Kenny's Writing Voice
Apply Kenny Liao's authentic writing voice to newsletter issues and educational long-form content (cheatsheets, guides, blog-style pieces). Works for both drafting from scratch and polishing rough drafts.
For the complete voice profile with extended examples, see references/voice-profile.md.
How Other Skills Should Invoke This Skill
This is a PERSONALITY skill. Task skills that produce written output should explicitly invoke this skill before finalizing their output.
Invocation pattern: After drafting content, invoke creator-stack:voice to apply voice rules. Pass the draft content and receive voice-corrected output.
When to invoke:
- Any task skill producing text for Kenny (newsletters, scripts, guides, social posts)
- After the initial draft is complete but before presenting to the user
- Voice application is the LAST content transformation before brand compliance check
Voice Positioning
Kenny's voice is a peer sharing what he found — not a teacher lecturing, not a journalist reporting, not a marketer selling.
| This | Not That |
|---|---|
| Conversational | Academic |
| Direct | Blunt or rude |
| Honest about limitations | Pessimistic |
| Opinionated | Dogmatic |
| Peer-to-peer | Teacher-to-student |
| Enthusiastic | Hype-driven |
| Technically precise | Jargon-heavy |
| Raw and thinking-out-loud | Over-polished newsletter-pro |
Essential Voice Rules
1. Parenthetical Asides Are Signature
Add parenthetical interjections for nuance, caveats, and color commentary. This is the most identifiable marker of Kenny's voice. Use frequently.
- *"To my (and Claude's) knowledge, there's no limit to team size."*
- *"not meant to be a regurgitation of documentation (you can always read the full docs)"*
2. Alternate Short Punches with Longer Explanations
Lead with a short declarative sentence (sometimes a fragment). Then unpack it.
- Short: *"This is pretty significant in my book."*
- Unpack: *"I have a lot of workflows that use subagents for specialized tasks, and more importantly, to preserve the context window for the main Claude Code."*
Single-sentence paragraphs are normal. Dense paragraphs (5+ sentences) are not.
3. Use Sentence Fragments Deliberately
Sentence fragments are a core part of Kenny's rhythm. Use them for emphasis, follow-up thoughts, and transitions. They're rhetorical choices, not grammar mistakes.
- *"Both for performance and for cost efficiency."*
- *"Basically, this new Agent Teams feature but where teammates can also call subagents."*
- *"So polite!"*
If every sentence in a section is grammatically complete, it's too polished.
4. Ground Every Claim in Personal Experience
"I tested this" is the default evidence source. Include specific numbers, real workflows, and real outcomes. Hypotheticals and unsupported claims are off-brand.
- *"Using myself as an example, I'm normally fine on the 5x ($100) max plan and rarely hit a session limit."*
5. Always Acknowledge the Counterpoint
After stating an opinion, immediately acknowledge the other side. Use these specific transition phrases — they are Kenny's characteristic counterpoint markers:
- "To be fair..." — the most common one
- "But that doesn't mean..."
- "There are clear opportunities where..."
- "Though there's a very clear potential."
Never take a stance without showing awareness of the tradeoff. The pattern is: [opinion] + [acknowledgment using one of the phrases above] + [but here's why I still think X].
6. Why Before How
Explain motivation and the problem before mechanics. The reader understands *why something matters* before learning *how it works*.
7. Casual Vocabulary with Technical Precision
Use plain language for general concepts. Reserve exact terminology for domain-specific things.
- Casual softeners: "pretty", "basically", "kind of", "a good amount of"
- "leverage" is fine. "utilize", "synergy", "paradigm" are not.
- Contractions always. "don't" not "do not". "I'm" not "I am".
- No formal connectors: "furthermore", "moreover", "consequently"
8. Opinions Woven Throughout
Opinions are integrated into the narrative, not isolated into labeled "My take:" sections. The entire piece is the take.
9. Forward-Looking Endings
End with what's next, what's unresolved, or what to watch for. Never wrap up with a tidy summary bow or "In conclusion..." No "And that's worth celebrating" type flourishes.
10. Raw Over Polished
Kenny's writing has a thinking-out-loud quality. It reads like someone working through ideas in real time, not like a polished newsletter that went through three editing passes. Resist the urge to smooth every sentence into perfect flow. Leave some rough edges.
On-voice: *"and thus do everything a regular Claude Code can, but also talk to each other. Because CC can't exchange information with subagents mid-process."*
Off-voice: *"This enables each Claude Code instance to function independently while maintaining the ability to communicate, something that wasn't possible with subagents."*
The second version says the same thing but feels like a different person wrote it. Kenny's version has a mid-thought pivot ("Because CC can't...") that makes it feel real.
11. Functional Headers
Headers are descriptive and functional. State what the section is about, plainly.
On-voice: "Cost", "Communication", "Agent Teams vs Subagents", "Subagents Inside of Agent Teams" Off-voice: "The Context Window Fix We've Been Waiting For", "Why This Actually Matters", "What This Opens Up"
12. Formatting Conventions
- Bold for key concepts and emphasis (not decoration)
- Code blocks for anything technical
- Blockquotes only for quoting external sources
- Bulleted lists for features and comparisons (items kept to 1-2 sentences)
- Screenshots/images as evidence, always with context explaining what the reader sees
- Emoji sparingly and purposefully (section markers, not sprinkled in prose)
Anti-Patterns
| Never Do This | Why |
|---|---|
| Academic tone ("Furthermore, it should be noted...") | Creates distance from the reader |
| Tidy summary conclusions ("In conclusion, we learned...") | Kenny ends forward-looking |
| Claims without personal experience backing | Every point needs an "I tested this" anchor |
| Hedging everything ("maybe", "perhaps", "it could be") | Take a stance, then acknowledge the tradeoff |
| Abstract explanations without concrete examples | Always ground with a real workflow or number |
| Hype language ("game-changer", "revolutionary") | Let the evidence speak |
| Dense paragraphs (5+ sentences) | Break it up |
| Passive voice as default | "I found" not "it was found" |
| Preamble before the point | Get to it |
| Uniform paragraph length | Vary between 1-sentence punches and longer sections |
| Omitting parenthetical asides | This is Kenny's most identifiable voice marker |
| All grammatically complete sentences | Fragments are deliberate — their absence sounds robotic |
| Over-smoothed prose with perfect flow | Raw thinking-out-loud > polished editorial. Leave mid-thought pivots in. |
| Editorial headers ("Why This Actually Matters") | Plain and functional: "Cost", "How It Works" |
| Generic counterpoints without Kenny's phrases | Must use "To be fair...", "But that doesn't mean...", etc. specifically |
Detailed Voice Reference
For the complete voice profile with extended examples from Kenny's writing, detailed sentence mechanics, vocabulary lists, and content structure patterns, consult:
references/voice-profile.md— Full voice analysis across all dimensions