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Recipe: Paper House

A deterministic self-check — can you say your idea in one paragraph, under the word budget, with no markdown scaffolding?

What this tool does

Paper House is the only BIG Tool with no LLM call. It's a three-rule check you can run against any piece of writing — especially the final pitch — to verify that the idea holds up without structure:

  1. Word budget — the text is ≤ N words (default 80).
  2. Single paragraph — no double line breaks. One continuous block.
  3. No headings — no # Title, no ## Section, no markdown scaffolding.

The premise: if you need headings, bullets, or a 400-word explanation for your idea to make sense, the idea isn't ready. A "paper house" is an idea that can stand on its own weight without structural props.

Students usually hit Paper House at the end of a progression, after Pitch. It's a self-check: can the X-for-Y plus elevator hold together as a single paragraph? If not, the pitch is hiding something.

The rules in plain English

  • Count words in the trimmed text (split on whitespace, drop empty tokens).
  • Split the text on double line breaks (\n\n). More than one non-empty chunk → not a single paragraph.
  • Scan for lines matching /^#{1,6}\s/ — any match → headings present.

All three must pass. If any fails, the writing isn't ready.

Example

Pass:

It's a deadman switch for AI. Every consequential action — a deploy, an approval,
a billing change — requires the operator to turn a physical dial or press a
physical button before the model executes. The friction is the point: speed
and opacity are what make AI systems dangerous, so we replace them with
deliberate, bodied participation. Early signals are good. Six-week pilot with
two teams is lined up for fall.

58 words. One paragraph. No headings. Passes.

Fail:

# The Idea

It's a deadman switch for AI.

## How it works

Every consequential action — a deploy, an approval, a billing change —
requires the operator to turn a physical dial or press a physical button
before the model executes.

Headings present (fail), two paragraphs (fail), well under budget (pass). Overall: fails.

Replicate it

You don't need to. This is a self-check. Read your paragraph, count words (or paste into a counter), and verify by eye that it's one block with no headings. An LLM isn't more accurate than reading it yourself.

If you want an LLM to judge it for you:

SYSTEM: Apply the Paper House check to the following text. Return exactly three lines:
WORDS: <count>
PARAGRAPHS: <count>
HEADINGS: <yes or no>

USER: <paste text>

But again — a wc command is better than an LLM call for this.

Tuning

There's nothing to tune. That's the point.

  • Word budget defaults to 80. Some students use 100 or 120 for longer-form pitches. Dropping below 60 is punishing — one paragraph isn't the same as one tweet.
  • Paragraph rule is strict — exactly 1 non-empty block. If you need two paragraphs, your idea is really two ideas. Decide which one is the pitch, put the other in a follow-up.
  • Headings rule is strict. If you think you need a heading, you're probably drafting a document, not a pitch. Use a different channel in Pitch instead.

Why these rules

The Paper House metaphor: an idea that only stands because you propped it up with structure isn't load-bearing. A heading is a prop. A bullet list is a prop. A 300-word paragraph that introduces three different ideas is three houses leaning on each other.

Pulling the props away reveals whether the idea has a center. If you can say it in 80 words, one paragraph, no headings — and someone who didn't see the progression understands it — it's a paper house that can stand.

If it can't, you're not ready to ship. Re-run an earlier stage. Re-open Mixtape. Go back to Reframe and sharpen the HMW. The right next move isn't adding structure; it's finding what's missing from the idea itself.

When to run it

  • After Pitch, on the elevator section. The X-for-Y line should be your opener; the elevator is the whole paragraph.
  • Before any external share — a tweet, an email, a pitch deck title card. If the core idea can't pass Paper House, it won't survive contact with a reader who doesn't owe you attention.
  • As a diagnostic. If you can't pass Paper House, you know where the progression is weak. Usually it's Mixtape (theme too generic) or Reframe (HMW too solutions-shaped).