Anne Lamott + Neal Allen Really Real Writing
Role
This skill is the dedicated "really real" depth layer from Anne Lamott and Neal Allen's conversation on writing toward compassion, clarity, and the real. It keeps skills/lamott-craft intact as the broader Lamott process base, while this package owns the narrower job of making a piece feel true, humane, and trusted.
Core Thesis
Good writing earns the reader twice:
- Neal Allen earns the next sentence through plain, vivid, economical craft.
- Anne Lamott earns the reader's trust through compassion, hard truth, heart, and human contact.
The output should not sound like a technique stack. It should feel more honest, clearer, warmer, more specific, and less defended.
Use When
Trigger this skill when the user asks for:
- "real," "true," "really real," "soulful," "deep," "human," "heart," or "voice"
- "less AI," "less generic," "less performative," "less fake," or "less polished"
- "make people feel it," "resonant," "relatable," "reader trust," or "emotional truth"
- "novel quality," "literary but not pretentious," "memoir," "scene depth," or "personal essay"
- social, marketing, client, or book writing that needs human depth without losing function
Do not trigger this layer automatically for fast tactical copy, simple line edits, formatting, research synthesis, or purely structural writing unless the user asks for depth or truth.
Workflow Table
| Workflow | Command | Produces |
|---|
really-real-writing.md | /really-real-writing | Flagship depth pass for any draft or writing goal |
really-real-audit.md | /really-real-audit | Diagnosis of false, shallow, generic, or emotionally unearned writing |
really-real-rewrite.md | /really-real-rewrite | Rewrite with more truth, intimacy, clarity, and reader trust |
really-real-reader-trust.md | /really-real-reader-trust | Reader-safety pass that makes the piece easier to follow and emotionally fair |
really-real-attention.md | /really-real-attention | Source-material builder from noticed detail, aliveness, and attention |
really-real-silence.md | /really-real-silence | Restraint, omission, subtext, and reader-completed force |
really-real-oh-no.md | /really-real-oh-no | Stakes moment that makes the reader stop, care, and continue |
really-real-ending.md | /really-real-ending | Ending that feels inevitable, humane, and earned |
really-real-social.md | /really-real-social | Depth layer for LinkedIn, X, Instagram, newsletters, and short posts |
really-real-marketing.md | /really-real-marketing | Truthful conversion pass for ads, emails, landing pages, offers, and brand copy |
really-real-book.md | /really-real-book | Depth pass for novels, memoir, essays, chapters, scenes, and book concepts |
really-real-client.md | /really-real-client | Trusted advisory prose for client-facing deliverables and personal brand assets |
Direct-Use Instructions
When invoked directly:
- Identify the function owner:
- rewrite, audit, source material, stakes, ending, social, marketing, book, or client.
- Load
genius.md, then the matching workflow file.
- Ask only if missing context changes the output. Otherwise state assumptions and proceed.
- Preserve the user's core meaning and voice.
- Apply depth through craft moves, not visible labels.
- End with a short "Depth Receipt" naming:
- weak link found
- source mechanic used
- behavior change expected
- remaining risk
Required Quality Gates
- Reader Continuation: does each sentence create enough desire for the next?
- Compassion Target: has the draft moved away from snark, loftiness, or status performance?
- Plain Force: did abstract/fancy language become more direct where needed?
- Hard Thing: did the piece touch the real issue without melodrama?
- Reader Trust: is the reader held with clarity, context, and emotional fairness?
- Restraint: were overproof, apology, throat-clearing, and fake closure removed?
- Medium Fit: did the result stay appropriate for social, marketing, client, personal, or book use?
Stacking Guide
| If You Need | Function Owner | Depth Slot |
|---|
| Broader Lamott process, block, inner critic, first draft | lamott-craft | Add this skill after a draft exists and the piece needs truth or reader trust |
| Fiction or scene vividness | michael-connelly-vivid-writing | Use this skill for heart, silence, and hard truth after Connelly detail/momentum |
| Cinematic structure or thematic residue | eric-roth-writing-mastery | Use this skill to keep resonance human rather than grandiose |
| Copy that converts without feeling manipulative | copy-engine or proof-copy-engine | Use this skill as the depth/truth pass after offer logic is sound |
| Social posts with more humanity | platform owner such as Lara Acosta or Diandra | Use /really-real-social after platform structure is clear |
| Book atomization or chapters | book-atomize, Roth, Connelly, or Lamott | Use /really-real-book to protect emotional truth and reader care |
Composition Rule
Use one function owner per run. This package occupies the depth/truth slot. Do not crowd output with many named experts; integrate the move into the prose and show evidence through changed writing.
Quick Reference
- Genius Context:
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/genius.md
- Source Ledger:
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/source-ledger.md
- Hidden Knowledge:
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/hidden-knowledge.md
- System Integration:
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/system-integration.md
- Behavior Proof Lab:
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/behavior-proof-lab.md
- Technical Craft (36 Rules Module):
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/technical-craft-36-rules.md — the 25–30% economy dial, humor-as-complaint, mastery-is-invisible, the Anglo-Saxon two-stream model, and the Voice-as-Music (Beatles) typology. /depth-line and /depth-voice consume this directly.
- Extraction Package:
extractions/anne-lamott-neal-allen-really-real/
Execution Prompts (structure-pure v2)
12 deterministic practitioner prompts — each carries an Output Contract, Output Skeleton, and Quality Gate. When a deliverable matches one, Read it and honor its contract instead of improvising the output shape.
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Attention Source Builder —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/attention-source-builder.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Book & Scene Depth Pass —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/book-scene-depth-pass.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Client Advisory Depth Pass —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/client-advisory-depth-pass.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — False-Note Audit —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/false-note-audit.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Flagship Depth Pass —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/flagship-depth-pass.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Humane Ending Finder —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/humane-ending-finder.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Marketing Truth Layer —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/marketing-truth-layer.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Oh-No Stakes Moment —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/oh-no-stakes-moment.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Reader Trust Pass —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/reader-trust-pass.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Silence & Restraint Pass —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/silence-restraint-pass.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Social Depth Layer —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/social-depth-layer.md
- Anne Lamott & Neal Allen — Truth & Trust Rewrite —
skills/lamott-allen-really-real-writing/references/prompts-v2/truth-trust-rewrite.md
