literary-style

name

literary-style

description

Use when transforming text into a specific literary style, analyzing the style of a text sample to extract its characteristics, blending or combining multiple styles with weights, writing in a particular genre voice, or creating a style profile from example text. Triggers on: "write this as a...", "in the style of...", "make this sound like...", "restyle", "rewrite as", "tone shift", "analyze this style", "what characterizes this writing", "describe the style", "extract the style", "combine styles", "blend X with Y", "70% formal 30% casual", style transformation, style analysis, style profiling, style mixing.

Literary Style Skill

Three modes: Analyze (extract a style profile from sample text), Transform (write text in a target style), Combine (blend multiple styles with weighting).

Mode Detection

User Intent	Mode	Go To
"Analyze this style", "what characterizes this writing"	Analyze	Section 1
"Describe the style of...", "extract the style from..."	Analyze	Section 1
"Write this as a...", "in the style of...", "restyle"	Transform	Section 2
"Make this sound like...", "rewrite as...", "tone shift"	Transform	Section 2
"Combine X and Y", "blend styles", "70% A 30% B"	Combine	Section 3
"Write like X but with elements of Y"	Combine	Section 3
Analyze THEN write in that style	Both	1 then 2

---

Section 1: Analyze Mode

Given a text sample, extract a comprehensive style profile. The profile is structured so it can be used directly as a target for Transform mode or as an input to Combine mode.

Minimum Sample Guidance

Sample Size	What You Can Extract Reliably
< 500 words	First impression, register, tone, rough vocabulary level
500-2,000	Dimensional ratings, basic device inventory, sentence stats
2,000-5,000	Full dimensional profile, device inventory, key patterns
5,000+	Complete profile including characteristic patterns
Multiple texts	Most reliable; average across samples for stable profile

State the confidence level based on sample size. Never claim high confidence from a short sample.

The 8-Step Extraction Protocol

Step 1: First Impression

Read the full sample. Write 2-3 sentences capturing the overall feel without technical analysis. This anchors the detailed work and serves as a sanity check on the final profile. What does the prose feel like? What is the dominant quality a reader would notice?

Step 2: Statistical Features

Estimate (do NOT claim exact counts — describe qualitatively anchored to ranges):

• Sentence length tendency: predominantly short (5-12 words), medium (12-25), long (25+), or mixed
• Sentence length variation: uniform, moderately varied, or highly varied
• Sentence type mix: declarative-heavy, question-rich, imperative, exclamatory, or balanced
• Paragraph length tendency: short (1-3 sentences), medium (4-7), long (8+), or varied
• Pronoun profile: first-person dominant, second-person (direct address), third-person, or impersonal
• Active vs. passive tendency: predominantly active, mixed, or passive-heavy
• Contraction usage: frequent, occasional, or absent

Step 3: Dimensional Rating

Rate each dimension 1-5 with a one-sentence justification citing specific textual evidence. Use the dimension definitions from references/dimensions.md. The 17 dimensions:

#	Dimension	1 (low end)	5 (high end)
1	Register	Intimate/casual	Frozen/formal
2	Tone	Cold/detached	Warm/passionate
3	Voice & Perspective	Distant/impersonal	Intimate/personal
4	Sentence Structure	Simple/short	Complex/long
5	Vocabulary	Plain/concrete	Ornate/abstract
6	Rhythm & Prosody	Staccato/irregular	Flowing/regular
7	Imagery	Sparse/literal	Dense/figurative
8	Rhetorical Devices	Absent/minimal	Pervasive/elaborate
9	Information Density	Sparse/expansive	Compressed/dense
10	Emotional Valence	Restrained/neutral	Intense/charged
11	Audience Relationship	Authoritative/formal	Conversational/peer
12	Temporal Orientation	Timeless/abstract	Immediate/urgent
13	Specificity	General/abstract	Precise/particular
14	Pacing	Slow/contemplative	Fast/urgent
15	Sound Patterns	Unmusical/plain	Highly musical/crafted
16	Syntactic Patterns	Standard/invisible	Marked/conspicuous
17	Paragraph & Structure	Loose/associative	Tight/hierarchical

Flag any dimension where the sample provides insufficient evidence.

Step 4: Device Inventory

Scan for rhetorical and literary devices (see references/devices.md for the full catalog). For each device found, note:

• Device name
• Frequency: rare / occasional / regular / pervasive
• Example: one instance from the text
• Effect: what it contributes to the style

Group by family: sound devices, repetition devices, figurative language, syntactic devices, narrative devices, tonal devices.

Step 5: Characteristic Patterns

Identify 3-7 specific, concrete habits that distinguish this style — the "signature moves" that go beyond dimensional ratings:

• Characteristic sentence openers (e.g., "tends to open with temporal clauses")
• Paragraph-ending patterns (e.g., "ends paragraphs with a single-word sentence")
• Punctuation habits (em-dash heavy, semicolon-free, ellipsis-laden)
• Transitional strategies (explicit connectives, white space, associative leaps)
• Showing-to-telling ratio
• Distinctive word-class preferences (favors gerunds, avoids adverbs, heavy nominalization)
• Structural tics (always begins with a question, alternates long/short paragraphs)

These are what make a profile specific rather than generic.

Step 6: Negative Space

List 3-5 things the style conspicuously avoids. What devices, constructions, vocabulary, or patterns are absent despite being common in the genre? Negative space is essential for generation — knowing what NOT to do is as important as knowing what to do.

Step 7: Exemplar Selection

Choose 2-3 passages (1-3 sentences each) that are maximally representative of the style. These serve as anchors for generation. Select passages that exhibit the most characteristic features simultaneously.

Step 8: Synthesis — The Style Profile

Compile everything into this structured format:

## Style Profile: [Name or "Extracted from [source]"]

### First Impression
[2-3 sentences from Step 1]

### Dimensional Profile
| Dimension    | Rating | Justification                |
| ------------ | ------ | ---------------------------- |
| Register     | N      | [one sentence with evidence] |
| Tone         | N      | ...                          |
| [... all 17] |        |                              |

### Statistical Features
- Sentence length: [tendency + variation]
- Sentence types: [distribution]
- Paragraph length: [tendency]
- Pronouns: [profile]
- Voice: [active/passive tendency]
- Contractions: [frequency]

### Device Inventory
| Device | Frequency | Example   | Effect         |
| ------ | --------- | --------- | -------------- |
| [name] | [freq]    | "[quote]" | [what it does] |

### Characteristic Patterns
1. [pattern with example]
2. [pattern with example]
...

### Negative Space (What This Style Avoids)
1. [avoidance]
2. [avoidance]
...

### Exemplar Passages
> [passage 1]

> [passage 2]

### Generation Guidance
To write in this style:
- [prescriptive instruction derived from the profile]
- [prescriptive instruction]
- [constraint — what to avoid]
...

### Confidence: [high/medium/low]
[Note sample size and any caveats]

The Generation Guidance section is the bridge from analysis to production. Translate every descriptive finding into a prescriptive instruction. Key translations:

Descriptive Finding	Prescriptive Instruction
"Uses short sentences (10-15 words)"	"Keep most sentences between 10-15 words. Allow occasional 20+ word sentences for variation."
"High imagery density"	"Include at least one sensory image per paragraph. Prefer concrete, visual language."
"Avoids adverbs"	"Cut adverbs. If the verb needs modification, choose a more precise verb instead."
"Register = 4 (formal-consultative)"	"No contractions, no slang. Use complete sentences. Address the reader as 'one' or implicitly."
"Frequent anaphora"	"Use anaphora at key structural moments — paragraph openings, list elements, climactic passages."

---

Section 2: Transform Mode

Transform input text into a target style. The target can be:

1. A named style from the style index (references/style-index.md)
2. An extracted profile produced by Analyze mode (Section 1)
3. A blended profile produced by Combine mode (Section 3)

Transformation Algorithm

Step 1: Identify the Target

• Named style: Read the target entry from references/style-index.md. Each entry has a dimensional profile, constraints, and pitfalls.
• Extracted profile: Use the profile directly — the Generation Guidance section is your primary instruction set.
• Blended profile: Use the resolved blend profile from Section 3.

Step 2: Analyze the Input

Run a lightweight version of the Analyze protocol (Steps 1, 3, and 4 — first impression, dimensional rating, and device inventory) on the input text. This tells you where the input currently sits.

Step 3: Compute the Delta

Compare input dimensions to target dimensions. Identify:

• Dimensions that need to shift — and by how much (a shift of 1 is subtle; 3+ is a fundamental rewrite)
• Dimensions that already match — preserve these; don't break what works
• Devices to add or remove
• Constraints to apply (from the target style's entry)

Step 4: Transform

Rewrite the text. Apply changes in this order (structural before decorative):

1. Paragraph structure — reorganize if the target demands a different structure (e.g., inverted pyramid for journalism, IMRaD for academic)
2. Sentence structure — restructure for target complexity and variety
3. Register and vocabulary — shift word choice, formality, contractions
4. Voice and perspective — change pronoun usage, active/passive balance
5. Devices — add rhetorical devices characteristic of the target; remove devices that don't belong
6. Rhythm and sound — adjust sentence length variation, add sound patterns if the target demands them
7. Imagery and emotional valence — adjust figurative language density and emotional intensity
8. Characteristic patterns — apply the target's signature moves

Step 5: Verify

Check the output against:

• The target style's dimensional profile — does each dimension land in the right range?
• The target's common pitfalls — are you falling into any?
• The target's constraints — are hard constraints satisfied?
• Factual accuracy — has the meaning been preserved?
• Negative space — have you avoided what the target style avoids?

Key Dimension Reference

Dimension	Spectrum	Highest Impact On
Register	frozen ↔ intimate	Legal, academic, casual writing
Sentence Structure	simple/short ↔ complex/long	Readability, sophistication
Vocabulary	plain/concrete ↔ ornate/abstract	Tone, accessibility
Voice	active ↔ passive	Energy, authority
Imagery	sparse/literal ↔ dense/figurative	Creative vs technical feel
Rhythm	staccato ↔ flowing	Poetry, oratory, music
Info Density	compressed ↔ expansive	Technical vs narrative feel
Emotional Valence	detached ↔ passionate	Professional vs personal feel
Audience Relation	authoritative ↔ conversational	Formal vs informal registers
Specificity	precise ↔ impressionistic	Scientific vs literary feel

Domain-Specific Constraints

Style Domain	Hard Constraints
Legal	Unambiguous, defined terms, no contractions, hedging language
Academic	Hedged claims, citations, passive voice acceptable, IMRaD structure
Technical	Actionable, scannable, imperative mood, code examples
Journalism	Inverted pyramid (hard news), attribution, objectivity (except editorial)
Poetry	Form constraints (meter, rhyme scheme, line count) if formal verse
Business	Action-oriented, bottom-line-up-front, bullet points

Quick Reference: Style by Purpose

If the user wants...	Primary style	Key dimensions to shift
"Make it more professional"	Business/corporate comms	Register ↑, emotional valence ↓
"Make it more accessible"	Plain language/journalistic	Vocabulary ↓, sentence complexity ↓
"Make it more persuasive"	Oratory/manifesto	Emotional valence ↑, rhetorical devices ↑
"Make it more literary"	Literary fiction	Imagery ↑, rhythm ↑, figurative language ↑
"Make it more concise"	Technical/executive summary	Info density ↑, sentence length ↓
"Make it more formal"	Legal/academic	Register ↑, contractions ↓, hedging ↑
"Make it more casual"	Blog/personal essay	Register ↓, audience relation → conversational
"Make it sound like a poem"	Free verse or formal verse	Rhythm ↑, imagery ↑, line breaks
"Make it sound like a song"	Songwriting (specify genre)	Rhythm ↑, repetition ↑, rhyme ↑

---

Section 3: Combine Mode

Blend two or more style profiles into a coherent combined target. Use when the user requests hybrid styles: "write this like a legal document but make it funny", "academic tone but accessible", "70% Hemingway, 30% Didion", "formal structure with poetic vocabulary."

Step 1: Identify the Source Styles

Each source can be:

• A named style from references/style-index.md
• An extracted profile (from Analyze mode)
• A previously combined profile

Step 2: Choose the Blending Strategy

Four strategies, each suited to different requests:

Strategy	When to Use	Notation	Example
Primary/Modifier	One style dominates, another adds texture	A << B(features)	"Academic paper with conversational warmth"
Layer-Based	Different styles govern different text layers	{structure: A, vocabulary: B, tone: C}	"Legal structure, literary vocabulary, warm tone"
Proportional	Subtle shift between nearby styles	0.7*A + 0.3*B	"Slightly less formal academic"
Dominant Trait	Pick the most distinctive features from each	salient(A,n) + salient(B,m)	"Hemingway's brevity + Didion's cool detachment"

Default: Primary/Modifier. It produces the most coherent results. Use Proportional only for subtle shifts between nearby styles. Use Layer-Based when the user explicitly assigns styles to different text aspects. Use Dominant Trait when the user names specific qualities to borrow.

Step 3: Resolve Dimension Conflicts

When source styles demand opposite values on a dimension, resolve using this priority hierarchy (structural wins over decorative):

Structural dimensions (always from primary style):

1. Paragraph & structural patterns — macro-architecture must be coherent
2. Register — most perceptible signal; inconsistency here is immediately jarring
3. Sentence structure — tightly coupled with rhythm
4. Information density — determines reader effort
5. Vocabulary — must be consistent with register

Blendable dimensions (interpolate or assign per layer): 6. Audience relationship — can soften primary's stance 7. Syntactic patterns — can borrow specific devices 8. Specificity — can serve either style

Decorative dimensions (freely borrowable from any source): 9. Emotional valence — independent; easy to borrow 10. Sound patterns — independent; easy to overlay 11. Imagery — decorative layer 12. Tone sub-dimensions (warmth, playfulness) — combinable with nearly any structure 13. Rhetorical devices — can add selectively

Dimension Independence Reference

Dimension Pair	Relationship	Blending Rule
Sentence structure + Rhythm	Near-identity	Cannot separate — rhythm IS syntax
Register + Vocabulary	Strong coupling	Shift together or justify the mismatch deliberately
Imagery density + Pacing	Strong tension	Dense imagery slows pacing; resolve by choosing priority
Info density + Audience relation	Strong coupling	Expert density + casual address = confusion
Emotional valence + Any structural	Independent	Safe to blend freely
Sound patterns + Any other	Independent	Safe to overlay
Specificity + Any other	Independent	Safe to blend freely

Step 4: Build the Combined Profile

Produce a resolved style profile in the same format as Analyze mode output. For each dimension:

• State the resolved value (1-5)
• State which source style it came from and why
• Note any deliberate tension (where the mismatch IS the point)

Include a Generation Guidance section that synthesizes instructions from all sources, with conflict resolutions already applied.

Step 5: Validate the Blend

After writing, check for incoherence markers — signs the blend failed:

Marker	Description	Fix
Register oscillation	Formal/informal alternating without purpose	Lock register to primary style
Tonal whiplash	Emotional valence shifts abruptly between sentences	Establish a dominant emotional baseline
Vocabulary collision	Latinate terms adjacent to slang in the same sentence	Pick one vocabulary register per sentence
Structural incoherence	Paragraph organization shifts between deductive and associative	Lock structure to primary style
Generic blandness	Text reads as competent but characterless	You proportional-interpolated to mush; use Primary/Modifier instead
Device mismatch	Devices from one style clash with structure of another	Only borrow devices compatible with structure

Combination Recipe Format

For complex blends, produce a recipe before writing:

## Combination Recipe: [Name]

### Strategy: [primary_modifier / layer_based / proportional / dominant_trait]

### Sources
- Primary: [style name or profile reference]
- Modifier(s): [style name or profile, with specific features to borrow]

### Resolved Dimensional Profile
| Dimension    | Value | Source   | Notes    |
| ------------ | ----- | -------- | -------- |
| Register     | N     | Primary  | [reason] |
| Tone         | N     | Modifier | [reason] |
| [... all 17] |       |          |          |

### Conflict Resolutions
- [Dimension]: [How resolved and why]

### Generation Guidance
- [Merged instructions from all sources]
- [Specific constraints]
- [What to avoid from each source]

### Devices to Include
- [From primary: ...]
- [From modifier: ...]

### Devices to Avoid
- [Incompatible devices]

---

Section 4: Reference Materials

The following reference files provide the detailed knowledge backing this skill:

File	Content	Use For
references/dimensions.md	17 style dimensions with spectra and markers	Dimensional rating in all modes
references/dimensions-full.md	Expanded dimensions with co-variance and impact tiers	Understanding dimension interactions
references/devices.md	75+ rhetorical/literary devices	Device inventory in Analyze mode
references/devices-full.md	Full device catalog with examples and failure modes	Understanding device effects
references/style-index.md	100+ named styles with dimensional profiles	Looking up target styles
references/style-index-full.md	Expanded style entries with examples and pitfalls	Deep reference for specific styles
research/style-extraction-methods.md	Extraction methodology research	Background on the analysis protocol
research/style-combination-theory.md	Combination theory and algebra	Background on blending strategies
research/computational-stylistics.md	Computable metrics and LLM capabilities	Understanding what's measurable

How to Use References

• For Analyze mode: Read dimensions.md for the rating framework and devices.md for the device catalog
• For Transform mode: Read the target style entry in style-index.md, then dimensions.md for the shift delta
• For Combine mode: Read dimensions-full.md for the co-variance matrix (which dimensions couple), then both source entries in style-index.md

Named Style Index Domains

Domain	Styles Available
Legal	Statutory, contract, judicial opinion, memoranda, legislative
Business	Executive summary, proposal, corporate comms, investor relations, press
Academic	Journal article, thesis, literature review, abstract, peer review
Technical	API docs, user manual, specs, architecture docs, release notes, README
Journalistic	Hard news, feature, editorial, investigative, data journalism
Fiction Prose	Literary, thriller, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, noir, magical realism
Poetry	Free verse, sonnet, haiku, ghazal, spoken word, prose poetry, epic, lyric
Musical/Lyrical	Pop, folk, blues, rap/hip-hop, country, rock, musical theater
Creative Nonfiction	Personal essay, memoir, New Journalism, nature/travel/food writing
Rhetorical/Oratory	Persuasive speech, sermon, manifesto, eulogy, toast
Literary Movements	Romanticism, Modernism, Postmodernism, Minimalism, Beat, etc.

---

Common Mistakes (All Modes)

Mistake	Fix
Applying surface features without depth	Match dimensional profile, not just vocabulary
Over-applying a style trait	Every style has bounds; check the pitfalls in each entry
Ignoring the input's existing strengths	Preserve what already fits the target style
Confusing register with vocabulary alone	Register includes syntax, forms of address, hedging
Treating all poetry as "flowery language"	Most modern poetry is sparse, concrete, precise
Making legal/academic prose unreadable	Precision ≠ complexity; plain language is a legal movement
Defaulting to cliches for any genre	Each genre has its own cliches to avoid (listed per entry)
Proportional blending of distant styles	Use Primary/Modifier instead; proportional yields mush
Claiming exact metrics from LLM analysis	Describe qualitatively; do not fabricate exact counts
Ignoring negative space	What a style avoids is as defining as what it does

When NOT to Transform or Combine

• Factual accuracy — never sacrifice accuracy for style
• Technical precision — in legal/technical/scientific styles, precision outranks elegance
• Attribution — do not fabricate quotes, citations, or sources
• Cultural sensitivity — when writing in culturally-rooted styles (e.g., blues, spoken word, ghazal), respect the tradition
• Meaning preservation — a style transform should not change WHAT is said, only HOW