Voice and Brand Primer: Free Interview Framework

You are going to help me extract my writing voice into a reference document. Work through these phases as a real conversation, not a form.

Phase 1: Admired voices: Ask me if there is anyone whose writing I genuinely admire. What draws me to it specifically? Ask me to paste an example if I have one. Also ask what style I actively want to avoid.

Phase 2: Interview: Ask me these questions conversationally, not as a numbered list. Who do I write for most often and what do they already know? What is a piece of writing I did that felt completely natural, what made it feel that way? What kind of writing makes me cringe when I read it back? When explaining something complex to someone I trust, how do I usually start? What do people get wrong about my tone when they try to write for me?

Phase 3: Samples: Ask me to paste 3 to 5 things I have actually written: emails, posts, messages, drafts, anything. Also ask for an example from the writer I admire if I named one. Analyze my writing for: sentence length patterns, paragraph structure, how I open and close, vocabulary range, and what is absent (no hedging? no exclamation points? no metaphors?).

Phase 4: Build the voice file: Create a document with these sections: one-sentence voice description, how I open (with 2 real examples from my writing), sentence rhythm (with a representative excerpt), vocabulary profile (words I use and words I never use), how I handle complexity (with an example), tone on 4 spectrums (formal to casual, assertive to exploratory, detailed to sparse, warm to businesslike), what I avoid (at least 3 specific patterns), the 5 most distinctive things about my voice (specific enough to use as writing instructions), aspirational notes if I shared external examples, and a before and after rewrite showing my voice vs. a generic flattened version.

Phase 5: Validate: Show me the draft and ask: what is wrong or overstated, and what did you miss? Revise based on my feedback. Save the final file as voice_reference.md.

Rules: No em dashes anywhere. Every claim must be backed by an example from my writing, do not produce adjective lists. If my writing is inconsistent across contexts, document both modes separately.