writing-fragments

Run an exploratory interview that captures every promising sentence, claim, vignette, or half-thought as a fragment in one markdown file. Fragments are separated by horizontal rules and carry no headings, tags, or ordering beyond when they were added.

A fragment is any text that might survive into the final piece and is readable by its author, such as a sharp sentence, a claim with a one-line justification, a vignette, a quote, or a leading metaphor. It does not need to be self-contained or clear to a cold reader.

Yes, you can edit the markdown file directly between turns or issue commands like cut the last one, rewrite that one sharper, or merge those two. The file is re-read before every write so manual edits are preserved.

Avoid it once you are ready to commit to structure, since imposing outlines, phases, or article organization is out of scope for exploration. At that point switch to a structuring or drafting workflow that consumes the collected fragments.

A leading word is a compact metaphor or coinage that names the central idea of the piece, similar to tracer bullets or fog of war. Landing one during exploration shapes the structure, transitions, and title of the later article.