| name | essay |
| type | capability |
| description | Essay and prose writing — personal essays, literary essays, argumentative essays, 随笔, 杂文, and other non-fiction prose that prioritizes voice, thought, and style over formal structure. Distinguished from reports (data-driven) and papers (academic rigor).
|
Essay Writing
Orchestrator dispatches all creation and review work to subagents. Before creation, copy user-uploaded files to /mnt/agents/output/research/.
Sub-skill of general-writing. Inherits shared creative writing principles, anti-AI discipline, and quality gate framework.
CRITICAL — Review → Fix Brief → Dispatched Subagent: When a review finds issues, translate them into a detailed fix brief (file paths, quoted findings, expected outcome, scope boundary, self-check) and dispatch a fresh essay_writer subagent to apply the fix. Never use inline sed/edit_file fixes.
CRITICAL — Anti-Read-Loop Rule: The orchestrator must dispatch its first subagent (essay_writer) within 10 iterations. If the orchestrator has spent 10+ iterations only reading files without creating any subagent, it is in a read-loop. Stop reading, draft your conception from what you have, and dispatch the writer immediately.
CRITICAL — .docx Delivery: Every completed essay must be converted to .docx using skills/docx/SKILL.md. Never end a session with raw .md files and no .docx deliverable.
File Paths
Output: /mnt/agents/output/
{project_name}.essay.md # Final essay
research/ # User uploads (source material, references)
Trigger Keywords
散文, 随笔, essay, personal essay, 杂文, prose, 小品文, 议论文, 抒情散文, 叙事散文, op-ed, 评论, commentary, reflection, thought leadership, 洞见, insight essay, 公众号文章, 小红书
Workflow Decision Tree
User Query
│
├─ Provides draft + asks for revision → Stage 3 → Stage 4
├─ Specifies type/theme clearly → Stage 1 → Stage 2 → Stage 3 → Stage 4
└─ Vague request → Infer parameters (see below) → Stage 1 → Stage 2 → Stage 3 → Stage 4
Infer essay type, audience, platform, length, and language from the user's request. The orchestrator analyzes and infers all parameters autonomously; for complex requests, deploy a subagent to analyze requirements in depth. Never prompt the user for clarification.
Stage 1: Conception (Orchestrator — no subagents)
The Orchestrator designs the essay structure directly. Do not delegate this.
1.1 Identify the Central Claim
Not the topic — the claim. One sentence: what does this essay argue or reveal?
1.2 Find "The Turn"
The moment where thinking deepens or complicates. Identify explicitly: what does the reader believe before? What do they understand after? For insight essays: this is the cognitive gap — "Many think X, but the evidence points to Y."
1.3 Determine Voice
Record: formality (conversational / measured / formal / literary), use of "I" (frequent / occasional / rare), humor (none / dry wit / satirical / self-deprecating), rhythm (short-punchy / long-flowing / varied), critical intensity (observer / commentator / provocateur).
1.4 Choose Structure
For insight/thought-leadership essays (Chinese tradition):
- 破题 — Reframe the topic so the reader sees it fresh
- 拆解 — Pull the topic apart; reveal hidden mechanisms
- 破局 — The insight itself; the "turn" at maximum intensity
- 升华 — Lift the specific insight to a broader principle
For personal/narrative essays:
- Hook → Setup → Complication → The Turn → Landing (resonant close, not summary)
For thought leadership: additionally plan content mix —
| Type | Share | Purpose |
|---|
| Data-driven analysis | 40% | Anchor in evidence |
| Tactical frameworks | 30% | Actionable mental models |
| Contrarian takes | 20% | Challenge received wisdom |
| Personal narrative | 10% | Selective vulnerability |
Identify 2-3 candidate concluding aphorisms using concrete structures: (1) Juxtaposition — three escalating levels: "X改变结果, Y改变原因, Z改变模型"; (2) Contrast — negate + affirm: "不是A, 而是B"; (3) Causal loop — "A导致B, B导致C, C加剧A"; (4) Negation flip — "XXX的本质, 其实不是…而是…" Pick structure before drafting; test by reading aloud.
1.5 Outline
For short essays (< 3k words): Save a single outline to /mnt/agents/output/{filename}.agent.outline.md. Include: central claim, the turn, voice profile, structural arc, platform conventions (if any).
For long essays (>= 3k words): Two-phase outline process:
- Structural outline — Central claim, the turn, section purposes, and overall arc. Save to
/mnt/agents/output/{filename}.agent.outline.md.
- Per-section detail outline — For each section: the section's argument, key evidence or examples, transitions into and out of the section, and target word count. Append to the same outline file.
Stage 2: Writing — Single Subagent (mandatory)
Voice unity is paramount. One writer for the entire essay. Never split.
For multi-section essays: strictly one section per task call. Single writer mandatory for voice unity — reuse the same essay_writer subagent.
Create essay_writer
create_subagent:
name: "essay_writer"system_prompt: Inline all of the following — (1) Voice profile (from Stage 1) — be specific: "conversational, dry wit, varied rhythm with short declaratives after long analytical passages, frequent first-person, provocateur stance." (2) Anti-AI rules — read ../anti-ai.md and inline full content. CRITICAL for essays. Emphasize: no throat-clearing, no summarizing endings, no transition chains, no soulless neutrality, no copula avoidance, no significance inflation. Chinese essays: "形散神不散." (3) Platform conventions if targeting a venue (see Platform Variants below).description: "Write essay with consistent voice"
Dispatch via task
task:
agent: "essay_writer"prompt content:- The outline (full text, not path)
- Central claim and "the turn" specification
- For insight essays: the 4-part arc (破题→拆解→破局→升华) and the cognitive gap
- For thought leadership: content mix targets and aphorism candidates
- Word count target
- Audience description
- Output path:
/mnt/agents/output/{filename}_sec{NN}.md
Word Count Verification
After each completed section, orchestrator runs:
python skills/general-writing/scripts/check_wordcount.py <file> --min {target} --lang auto
If FAIL, return to writer with expansion instructions.
Stage 3: Review
Step 1: Shared Pipeline
Read ../review.md and run the shared review pipeline. For single-section essays, continuity_editor is skipped; run style_editor and structural_editor.
Step 2: Genre-Specific Editor — voice_editor
create_subagent:
name: "voice_editor"system_prompt: "You are a voice editor for essays. The cover test: remove the byline — would you know a human wrote this? Check: (1) voice distinctiveness, (2) opinions and risk-taking, (3) AI-pattern scan, (4) rhythm variety, (5) authenticity (mixed feelings, imperfection). Output: score 0-100 for voice distinctiveness + PASS/FAIL + line-level feedback."description: "Voice distinctiveness and authenticity review"
task:
agent: "voice_editor"prompt: Include essay file path, anti-AI rules (from ../anti-ai.md), voice profile from Stage 1.
Scoring:
| Dimension | Weight | What to Check |
|---|
| Voice distinctiveness | 25% | Sounds like a specific person? |
| Central insight clarity | 25% | Reader can state "the point"? |
| Structural arc | 20% | Hook, turn, resonant landing? |
| Argument quality | 15% | Logic, evidence, emotional honesty? |
| Craft and editing | 15% | AI-pattern absence, rhythm, transitions? |
Pass: >= 75 overall. Voice distinctiveness must be >= 70.
On FAIL: remediation brief → dispatch a fresh essay_writer subagent to apply the fix → re-review. Max 2 cycles. If still failing after 2 cycles, deliver with annotated issues for the user.
Stage 4: Delivery
Assemble
For multi-section essays, concatenate all section files in order. Save to /mnt/agents/output/{filename}.agent.final.md.
Convert to .docx
Convert the assembled markdown to Word using the md2docx pipeline (see skills/docx/SKILL.md → references/md2docx-reference.md).
Output: /mnt/agents/output/{filename}.agent.final.docx
This step is mandatory. Raw .md without a .docx deliverable is not an acceptable end state.
Platform Variants
| Platform | Key Conventions |
|---|
| 微信公众号 | Insight first. Emotional hook in line 1. Bold key sentences. Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences). |
| 小红书 | Ultra-short paragraphs (1-2 sentences). Emoji as rhythm (not decoration). "I" mandatory. Hook in first 2 lines. Anti-AI checklist: no "首先/其次/最后" structure, no "值得注意的是/综上所述", no uniform paragraph lengths, no missing emotional markers. Replace "赋能" → "帮", "值得注意的是" → "说真的". Post-write check: warm greeting opener? personal voice? sentence length varied? interaction CTA at end? |
| Blog / Newsletter | SEO-aware title. Skimmable (H2/H3, pull quotes, bold). 2000-5000 words. Author bio. |
| Literary Magazine | Pure voice — no SEO, no hooks. Sentence-level craft. Ambiguity welcome. |
Reference Files
| File | Purpose | When to Read | Who Runs |
|---|
| ../anti-ai.md | AI patterns to avoid — inline into essay_writer system prompt | Before Stage 2 | Orchestrator inlines into subagent |
| ../review.md | Shared review pipeline, editor definitions, quality gates | Before Stage 3 | Orchestrator follows |
| ../SKILL.md | Parent skill — shared principles, routing, file naming | On entry | Orchestrator reads |
| ../scripts/check_wordcount.py | Word count verification | After each section completes | Orchestrator runs directly |
