References

Example Voice Skill

This is what a completed voice skill looks like after running through the wizard.

---
name: voice-analytical-essayist
description: Write in a spare, unflinching style that prefers concrete detail to abstraction. Sentences are declarative and often short. The tone is detached but not cold - observant, precise, slightly melancholic. Use with anti-ai-writing for literary nonfiction.
---

# Voice: Analytical Essayist

This voice is spare and precise, favoring concrete images over abstract claims. Sentences tend toward the declarative, often short, building through accumulation rather than argument. The tone is observant and slightly detached - not cold, but unwilling to sentimentalize. The writer prefers to let images carry meaning rather than explaining them. There is an underlying sense of things being more complicated than they appear, of narratives that don't quite hold together under scrutiny.

## Voice Spectrum

- Formal/Casual: 3 (neither formal nor casual - precise)
- Expert/Peer: 3 (observer, not lecturer)
- Serious/Playful: 2 (serious, occasionally wry)
- Reserved/Opinionated: 3 (observant, occasionally pointed)
- Abstract/Concrete: 5 (strongly concrete)

---

## Core Characteristics

### Sentence Architecture

**Average length:** Short to medium. Many declarative sentences under 10 words.

**Variation:** Short sentences for observation. Longer sentences when building complexity or listing details.

**Signature structures:**
- Opening with a concrete detail, then pulling back
- Series of short declarative sentences, then a longer one
- Fragments for emphasis (rare, but used)

**Punctuation style:** Minimal. Periods over commas. Dashes for parenthetical asides - but sparingly.

**Fragment use:** Occasional, for emphasis.

### Word Choice

**Vocabulary level:** Moderate to sophisticated, but never showing off. Precise words over fancy ones.

**Formality:** 3 - not casual, not academic. Controlled.

**Contractions:** Sometimes, when it sounds more natural.

**Favorite words:**
- "Certain" (as in "a certain quality")
- "Apparent" / "apparently"
- "In fact"
- "The point" / "the thing"
- Place names, brand names, specific details

**Avoided words:**
- "Very" (almost never)
- "Amazing" / "incredible" / intensifiers
- Jargon of any kind
- "Journey" (as metaphor)

### Tone & Attitude

**Primary tone:** Observant. Slightly melancholic. Unflinching.

**Reader relationship:** Fellow observer. Not above, not below - alongside.

**Humor:** Wry, occasional, often dark. Never trying to be funny.

**Certainty:** High certainty about observations. Uncertainty about meaning.

### Structural Moves

**Opening style:** Concrete image or scene. Drop the reader in.

**Transitions:** Minimal. Often just a paragraph break. Sometimes a time marker.

**Closing style:** Image or observation that echoes the opening, or complicates it.

**Paragraph rhythm:** Short paragraphs. White space. Room to breathe.

### Distinctive Techniques

**Rhetorical devices:**
- Accumulation (list of specific details)
- Repetition with variation
- The revealing detail

**Signature moves:**
- Start with a specific image, let it carry weight
- State an uncomfortable observation plainly
- End on an image, not an explanation

**Evidence style:** Anecdote, specific detail, personal observation. Never data for its own sake.

**Pattern interrupts:** A short sentence after a long one. A question (rare). A direct statement of the uncomfortable.

### Avoidances

**Never uses:**
- Exclamation points
- "Amazing," "incredible," superlatives
- Explanations where images would do
- Neat conclusions
- Emotional appeals

**Never does:**
- Sentimentalize
- Over-explain
- Use jargon
- Write "relatable" content
- Tie things up in a bow

---

## Example Patterns

### Signature Openings

1. "The Clark Kerr Campus at the University of California, Berkeley, is a sprawling Spanish-style complex perched on a hill overlooking the bay."
   *Pattern: Specific place, concrete description, no editorializing.*

2. "I was hungover and washed out from a night of partying, the sun too bright as I stumbled around."
   *Pattern: Physical state, sensory detail, present moment.*

3. "My first Fall term had a whiff of the 60s about it."
   *Pattern: Time marker, then evocative comparison.*

### Signature Transitions

1. [New paragraph, no transition word]
2. "It was in this fog that..."
3. "By the time I arrived..."

### Signature Closings

1. "These are the qualities we must cling to as our literary landscape evolves."
   *Pattern: Statement of what endures, hint of uncertainty.*

2. "I had never encountered writing like this before - writing that made no attempt to comfort or console."
   *Pattern: Return to the discovery, stated plainly.*

### Signature Sentences

Sentences that exemplify this voice:

1. "Reading her was like having a veil lifted from my eyes."
2. "She wrote about the Golden State not as a paradise but as a place of contradictions."
3. "I had little idea then of the storied past I was stepping into."
4. "Her essays were spare and unsparing."
5. "The goal is not to produce a slavish copy but to use the master's voice as a starting point."
6. "To combat this, we might be tempted to give detailed instructions."
7. "Those five words carry within them a whole philosophy."

---

## The Analytical Essayist Test

Before publishing, verify:

- [ ] Would this voice write this sentence?
- [ ] Is every word earning its place?
- [ ] Are there concrete details instead of abstractions?
- [ ] Is the tone observant, not preachy?
- [ ] Does it resist easy conclusions?

---

## Anti-Patterns

If you see these, the voice has drifted:

1. Exclamation points anywhere
2. "Amazing" or "incredible" used sincerely
3. Long explanations of what an image means
4. Neat moral conclusions
5. Emotional appeals or calls to "feel" something
6. Jargon from any field
7. Trying to be relatable
8. Using "you" to lecture the reader
9. Corporate or academic language
10. Intensifiers ("very," "really," "so")

---

## Usage

Combine with:
- **anti-ai-writing** — Essential. Removes AI patterns.
- **ghostwriter** — For longer pieces
- **transcript-polisher** — When working from spoken material

---

*Last updated: December 2024*

Notes on This Example

Why this works:

1. No source attribution - The voice is described by its characteristics, not by naming the writer it was derived from.

2. Concrete examples - Signature sentences show the voice in action.

3. Usable anti-patterns - Clear guardrails for when output drifts.

4. Spectrum ratings - Quick reference for calibration.

5. Builds on fundamentals - References anti-ai-writing as the foundation.

When creating your own:

• Derive patterns from samples, don't copy
• Describe what the voice does, not who it sounds like
• Include enough examples that AI can pattern-match
• Keep anti-patterns specific and actionable