writing-style

name	writing-style
description	Write in specific author styles (Jack Butcher/VV, Anthropic/Eloquent Insight, Morgan Housel, Roberto's Mix). Activates on 'write in X style' or 'X style'. Integrates with vvriter MCP for VV content.
triggers	["(?i)\\b(vv|visualize.?value|jack.?butcher|jack)\\s+style\\b","(?i)\\bwrite\\s+(in|like)\\s+(vv|jack.?butcher|jack|visualize.?value)\\b","(?i)\\b(anthropic|eloquent.?insight)\\s+style\\b","(?i)\\bwrite\\s+(in|like)\\s+(anthropic|eloquent.?insight)\\b","(?i)\\b(housel|morgan.?housel)\\s+style\\b","(?i)\\bwrite\\s+(in|like)\\s+(housel|morgan.?housel)\\b","(?i)\\b(roberto|roberto.?s?.?mix|my\\s+style|mix)\\s+style\\b","(?i)\\bwrite\\s+(in|like)\\s+(roberto|roberto.?s?.?mix|my\\s+style)\\b","(?i)\\bin\\s+(vv|jack|jack.?butcher|anthropic|eloquent.?insight|housel|morgan.?housel|roberto|roberto.?s?.?mix|my)\\s+style\\b"]

Writing Style Guide

When the user asks to write in an author's style, match the author below and apply all voice principles, rhetorical devices, vocabulary constraints, and structural patterns to the writing task. Works for any content type: tweets, threads, blog posts, essays, product copy, landing pages.

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Style: Jack Butcher / Visualize Value (VV)

Trigger phrases: "vv style", "jack style", "jack butcher style", "visualize value style"

MCP Integration

When the vvriter MCP server is available, use its tools to generate or refine content. The MCP tool produces VV-style output natively. If vvriter MCP is not available, use the style guide below directly.

Voice Principles

• Direct, declarative, minimal. Says what he means in as few words as possible.
• Treats the reader as smart. No hand-holding.
• 57% of tweets under 10 words. Median tweet length: 9 words. Sweet spot: 6-15 words.
• 78% of tweets are single sentences.
• Punctuation is structural, not emotional. Line breaks do heavy lifting over commas.
• Reader-focused: "you/your" in 33% of top tweets; "I/my" in only 7%.

Verb Mood Distribution

• Declarative: 80%
• Imperative: 9%
• Conditional: 9%
• Interrogative: 2%

Opening Patterns (Priority Order)

1. Observation/declaration (82%)
2. Numbered list (6%)
3. Conditional "if" (4%)
4. Imperative verb (4%)
5. Quote + reframe (3%)
6. Question (1%)

Rhetorical Devices

• Alliterative contrasts: Parallel words starting with same letter create sonic inevitability. "Complexity impresses your peers. Clarity impresses your customers."
• Matched meter: Equal syllable counts balance contrasts. "Work hard to learn. / Work smart to earn."
• Chiasmus: A-B structure flips to B-A. "You don't pick a niche, a niche picks you."
• Circular loops: Endings return to beginnings, creating inescapable truths.
• Negation flips: Same words with/without "don't" invert meaning undeniably.
• Paradox: Self-contradiction revealing deeper truth. "The less you write, the more you say."
• Monosyllabic endings: Short, blunt Anglo-Saxon words land punchlines — start, ship, build, earn.
• Colon pivots: ~17% of top tweets. Keep both sides to 2-4 words. "Leverage: do more with less."

Lowercase Strategy

Drop capitalization and periods to signal "thinking aloud" rather than pronouncement. Paradoxically increases authority. ~20% more engagement.

Signature Vocabulary

build, time, people, work, value, sell, money, ideas, attention, leverage, design, experience, opportunity, without, less, everyone, yourself

Banned Words & Patterns

utilize, synergy, landscape, stakeholder, scalable, innovative, robust, "at the end of the day", "move the needle", em dashes, hedging language ("I think", "maybe", "perhaps"), excessive adjectives, preamble

Never Do

• Self-report emotions ("I feel", "I'm excited")
• Engagement requests ("Like if you agree", "RT this")
• Performance of vulnerability or diary content
• Tribal positioning, complaints, or negativity
• Cliches or motivational poster language
• Personal metrics, pop culture, or news commentary

Tone

Locker room over lecture hall. Optimistic but unsentimental. Wry, self-aware humor. Encouraging without softness. Observations about reality, not opinions from a personality.

Key Themes

Leverage over labor, simplicity over complexity, action over theory, consistency, ownership, time scarcity, focus as competitive advantage.

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Style: Anthropic / Eloquent Insight

Trigger phrases: "anthropic style", "eloquent insight style"

Voice Principles

• Precise, measured prose with intellectual depth
• Clear without being simplistic — explains complex ideas accessibly
• Calm authority — never hype, never alarmist
• Quietly confident; the writing trusts the reader's intelligence
• Structural clarity with clean paragraphs and logical flow
• Each sentence carries its weight — no filler, no padding

Tone

• Thoughtful and rigorous
• Scholarly but not academic — avoids unnecessary formalism
• Shows genuine curiosity about the subject matter
• Acknowledges nuance and uncertainty where appropriate
• Warm without being casual; serious without being heavy

Rhetorical Devices

• Precise analogy: Bridges complex ideas to familiar ones with surgical accuracy
• Earned qualification: States the strong claim first, then adds the necessary nuance — not the other way around
• Nested clarity: Complex ideas broken into digestible layers, each building on the last
• Quiet reframing: Shifts the reader's perspective without announcing it

Vocabulary

• Precise technical terms alongside elegant plain language
• Prefers concrete over abstract when possible
• Latinate precision where it serves clarity; Anglo-Saxon directness everywhere else
• Comfortable with words like "salient", "tractable", "legible" when they're the right word — never for show

Structural Patterns

• Lead with the interesting observation, not the setup
• Each paragraph earns its place
• Transitions feel natural, not mechanical ("Furthermore", "Moreover" used sparingly)
• Conclusions open a question rather than closing a door
• Paragraphs vary in length — short ones for emphasis, longer ones for reasoning

Banned Words & Patterns

• Marketing speak ("revolutionary", "game-changing", "disruptive")
• Buzzwords ("synergy", "leverage" as verb, "ecosystem" when not literal)
• Unnecessary jargon or acronyms without explanation
• Hyperbole ("the most important", "unprecedented")
• Exclamation marks (almost never)
• Filler transitions ("In today's world", "As we all know")
• Performative humility ("We humbly believe")

Never Do

• Hype or alarm — maintain calm even on urgent topics
• Oversimplify to the point of being wrong
• Use bullet points where prose serves better
• Sacrifice precision for brevity or vice versa

---

Style: Morgan Housel (Expanding)

Trigger phrases: "housel style", "morgan housel style"

Status: Partial profile — enough to write in this direction, but not yet as detailed as VV or Anthropic. Apply these characteristics:

Voice Principles

• Psychology of money and behavioral finance narratives
• Opens with a vivid historical anecdote, then extracts the universal principle
• Counterintuitive observations stated plainly — no dramatic reveal
• Accessible — no finance jargon gatekeeping
• Treats money as a lens on human behavior, not a technical subject

Tone

• Conversational wisdom — like a smart friend explaining something at dinner
• Patient — takes the scenic route through stories to reach the insight
• Humble curiosity — presents ideas as discoveries, not declarations
• Optimistic realism — acknowledges difficulty without cynicism

Structural Patterns

• Short paragraphs, one idea each
• Story → principle → implication (three-act micro-structure)
• Historical analogies that reframe modern problems
• Numbered lists for compound insights ("Five things about risk...")
• Endings that sit with you — often a single-sentence final paragraph

Signature Themes

Compounding, patience, risk vs. uncertainty, luck vs. skill, enough, storytelling as sense-making, the gap between knowing and doing

To Complete This Profile

To build a full profile, gather: rhetorical devices list, quantified patterns (sentence length, perspective ratios), signature vocabulary, banned words, and opening pattern distribution — following the Jack Butcher section as a template.

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Style: Roberto's Mix

Trigger phrases: "roberto style", "roberto's mix style", "my style", "mix style"

Philosophy

This is Roberto's personal voice — a synthesis of all the authors in this skill, tuned to his identity as a Brazilian wealth management founder who thinks in systems, builds in public, and speaks directly.

The Mix Formula

Ingredient	From	Weight
Brevity & punch	Jack Butcher / VV	40% — the backbone. Keep it short, declarative, reader-focused.
Intellectual depth	Anthropic / Eloquent Insight	35% — precision without pretension. Complex ideas made accessible.
Story → principle	Morgan Housel	25% — ground abstract ideas in real examples and human psychology.

Voice Principles

• Short, punchy headlines with depth underneath — VV on the surface, Anthropic in the body
• Lead with the counterintuitive observation (Housel), state it bluntly (VV), then explain with precision (Anthropic)
• Write for smart people who are busy — no hand-holding, no filler
• Portuguese-native warmth underneath English-language directness
• Financial concepts grounded in human behavior, not jargon

Tone

• Confident without arrogance
• Warm but not soft — encouraging through clarity, not cheerleading
• Wry humor when it lands naturally — never forced
• Builder's mindset: everything connects to action, ownership, leverage

Structural Patterns

• Tweets/short-form: Pure VV — under 15 words, colon pivots, paradox, alliterative contrasts
• Threads: VV hooks → Housel story → Anthropic insight per thread section
• Blog posts/essays: Anthropic structure (clean paragraphs, earned transitions) with VV headlines and Housel anecdotes
• Product copy: VV directness with Anthropic precision

Signature Themes

Wealth as freedom (not accumulation), leverage through systems, simplicity as strategy, building for families not just portfolios, technology serving human judgment, Brazilian perspective on global wealth

Banned

Everything banned across all three authors applies here, plus:

• Generic fintech marketing language
• Translationese (Portuguese syntax forced into English)
• Humble-bragging about the product

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How to Add a New Author

Step 1: Add trigger patterns

Add new regex entries to the triggers list in the frontmatter:

- "(?i)\\b(authorname|author.?name)\\s+style\\b"
- "(?i)\\bwrite\\s+(in|like)\\s+(authorname|author.?name)\\b"

Also add the name to the catch-all pattern (last trigger entry).

Step 2: Add a style section

Copy this template and fill it in:

## Style: Author Name

**Trigger phrases:** "authorname style"

### Voice Principles
3-5 bullet points defining the core voice.

### Tone
How the writing feels to the reader.

### Rhetorical Devices
Named patterns the author uses repeatedly, with examples.

### Vocabulary
Signature words and preferred register.

### Structural Patterns
How the author organizes ideas at paragraph/piece level.

### Banned Words & Patterns
Words and constructions this author never uses.

### Never Do
Behaviors or content types that violate this author's voice.

Step 3: (Optional) MCP Integration

If the author has an MCP tool, add a ### MCP Integration section with instructions to prefer the MCP tool and fall back to the embedded guide.

No other files need to change. The skill is self-contained.