writing-distillation-default

Distill a Writing Skill

Create one reusable Writing Skill from the complete set of supplied examples. Make it topic-neutral. Recover how the prose works, not what it discusses, who it addresses, or what position it takes.

Analyze the corpus

Read every example before drafting the Skill.

1. Separate authored prose from quotations, prompts, boilerplate, metadata, copied passages, and platform artifacts. Do not learn a style rule from text that is not part of the target writing.
2. Separate stable stylistic mechanics from changes caused by length, format, or formality. Preserve those changes only as optional presentation modes, never as topical or audience restrictions.
3. Build an internal evidence matrix across:
   • voice, narrative distance, point of view, and emotional temperature;
   • the shape of explanation, argument, description, and example placement;
   • document architecture, openings, development, transitions, and endings;
   • paragraph shape, sentence rhythm, pacing, and information density;
   • diction, register, recurring language functions, punctuation, and formatting;
   • rhetorical devices, emphasis, humor, uncertainty, and calls to action;
   • revision standards, stylistic failure modes, and textures the writing avoids.
4. Compare examples instead of summarizing them independently. Look for recurrence, meaningful variation, contradictions, and negative space.
5. Measure observable tendencies when the corpus supports them. Prefer honest ranges and relative frequencies over invented precision.

Classify the evidence

Classify each candidate pattern before turning it into a rule:

• Invariant: repeated across the applicable examples or throughout one substantial example. Encode as a hard constraint only when violating it would clearly break the method.
• Default: dominant but not universal. Encode as the normal choice, with room for justified exceptions.
• Conditional: tied to length, format, formality, or rhetorical function. Encode the trigger and alternate behavior together without limiting subject matter.
• Incidental: isolated, topic-driven, or unsupported. Exclude it.