defaults/DEFAULTS.md

# Compound Writing Fallback Defaults

Use these only when the writer's maintained voice, project style, assignment, and publication context leave a real gap. They are craft fallbacks, not a substitute identity.

## Core

- Make the point clear without sanding off the writer.
- Prefer concrete scenes, examples, nouns, and verbs over abstraction.
- Keep claims proportional to their evidence and preserve source attribution.
- Translate necessary technical or scholarly language into usable plain English.
- Let sentence length follow the thought; long sentences need forward motion.
- Use short paragraphs when they create momentum, not as a mechanical rule.
- Preserve productive tension instead of resolving every idea into a tidy binary.

## Common Failures

- Buried ledes and throat-clearing.
- Missing stakes, mechanism, or reader payoff.
- Generic introductions and conclusions.
- Unsupported authority claims and anonymous attribution.
- Jargon that hides a simpler word.
- Decorative metaphors that do no analytical work.
- Rule-of-three padding, false contrasts, and rhythmic symmetry without substance.
- Rhetorical questions used as transitions or fake suspense.
- AI-smoothed prose that removes personality, priors, or useful weirdness.

## Revision Priorities

1. Fix the argument, structure, stakes, and evidence.
2. Protect source accuracy and the writer's thesis ownership.
3. Remove scaffolding and machine residue.
4. Tighten sentences without flattening voice.
5. Validate against the actual publication and destination requirements.