# Write Like You

> Use when drafting or editing anything in your own voice, or when checking a draft for corny AI tells before it ships.

- Skill: `dustincole-data/write-like-you` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dustincole-data/write-like-you`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dustincole-data/write-like-you/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: dustincole-data (https://skillmd.com/u/dustincole-data)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dustincole-data/write-like-you

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# Write Like You

## Overview

The single source of truth for how *you* write. Any writing, not one platform. Build it
from your own real writing, never from abstract descriptors. A voice guide synthesized
from adjectives ("quirky", "self-aware") reads like an AI's idea of you, not you.
Everything below should be lifted from or built on sentences you actually wrote.

**Core principle:** [One or two sentences: who you are to your reader, and the single
thing your writing does. Fill from your corpus, e.g. "the honest translator of X",
"the friend who already made the mistake". State it plain.]

## How to build this (fill it in once)

1. Gather 5-10 real pieces you wrote and are happy with.
2. For each voice move you notice, **paste a real quote** as the exemplar. Show the move,
   never describe it.
3. List the **banned tells**: words and cadences that would never be yours. Reading a few
   AI drafts of your topic surfaces them fast.
4. Fill the slots below, deleting this guidance as each is done. When you can't ground a
   rule in a real sentence, cut the rule.

**How to improve this over time:** use the `write-like-you-tune` skill. Hand it one
before/after pair (an AI draft vs. your rewrite of the same piece) and it proposes
gated, general edits to this file.

## When to use

- Drafting anything in your voice: email, an essay, a post, docs, a newsletter.
- Editing a draft (yours or a tool's) toward your voice.
- Running the banned-tells self-check before shipping.

## Surfaces and formats

Match the format to where it's going. Same voice, different shape. List your surfaces and
the shape each takes, so a long-form piece never gets pasted whole into a short one.

- **[Short-form, e.g. posts, messages, comments]**: [its shape: length, register, what it's for.]
- **[Long-form, e.g. essays, newsletters, articles]**: [its shape.]
- **[Professional, e.g. email, docs, proposals]**: [its shape.]

## Hard rules (non-negotiable)

The fastest tells a draft isn't yours. Keep them short and absolute. Fill with your own;
the examples below show the *kind* of rule, not the rules themselves:

- **[A punctuation / formatting habit]**: e.g. "never use em dashes; break to a short new
  sentence instead." Keep it only if it's genuinely yours.
- **[A register rule]**: e.g. "self-deprecation only when a real situation earns it,
  never reflexive filler."
- **[An evidence rule]**: e.g. "show the real number or tool, not an adjective."
- **[A process rule]**: e.g. "get topic approval before drafting."

## Your voice, in your own words (real exemplars)

Paste 4-8 real quotes from your writing. Label each with the move it proves. These do
more work than any rule, and a quote can't overfit.

**1. [Move name]:**
> [Real quote.]

**2. [Move name]:**
> [Real quote.]

*(Keep going. When in doubt, add an exemplar instead of a rule.)*

## BANNED: corny AI tells (delete on sight)

Near-universal AI slop tells, safe as defaults. Remove any that are honestly *yours*, and
add the ones specific to you.

| Banned | Why it's not you | Do instead |
|--------|------------------|------------|
| **Hype words** ("game-changer", "revolutionary", "unlock", "supercharge", "10x", "seamless") | Vendor register | Plain words + a concrete specific |
| **Rule-of-three slop** ("faster, cheaper, smarter") | Marketing cadence | One real specific, or a real list of real things |
| **"In a world where…" / grand sincere framing** | Performs importance | State the plain fact, let it carry |
| **Tidy life-lesson endings** | Resolves what should stay open | End on an honest open note |
| **Vendor parallelism** ("Not just X. It's Y.") | Ad rhythm | Only if the fragment is genuinely how you talk |
| **Manufactured quirk** (whimsy with no real situation behind it) | Quirk has to be earned | Only the odd thing that actually happened |
| **Formulaic confession openers** ("Let me be honest…", "Confession:") | Performs vulnerability | A specific true admission that starts the story |
| **Em dashes (—)** | Common AI tell; keep only if you truly use them | Break to a short new sentence |

## Self-check before shipping (run every draft)

1. **AI-tell scan.** Grep the banned list above. Any hit is a rewrite.
2. **Specifics present?** Real names and numbers, or vague claims?
3. **Is the humor earned?** Every joke tied to something that actually happened (if humor
   is your thing)?
4. **Read it aloud.** Does it sound like *you* talking, or like a brand? Polished and tidy
   usually means not-you-yet.