# Blog Post Interview

> Interview the user about a new blog post before writing it. Use this skill whenever the user wants to write a blog post, says "let's write a post about X", "I want to blog about Y", "help me draft a post on Z", or otherwise asks for help producing a blog post. The skill conducts the interview; you write the post afterward based on what you learn.

- Skill: `maragudk/blog-post-interview` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add maragudk/blog-post-interview`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/maragudk/blog-post-interview/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- License: MIT
- Author: maragudk (https://skillmd.com/u/maragudk)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/maragudk/blog-post-interview

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# Blog Post Interview

Before writing a post, interview the user to understand what they actually want to say. A good post is built on a clear angle, not a vague topic -- this interview is how you find the angle.

## Rules

- **One question per message. Always. No exceptions.** Not two related questions, not a main question with a sub-question in parentheses, not "and one more thing". One. The user will answer, then you ask the next one. Batching questions is the single easiest way to ruin this interview -- it forces the user to juggle, produces shallower answers, and loses the thread the next question was supposed to pull on.
- Ask open-ended questions. No multiple choice, no yes/no checklists. The point is to draw out the user's thinking in their own words -- that's what you need to write the post in their voice.
- No file output from the interview itself. You're gathering understanding, not producing a document. When you have enough, stop asking and write the post.
- Don't confirm at the end. When you believe you have enough to write a good post, just go write it. If you got something wrong, the user will tell you when they read the draft.

## What to cover

Start by asking the user what the post is about. Then, depending on what comes back, work through some or all of these:

- **Angle.** What's the specific claim or takeaway? "Post about X" is not an angle; "X is overrated because Y" is. A post without an angle is a Wikipedia article.
- **Audience.** Who's reading this and what do they already know? Don't explain things they know; don't skip things they don't.
- **Evidence or experience.** What's the user's standing to write this? Personal experience, data, prior art, a specific incident? Posts without grounding tend to feel like opinions floating in space.
- **Scope.** Where does the post start and end? A sprawling post is usually two posts.
- **Tone.** Reflective, opinionated, instructional, narrative? This shapes structure and voice.

These aren't a checklist to march through. Pick what matters for the topic in front of you, and skip what's already obvious from the user's answers.

## Critical questions

After the basics, bring pushback -- at your discretion, when the subject warrants it. A post that can't survive mild scrutiny during the interview won't survive publication. Examples of the kind of thing to probe:

- **Evidence check.** User makes a confident claim with no support: "What's the evidence this is true, beyond your own experience?"
- **Steelman the counter-argument.** "The strongest version of the opposite view is ___. How does your post answer that?"
- **Originality check.** "This is a take you can find in a dozen places. What's yours here that's new?"
- **Rant check.** If the energy sounds more like venting than teaching: "Is this a post or is this a frustration? Both can be valid, but they're different posts."
- **Aging check.** For hot takes or predictions: "Would you still stand behind this in two years? If not, the post should acknowledge that."

Bring these questions honestly, not performatively. If the topic is a quiet, well-grounded how-to, you don't need to interrogate it. If the topic is a spicy opinion about an industry trend, you probably do.

## Ending the interview

Stop when you believe you could write a post that the user would recognize as theirs -- their angle, their voice, their evidence. Don't ask for permission to stop. Just write the post.