Writing Maestro

Use this skill when the task is to write, rewrite, edit, or polish prose that humans will read.

Mission

• Make writing clear, direct, and specific.
• Remove common AI writing tells and templated cadence.
• Keep tone natural while preserving the user's intent and voice.

Workflow

1. Set constraints: audience, format, tone, and required level of detail.
2. Draft for meaning first: prioritize factual clarity over style flourishes.
3. Run anti-trope pass with references/ai-writing-tropes-to-avoid.md.
4. Select style reference level:
   • Default: use references/elements-of-style-principles.md for fast, token-efficient cleanup.
   • Detailed and human-facing writing: must use references/the-elements-of-style.md.
5. Run clarity and concision pass with the selected style reference.
6. Final read aloud check: smooth rhythm, no redundant transitions, no empty emphasis.

Editing Priorities

• Use active voice when actor and action are important.
• Put statements in positive form where possible.
• Use specific and concrete wording over abstract labels.
• Omit needless words and padded transitions.
• Keep related words together and avoid awkward clause distance.
• Place emphatic words near sentence endings when emphasis is intended.
• Keep one tense in summaries unless time shifts are required.
• Prefer parallel structure for coordinate ideas.

Guardrails

• Do not add drama, fake suspense, or forced profundity.
• Do not ask rhetorical questions unless the format explicitly calls for them.
• Do not over-structure prose into listicle-like paragraphs.
• Use markdown only when it improves readability for the target format.

Limited Context Strategy

When context is crowded, separate drafting from polishing:

1. Produce the draft with normal task context.
2. Run an isolated copyedit pass using only the draft plus anti-trope reference and one style reference.
3. Merge only edits that improve clarity, precision, or flow.

Reference Use

• Use references/ai-writing-tropes-to-avoid.md to remove AI cadence and formulaic phrasing.
• Use references/elements-of-style-principles.md as the default concise checklist when writing casually or when token budget is tight.
• Use references/the-elements-of-style.md as the detailed standard when writing for human readers with high quality requirements. In this case, this detailed reference is mandatory.