Content Writing

content-writing — books, courses, docs, and long-form prose

This sub-skill stands up a content / writing project: a substantial written work organised by outline and chapters, drafted iteratively, and exported to a polished format (PDF / DOCX / slides). It treats structure, voice, and audience-fit as first-class — the deliverable is prose, not code, so it uses an outline-and-chapter skeleton instead of source/build folders.

What this sub-skill is for

Long-form written deliverables: a book or e-book, an online course/curriculum, a documentation set or manual, a multi-part article or guide series, a newsletter run. Not for website copy that lives inside a site (website), not for a research report whose point is a decision (research-decision, though it composes when a book is research-heavy). Composes with website when the content also ships as a published site.

Mandatory grill-questions (fold into the Definition of Ready)

Lock these before drafting a single section:

• Format — book / e-book / course / docs / article series / manual. Each implies a different structure (chapters vs. modules+lessons vs. reference pages). Recommend confirming the format before outlining.
• Audience — who reads it, their prior knowledge, what they should be able to do afterward. Drives reading level, tone, and assumed background.
• Goal & key takeaways — what the reader/learner walks away with; the through-line of the work.
• Length & depth — target word/page count (or lesson count), and depth per unit. Sets the outline's granularity.
• Outline — the chapter/module breakdown. Get the outline approved before any drafting — this is the gate; drafting against an unapproved outline wastes work.
• Voice & language — tone (authoritative / friendly / academic), language/locale, and any style guide or sample to match.
• Source material — does the user supply research/notes/transcripts, or do we research? Any facts/claims that need verification or citation?
• Export targets — final formats (PDF, DOCX, EPUB, slide deck) and any layout/branding requirements.

Project sub-agents to generate (into <project>/.claude/agents/)

• outliner (delegate-by-default) — turns the brief into a structured chapter/module outline with per-unit goals and key points; iterates with the user until the outline is approved (the gate). Chains doc-coauthoring.
• drafter (delegate-by-default) — writes each chapter/lesson to the approved outline in the project's voice and target length; works unit-by-unit, never dumps the whole book at once.
• editor — line-and-structure edits for clarity, consistency, voice, and flow; checks continuity across chapters and flags claims needing sources.
• Plus the kit defaults: reviewer (audits drafts against outline + audience + length) and verifier (confirms the export actually builds and reads correctly in the target format).

Tools / CLIs / MCP / skills needed

Check in environment-readiness; offer install, never auto-install:

• Export tooling — pdf (final PDF + assembly/merge), docx (manuscripts, TOC, headings, letterhead), pptx (course/slide companion), xlsx only if the work needs data tables. pandoc for EPUB/format conversion if a book needs it.
• CHAIN these GLOBAL skills (the core of this type):
  • doc-coauthoring — the structured co-authoring workflow: context transfer, iterative refinement, reader-verification. Drive outlining and drafting through it.
  • pdf / docx / pptx — produce the polished export(s).
  • document-design + docrender (2026-07-29 addition) — for a book/manual/whitepaper export, this is the right tool over a plain PDF pipeline: it names the genre (Lesestrecke for a book, Nachschlagewerk for a manual), decides the layout fresh instead of filling a shipped template, and renders every page to an image for a real look before "done" — docrender review <file> checks margins, font fallback, and orphan headings mechanically first. Covers a DOCX manuscript export too (document-design now has a real PPTX/DOCX generator path, not Typst/Touying-only).
  • deep-research — when chapters need sourced facts; cite and mark verified vs. reasoned.
  • verify — confirm the exported artifact opens and reads as intended.

File / asset nudges (on top of the base set)

Beyond CLAUDE.md, PROJEKT_.md, TASKS.md, DONE.md, README, .claude/ — use a manuscript skeleton, not a code tree:

• OUTLINE.md — the approved chapter/module structure with per-unit goals (the source of truth).
• chapters/ (or modules/) — one Markdown file per chapter/lesson, drafted in order.
• STYLE.md — voice, tone, terminology, formatting, and language/locale conventions.
• research/ + sources.md — supporting notes and the citation list, if the work is sourced.
• assets/ — figures, diagrams, cover art; export/ — the built PDF/DOCX/EPUB/deck outputs.
• front-matter/ — title page, TOC, preface/intro, about — for book/manual formats.

Stack defaults & done-bar

Defaults: Markdown chapters under chapters/, an approved OUTLINE.md as source of truth, a STYLE.md voice guide, doc-coauthoring driving the write loop, exported to PDF/DOCX (EPUB for books) via the document skills. Draft unit-by-unit; never generate the whole work in one pass. Done-bar (all true): the outline is approved by the user; every chapter/lesson is drafted to its outlined goal and within target length; the editor pass is done (consistent voice, no continuity breaks, claims sourced or flagged); the work is exported cleanly to the target format(s) and the export opens and reads correctly.

Guardrails

• Outline approval is a gate — do not bulk-draft against an unapproved outline.
• Honesty in claims: any fact, statistic, quote, or citation must be real and verifiable — mark verified vs. reasoned, and flag anything the user must confirm. Never invent sources or data.
• No plagiarism — write original prose; quote and attribute properly; study references for patterns, don't lift text.
• Match the agreed voice and length — don't pad to hit a count or drift off the style guide; flag if the target length doesn't fit the material.
• AI-writing honesty — if the user intends to publish, be candid about disclosure norms and don't dress up thin material as authoritative.
• No emojis in the deliverable unless the user's style guide explicitly calls for them (standing user rule: typographic symbols only by default).
• Commits under the user's own name only (Skryx-L-A); never add Claude as a co-author.