Carousel Writer

Carousel Writer — the words for every slide, in order

Carousels get saved and shared more than any other post, and people ruin them by putting a paragraph on slide one. This skill writes the text slide by slide, with the fewest possible words on each, and treats slide 1 as its own job: most people will only ever see that slide. It writes the words. It does not make the images.

Personalization

This skill works in your brand voice. Before running, load the brand profile at ~/.claude/brand-profile.md.

• If it doesn't exist, run the personalize skill first (or just tell me your name, niche, offer, and audience — I'll create it).
• If a field this skill needs is blank, I'll ask one or two quick questions and save the answers back to the profile so you only answer once.
• Never invent facts or results about the user — use only what's in the profile, or ask.

Steps

1. Lock the one idea and the promise

Ask two things:

• "What's the one idea? Say it in a sentence."
• "What should someone be able to DO after swiping through this?"

If the answer to the second is "know more about me", stop. That's not a carousel, that's a bio. Push until the answer is a thing they can do or use.

Then decide the carousel type, and say which one you picked:

• The list — 5 to 7 things, one per slide. Easiest to save, easiest to make.
• The walkthrough — the steps of something they did, in order. Best when they built something.
• The mistake — what most people do wrong, why it fails, what to do instead.
• The before/after — the old way vs the new way, side by side across slides.

2. Write slide 1 like it's the only slide

Slide 1 is the whole post. Nothing else gets seen if it fails.

Rules:

• Under 10 words. Ideally under 7. If it needs a second sentence, it's not sharp enough.
• It must make a promise or a claim, not describe a topic. "5 free tools I use every day" beats "Thoughts on my toolstack."
• No name, no logo, no "swipe →" on slide 1. Give the words the whole frame.
• Big enough to read as a thumbnail with the phone at arm's length.

Write three versions of slide 1. Pick the strongest, say why in one line, keep the other two in the file.

3. Write the middle slides

One idea per slide. This is the rule that everything else depends on.

For each slide write:

• Headline: 3 to 8 words. This is what they read.
• Support line (optional): one short sentence, only if the headline genuinely can't stand alone. Most slides don't need it. Delete it if you're unsure.
• Visual note: one line telling them what goes on the slide — a screenshot of the thing, a big number, a two-column split, an arrow, or just the words on a plain background. Words on a plain background is a legitimate answer and often the best one.

Hard limits:

• Max 20 words of text on any single slide, including the support line.
• Never two ideas on one slide. If there's an "and", split it into two slides.
• Slide 2 should deliver the first piece of value immediately. No "here's what we'll cover" slide — that's a slide people swipe away on.
• Keep a thread pulling forward. Each slide should leave the next one worth swiping to.

Total: 7 to 10 slides including slide 1 and the CTA slide. Under 7 feels thin. Over 10 loses people.

4. Put something concrete in the middle

Somewhere between slides 3 and 6, one slide should carry proof: a real number, a screenshot of the thing they built, a real before/after, or a specific moment. This is the slide that makes the whole carousel believable.

Never invent the number. If there isn't one, use a screenshot or a concrete description instead.

5. Write the last slide — the CTA

The last slide does one job. One ask, never two.

Pick the right one:

• Comment keyword — best when there's a link, a template, or a file to send. "Comment TOOLS and I'll send you the list." One word, all caps.
• Follow — best when there's nothing to send yet. Say what they'll get if they do, specifically. "I post one build a week — follow if you're making something."
• Save — best on a list or reference carousel. "Save this for the next time you're stuck."

Write it in plain words. No "link in bio!!" energy, no exclamation marks.

6. Write the build instruction

Because this skill only writes words, end by giving them a ready-to-use instruction for actually making it. Include both options in the output file:

Canva route: one line per slide they can copy into text boxes, plus a note: pick one bold display font for headlines and one plain font for support lines, one accent color plus neutrals, and keep every slide's layout identical except the text.

Claude route: a copy-ready prompt they can paste into a new Claude Code session, written for them, along these lines:

Build me a single self-contained index.html carousel with 9 slides, 1080x1350 each, that I can screenshot one at a time. No build tools and no JavaScript libraries. Use Google Fonts only — one bold display font for headlines, one plain font for body. One accent color plus neutrals, no purple-to-blue gradient. Every slide has the same layout: headline large and centered, optional support line beneath, lots of empty space. Here is the exact text for each slide: [paste slide text]. Add left/right arrow keys to move between slides. Make it readable with JavaScript turned off.

7. Final pass

• Read only the headlines, in order, top to bottom. Do they tell the whole story on their own? If not, the headlines are too vague.
• Cut the weakest slide. There's always one.
• Any slide over 20 words gets cut down or split.
• Banned words: unlock, leverage, elevate, game-changer, seamless, journey, empower.

Output — save it

Write the result to ~/carousels/YYYY-MM-DD-<short-slug>.md (create ~/carousels/ if needed).

The file contains: the one idea, the carousel type, every slide numbered with its headline / support line / visual note, the two runner-up slide 1 options, the caption to post with it (2 to 4 short lines, not a repeat of the slides), and both build routes including the copy-ready Claude prompt.

Tell the user the path, then the one next action: build slide 1 first and look at it on your phone before you build the rest.

Example (input → output)

Input: "I want a carousel about the mistakes I made building my first website with AI. There were like 5 big ones."

Output (saved to ~/carousels/2026-07-30-first-site-mistakes.md): Type: the mistake. 8 slides.

• 1. 5 mistakes I made building my first site — words only, plain background, huge type.
• 2. I asked for "a nice homepage" / Support: "I got exactly what that means: nothing." — words only.
• 3. Vague in, vague out / Support: "Say who visits, what you want them to click, and how it should feel." — words only.
• 4. I tried to fix the code myself / Support: "I don't read code. I broke it worse." — screenshot of the broken page.
• 5. It took 9 rounds. That's normal. — big number 9 filling the slide.
• 6. I waited until it was pretty / Support: "Ugly and live beats perfect and on my laptop." — before/after split.
• 7. I didn't tell anyone I made it — words only.
• 8. Comment SITE and I'll send you the prompts I used. — words only, accent color.

Notes / edge cases

• This skill writes text and describes slides. It does not generate images. Say that plainly if they expected pictures.
• The failure mode this prevents: a wall of text on slide 1 that nobody reads, followed by 9 slides nobody sees.
• If the idea can't survive being cut to 8 words per slide, it's not a carousel idea. Hand it to thread-writer instead — some ideas need sentences.
• If they have 15 points, they have two carousels. Make them pick the stronger 7 and save the rest.
• If every headline comes out sounding like everyone else's, the problem is the angle. Hand off to positioning-filter.
• Never fabricate a proof slide. A screenshot of a half-finished thing is worth more than a made-up number.