/prose-writing

name: prose-writing
description: "Use this skill when the user wants to write long-form prose — blog posts, founder essays, build-in-public posts, About pages, newsletter intros, or origin stories. Also use when the user mentions 'blog post,' 'essay,' 'long-form,' 'founder voice,' 'build in public,' 'BIP post,' 'About page,' 'origin story,' or 'newsletter copy.' For microcopy and CTAs, see copywriting. For removing AI patterns from existing text, see humanize. For SEO articles, see seo-content. For content strategy and distribution, see content."

Prose Writing

Founders write a lot of prose: blog posts, essays, build-in-public updates, About pages, newsletter intros. Hand the task to AI and you get slop — hedged, generic, three-item-list cadence, throat-clearing openings, "this highlights" tails. This skill is the proactive composition workflow: voice first, structure second, drafting third, edit last.

> **If `ABOUT-ME.md` exists in the project root**, read it before writing — it carries the founder's voice. **If `MY-ICP.md` exists**, read it for who the prose is talking to. The founder's voice delivers the customer's frame.

Three principles of prose that doesn't sound like AI

• **Lead with a specific moment, claim, or number — not a category.** "I shipped a feature on Tuesday and lost two customers by Friday" beats "Building products comes with tradeoffs."
• **Trust the reader.** State what you mean. Don't gesture at significance ("This highlights an important point about…"). The reader can see the point if you make it.
• **Structure invisibly.** Every paragraph earns its place by moving the argument or story forward. If a paragraph could be deleted with no loss, delete it.

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Workflow

- [ ] Read ABOUT-ME.md and MY-ICP.md if they exist
- [ ] Build a voice card (once, reusable)
- [ ] Pick the format and state the one takeaway
- [ ] Write the opening line first
- [ ] Outline as 3–5 plain-English beats
- [ ] Draft fast, in voice. Don't edit while drafting.
- [ ] Edit pass: throat-clearing, "this highlights," ending
- [ ] Run humanize if it still sounds AI

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Voice discovery (do once, reuse forever)

Before writing in your voice, you need to know what your voice is. This is a 15-minute exercise.

1. Find 3 pieces of prose you wish you'd written. Blog posts, essays, threads. Not "good writing" in the abstract — writing that sounds like you on your best day. 2. For each piece, note:

• **Sentence length pattern.** Mostly short? Mixed? Long sentences with short punches?
• **Vocabulary register.** Plain ("we shipped this thing")? Mid ("we released the feature")? High ("we deployed the capability")?
• **Opinion stance.** Stated directly? Hedged? Self-aware about uncertainty?
• **Self in the prose.** First person constantly? Occasionally? Never?
• **Humor.** Dry? Earnest? None?

3. Distill into a 5-line **voice card** you paste into every prompt:

Voice card:
- Sentence rhythm: [e.g., short punches with one longer setup per paragraph]
- Register: [e.g., plain, casual, no jargon unless naming a real thing]
- Opinions: [e.g., stated directly, qualified once if needed, never hedged twice]
- First person: [e.g., I/we present throughout — this is a person talking]
- What I never do: [e.g., listicles, "in conclusion," motivational closers, three-item lists]

Save this in `ABOUT-ME.md` so every skill in this plugin can use it.

**Tell AI:**

Help me build my voice card. I'll paste 3 pieces of writing I wish I'd written.
For each: identify sentence rhythm, register, opinion stance, first-person presence, humor.
Then distill into a 5-line voice card I can paste into prompts.
Don't flatten the differences — find what's consistent across all three.

Piece 1: [paste]
Piece 2: [paste]
Piece 3: [paste]

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Format: Blog post (800–1500 words)

**Shape:** hook → premise → 2–4 beats with examples → resolution that earns a takeaway.

• **Hook (first 1–3 sentences):** a specific moment, claim, or number. Not a definition. Not a question. Not "Imagine if…"
• **Premise (next paragraph):** the one thing this post argues or shows. State it.
• **Beats:** each beat = one point, one example, one paragraph (or two). Examples are concrete. If you find yourself writing "for instance, consider a scenario where…" delete and use a real one.
• **Resolution:** the post lands somewhere. Not a recap. Not "in conclusion." The strongest line you've got, placed last.

**Anti-pattern:** the listicle that's actually a content-marketing skeleton — H2 / paragraph / H2 / paragraph, all same-length, same-cadence, no argument moving through.

**Tell AI:**

Write a [800/1200/1500]-word blog post on [topic].
Voice: [paste voice card]
The one takeaway: [in one sentence, what the reader walks away believing]
Structure: hook with [specific moment / claim / number] → premise → [3–4] beats with concrete examples → resolution that lands on the strongest line.
Constraints:
- No "this highlights / underscores / demonstrates"
- No -ing analysis tails ("...marking a shift toward...")
- No three-item lists unless they're actually three things
- No "in conclusion" or "to summarize"
- End on a strong line, not a recap
- Read aloud test: cut anything I wouldn't say

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Format: Founder essay (1500–3000 words)

**Shape:** personal stake → tension or question → exploration → arrived-at view.

• **Personal stake:** why are you the one writing this? A specific experience, decision, mistake. Not a credential.
• **Tension:** the thing you didn't know, or got wrong, or are still working out. The whole essay turns on this.
• **Exploration:** you working through it. Multiple beats. It's allowed to wander a little — that's what makes it an essay and not a blog post.
• **Arrived-at view:** what you think now. Not a tidy thesis. Closer to "here's where I've landed, with these open questions."

**Anti-pattern:** the LinkedIn-influencer "lessons learned" cadence. "Lesson 1. Lesson 2. Lesson