| name | sanderson-professional-writing |
| description | Use when the problem is writer process, finishing, revision discipline, professional posture, discovery vs outlining, or building a repeatable practice. Based on Brandon Sanderson's 2025 lectures on professional writing philosophy, process, and revision. |
Sanderson Professional Writing
Use this skill when the real problem is not sentence-level craft but how the writer works.
Source Protocol
- Read
references/source-notes.md first.
- Treat the lecture material as process guidance, not universal law.
- Preserve the writer's goals. The aim is not to force one workflow on every project.
Operating Loop
- Identify the current process failure: not starting, not finishing, over-outlining, endless revision, no revision, fear of market, or tool confusion.
- Place the writer on the gardener-to-architect spectrum for this project.
- Decide which decisions need to be made now and which can be discovered in draft.
- Set a finish-first constraint when the user is stuck in early-chapter churn.
- Build a small, repeatable writing cadence.
- Define the next process experiment, not a lifelong doctrine.
Contract
Current project stage:
Current failure mode:
Writer tendency:
What must be known before drafting:
What can be discovered in draft:
Finishing rule:
Revision entry point:
Next process experiment:
Core Principles
- Finishing teaches more than theorizing.
- A process is successful when it helps this writer complete better work.
- Outlining and discovery are both tools.
- Learn why a technique works so you can adapt it.
- Serious writers should act on a long horizon.
Rules
- Do not shame discovery writers for not outlining.
- Do not shame outliners for liking structure.
- Do not recommend major revision before a meaningful draft exists unless the project is clearly broken.
- Do not confuse a marketing problem with a finishing problem.
- If the writer is inexperienced, bias toward completion over perfection.
