claim ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  4. STR-004 Keep evidence beside the claim IF evidence is separated from the claim it supports by unrelated material, THEN move it closer or label the relation ELSE retain. Context default
  5. STR-005 Use transitions that name the relation IF adjacent paragraphs have a meaningful but unstated relation, THEN add a transition that expresses that relation ELSE retain. Context default
  6. STR-007 Section answers one reader question IF a section answers multiple unrelated reader questions, THEN split and label them ELSE retain. Context default
  7. STR-008 Heading predicts content IF a heading does not accurately predict its section, THEN rename the heading or repair the section ELSE retain. Hard constraint
  8. STR-009 Maintain heading hierarchy IF heading levels skip or reflect visual size rather than logical nesting, THEN repair the hierarchy ELSE retain. Hard constraint