The idea
The style profile protocol captures how a writer currently writes. It doesn't ask how they want to write. This means compose and revise reproduce existing patterns faithfully but never push toward qualities the writer is reaching for.
Proposed: After the style profile is built from samples, add one more question:
"Are there qualities you're reaching toward in your writing that aren't fully in your voice yet? Writers you admire, things you want more of, things you want less of?"
The answers get synthesized into an "Aspirational Direction" section in the style profile. Compose and revise then reference it as a nudge — the writer's current voice still leads, but the draft leans toward their growth edge where it serves the essay.
Skippable. Backward-compatible. Existing profiles without the section work exactly as before.
Prior art
Impeccable's teach-impeccable skill does something similar for design: it asks for both patterns (what to aim for) and anti-patterns (what to avoid) during onboarding, then saves both to a design context file that all other skills reference.
Where it came from
This came up in a real session. My style profile captured analytical, evidence-dense, cool-register prose — accurate. But I wanted to push toward warmer storytelling and more emotional honesty (Perell, Westenberg as aspirational references). The profile had no mechanism to express that. I ended up manually adding an "Aspirational Direction" section after the fact, and it worked well — compose started making better choices immediately.
Scope
Three files, all additive:
base.md — Add the aspirational question to the style profile protocol, after profile creation. Handle skip, handle links/references, save to profile.skills/compose/SKILL.md — One paragraph in "How to write the essay": treat aspirational direction as a nudge, not a replacement. Check "What NOT to change" before making aspirational moves.skills/revise/SKILL.md — One paragraph appended to step 7 ("Maintain the writer's voice"): use aspirational direction as a tiebreaker when choosing between ways to implement feedback. Flag aspirational moves in change summary.
Happy to write the PR if you're interested. I have a full plan with proposed text for each change.
The idea
The style profile protocol captures how a writer currently writes. It doesn't ask how they want to write. This means compose and revise reproduce existing patterns faithfully but never push toward qualities the writer is reaching for.
Proposed: After the style profile is built from samples, add one more question:
The answers get synthesized into an "Aspirational Direction" section in the style profile. Compose and revise then reference it as a nudge — the writer's current voice still leads, but the draft leans toward their growth edge where it serves the essay.
Skippable. Backward-compatible. Existing profiles without the section work exactly as before.
Prior art
Impeccable's
teach-impeccableskill does something similar for design: it asks for both patterns (what to aim for) and anti-patterns (what to avoid) during onboarding, then saves both to a design context file that all other skills reference.Where it came from
This came up in a real session. My style profile captured analytical, evidence-dense, cool-register prose — accurate. But I wanted to push toward warmer storytelling and more emotional honesty (Perell, Westenberg as aspirational references). The profile had no mechanism to express that. I ended up manually adding an "Aspirational Direction" section after the fact, and it worked well — compose started making better choices immediately.
Scope
Three files, all additive:
base.md— Add the aspirational question to the style profile protocol, after profile creation. Handle skip, handle links/references, save to profile.skills/compose/SKILL.md— One paragraph in "How to write the essay": treat aspirational direction as a nudge, not a replacement. Check "What NOT to change" before making aspirational moves.skills/revise/SKILL.md— One paragraph appended to step 7 ("Maintain the writer's voice"): use aspirational direction as a tiebreaker when choosing between ways to implement feedback. Flag aspirational moves in change summary.Happy to write the PR if you're interested. I have a full plan with proposed text for each change.