DROOdotFOO writing-voice
Calibrate your writing voice against studied authors. Each voice file captures what a specific writer does -- sentence rhythms, structural habits, rhetorical moves, what they avoid -- so you can apply those patterns to your own prose without losing your identity.
How it works
Voice files in voices/ are reference profiles, not imitation targets. The goal is never to sound like Chapman or anyone else. It's to borrow specific moves -- a digression habit, a way of sitting with uncertainty, a paragraph rhythm -- and fold them into writing that's still yours.
Usage
Single voice
/voice chapman
Loads the Chapman voice profile. Apply his patterns where they improve the draft.
Blended voices
/voice pg-startup+chapman
Loads both profiles. Where they agree (e.g., both favor short pivot sentences after longer ones), lean hard into that. Where they conflict (PG opens with a thesis, Chapman opens mid-thought), pick per-paragraph based on what the material needs.
With intensity
/voice pg-startup:heavy chapman:light
Weight the influence. Heavy means structural and rhythmic borrowing. Light means just a few moves (e.g., borrow Chapman's habit of sitting with an uncertainty but not his digressive pacing).
Review mode
/voice review chapman
Read the draft and flag where it diverges from the target voice. Don't rewrite -- annotate. "This paragraph is in briefing mode. Chapman would sit with this idea longer." "This aside is good -- Chapman-like productive digression."
Adding a new voice
- Read several thousand words of the writer's prose across different topics
- Create
voices/<name>.mdfollowing the template in voice-template.md - Focus on moves, not content -- what they do structurally, not what they believe
- Include both what to borrow and what to avoid (every writer has tics)
- Add 3-5 real passages as calibration anchors
Applying voices to a draft
When rewriting with a voice profile loaded:
- Read the full draft first. Identify which paragraphs are working and which feel flat, mechanical, or rushed.
- Don't touch paragraphs that already have life. Voice calibration is for the dead spots.
- Apply moves from the loaded profile(s) -- but only where they serve the material. A Chapman-style digression in a status table is wrong. A Chapman-style moment of uncertainty in a risk section is right.
- Preserve the author's technical vocabulary and domain specificity. Voice is about rhythm, structure, and emotional register -- not word choice in technical passages.
- After rewriting, read the full piece end-to-end. Flag any sections where the voice shift is jarring (the "stitching" problem). Smooth transitions between the author's natural voice and the borrowed moves.
Available voices
| Voice | File | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Chapman | voices/chapman.md | Essays, blog posts, anything that benefits from thinking-out-loud and productive digression |
| pg-early | voices/pg-early.md | Combative essays defending an unfashionable position; arguments that earn an abstract claim through a physical scene |
| pg-startup | voices/pg-startup.md | Instructional pieces, how-to writing, founder advice, any prose that lands on a portable imperative |
| pg-late | voices/pg-late.md | Philosophical / cultural essays, refinement-driven arguments, pieces that show the writer changing their mind |
What You Get
- A calibrated writing voice applied to your draft, borrowing specific structural and rhythmic moves from loaded voice profiles
- In review mode, annotated feedback showing where your prose diverges from the target voice without rewriting it
- Blended voice configurations that weight multiple influences (heavy/light) per-paragraph based on what the material needs
Reading guide
| Task | Read |
|---|---|
| Voice profile template | voice-template.md |
| Chapman voice profile | voices/chapman.md |
| Paul Graham early (2001-2004) | voices/pg-early.md |
| Paul Graham startup-era (2005-2015) | voices/pg-startup.md |
| Paul Graham late (2016-present) | voices/pg-late.md |