Description
This method exists to prevent epistemic drift caused by placing ideas in the wrong narrative container. In ODD, form is not decoration. It determines how authority is interpreted and where meaning accumulates.
When writing feels forced or confusing, the issue is often not the content but the container.
The Three Containers
Canon
Use when:
- an invariant constraint is being stated
- violations must be disallowed
- authority is intentional
Do not use when:
- ambiguity is required
- experience matters more than rules
Apocrypha Fragment
Use when:
- a failure mode must be preserved
- explanation would create authority
- the system needs to absorb pressure without resolving it
Apocrypha fragments:
- do not instruct
- do not warn
- do not explain
- do not close loops
They exist because deletion would reduce coherence.
Cinematic Retelling
Use when:
- experiential truth matters
- temporal unfolding is important
- emotional or human impact needs preservation
Cinematic retellings:
- have no governing authority
- must never be cited as canon
- exist to preserve memory, not rules
Diagnostic Signals
- If writing feels forced, the container is likely wrong.
- If writing feels inevitable, the container is likely correct.
- If a document feels too persuasive, it is probably in the wrong form.
When in doubt, do not publish. Reclassify first.