Bow Tie Kreative Writing System
Run the engine

Rules / structure

STR-019 Hard constraint layer: document

Preserve document promise and payoff

IF the opening promises information, transformation, evidence, or entertainment, THEN deliver or revise that promise ELSE retain.

Why the rule exists

A broken promise damages coherence and trust.

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.

  • document.opening_promise exists

Facts this rule reads

PathSource
document.opening_promise You supply it

Then

  1. verify — target document.promise_payoff_match
  2. repair — target document

Else

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

LAKA

Smallest sufficient intervention
Yes
Primary axes

Sources

  • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft — Stephen King
    Writing habits, revision, description, and storytelling craft.
  • Story — Robert McKee
    Scene design, causality, conflict, and narrative structure.
  • Breakthrough Advertising — Eugene M. Schwartz
    Market awareness, sophistication, desire, and message strategy.
  • Great Leads — Michael Masterson; John Forde
    Lead selection and opening structures for sales messages.
The raw rule record

Verbatim from 10-paragraph-document-rules.json. Also available at /v1/rules/STR-019.

{
  "id": "STR-019",
  "name": "Preserve document promise and payoff",
  "domain": "structure",
  "layer": "document",
  "strength": "hard_constraint",
  "human_logic": "IF the opening promises information, transformation, evidence, or entertainment, THEN deliver or revise that promise ELSE retain.",
  "when": {
    "path": "document.opening_promise",
    "operator": "exists"
  },
  "then": [
    {
      "action": "verify",
      "target": "document.promise_payoff_match"
    },
    {
      "action": "repair",
      "target": "document",
      "when": "mismatch",
      "options": [
        "deliver_missing_payoff",
        "narrow_promise"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "else": [
    {
      "action": "retain",
      "target": "current_text",
      "reason": "No triggering condition is present."
    }
  ],
  "unless": [],
  "because": "A broken promise damages coherence and trust.",
  "diagnostics": [],
  "examples": {},
  "source_ids": [
    "BK-011",
    "BK-016",
    "BK-030",
    "BK-031"
  ],
  "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-006 Delete orphan paragraphs IF a paragraph neither advances the purpose nor supports another necessary move, THEN delete or relocate it ELSE retain. Heuristic
  7. STR-007 Section answers one reader question IF a section answers multiple unrelated reader questions, THEN split and label them ELSE retain. Context default
  8. 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