Chapter 1, v2

@September 12, 2024 8:18 AM (EST) – @September 12, 2024 10:04 AM (EST)

Loom Overview

The One Thing

Simplify it.

• Fewer labels for things — stick to just the dimensions, elements, and rhetorical appeals. So, there should only be 15 concepts in this chapter. “Centrality, bandwidth, etc.” gives me cognitive overload.
• Narrow the scope of the intro. This book is about essays, not composition generally. It will have the added benefit of teaching you the meta-skill of composition, as you master the form of the essay.

Open Question

• Is your framework a set of nested patterns, or is only the bottom layer (of 27) that are “patterns”? Is Idea a pattern or just a category of patterns? There’s a confusing inconsistency between your framework and Alexanders. His “categories of patterns” are scoped: city, building, detail. Your categories of patterns are not scoped. They are Idea, Form, and Voice, which map to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. They are rhetorical, not hierarchical. Don’t you have another dimension of scope: Dimension, element, pattern? Is that what maps to Alexander’s City, Building, Detail?