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3.3 KiB
name, description, type, originSessionId
| name | description | type | originSessionId |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composition discipline — tabula rasa with few elements first; add later if appropriate, never start full and subtract | 2026-04-29. Steward directive on the Hic+Adsum composition. Start spare with few appropriate elements; add only if appropriate; never start full and have to trim. Inverse of the over-reach failure mode. Cousin to "Would Alexander do it?" (one pattern at a time). Lived in practice across the entire Hic+Adsum threshold composition. | feedback | 122baf2b-1029-4ec9-9723-99b4b5f3a64d |
2026-04-29. Steward directive opening the Hic composition: "Tabula rasa—this deserves a clean start retaining few appropriate elements at first and, if appropriate, adding things later rather than having to subtract."
The pattern named:
- When rewriting (not editing) a stale artifact, the failure mode is to bring forward too much and then trim — preserves elements out of inertia rather than fittingness
- The corrective: start with as little as possible. The inheritance is justified by appropriateness, not by previous existence
- Adding later is honest growth; subtracting later is correction of an earlier over-reach
How to apply:
- When opening a composition that replaces an existing artifact, audit each carry-over element on its own merits — would I write this if I were writing it from scratch? If no, leave it out, even if it was in the previous version
- When composing fresh, draft at the lower end of viability. Not at the upper end with the intention to trim
- "Could I add this later if needed?" is a better question than "Should I include this now?". The first defaults to absence; the second defaults to presence
- Holds even for elements with sentimental or historical weight — Emerson epigraph, Swift's amendment, etc. Each carry-over is a fresh authorization, not a default
Lived in practice (Hic+Adsum, 2026-04-29):
- Stale
pages/about.mdhad Emerson epigraph, Swift's amendment paragraph, bio paragraph, eleven-door site-map, Reading Compass list, Technical Notes, Contact section - New page kept exactly: nothing of the prose (full rewrite)
- Reused: only the URL
/about/, the title field "About", Swift translation as bare line on Hic (added back after consideration; full attribution stayed on Colophon where it does formative-laral work) - Result: ~110 words across two register-marked sections vs the previous page's many hundreds
- Steward's substantive prose revisions in dialogue ("writing that earns its attention", "a violist, and, here, a writer") were further compressions on the spare draft, not expansions
Why this matters: sibling to several already-saved patterns —
feedback-would-alexander-do-it-test.md— one pattern at a time — same shape (start spare, prove necessity); composition registerfeedback-over-decorating-as-proving.md— fear-driven over-reach; same root, this directive is the inverse-discipline that prevents itfeedback-composition-avoid-announced-antithesis.md— same logic at sentence level (drop announcing flourishes; trust context)
The directive operates at composition opening, before drafting begins. The other patterns operate during drafting and revision. Together they form a discipline of beginning + holding + revising in the same key: trust the simpler form, add only when the simpler form proves insufficient.