A writing guide is the final piece of a three-part system that turns ChatGPT into a reliable writing partner. In this guide you'll create one that captures your voice, preferences, and rules.

By the end of this guide, you'll:

  • Have a writing guide with your tone, guidelines, and writing rules.
  • Get first drafts that sound like you, without endless editing.
  • Know how to maintain and improve the guide.

Note: This guide completes the three-part writing system. New to the series? Start with personas (Part 1) and value propositions (Part 2).

What is a writing guide, and why do you need one?

A writing guide is your personal style manual for AI. It captures your voice, preferences, and rules in a format that AI tools can follow.

A good writing guide gives AI three things it needs to write like you:

  • Your unique voice: style preferences for formality, humor, and personality.
  • Your guidelines: how to communicate and structure content.
  • Your writing rules: what you do and don't do with language.

The result: first drafts you only have to polish, instead of rewriting from scratch.

Your complete AI writing system

Your writing guide completes a three-part system:

Tool Purpose Problem it solves
Personas Understand your audience Generic assumptions about the reader
Value propositions Sharpen your message An unfocused or inconsistent message
Writing guide Capture your voice Text that doesn't sound like you

With all three in place, AI knows who it's writing for, what to say, and how to say it.

Elements of an effective writing guide

Your writing guide has four sections. Here's what each one does:

1. About

This section sets the foundation for your content:

  • Definition: one sentence describing your content.
  • Mission and goal: what you want your content to achieve.
  • Target audience: a short description of your audience.

For example, michaellek.com defines itself as "practical, tool-agnostic how-to guides that teach entrepreneurs and knowledge workers to write effective AI prompts and build and manage their own AI agents."

2. Tone of voice

This section defines your position on four dimensions, following the Nielsen Norman Group framework:

  • Funny vs. serious: balance of humor and professional tone.
  • Formal vs. informal: how conversational your content should be.
  • Respectful vs. irreverent: approach to conventional ideas.
  • Enthusiastic vs. factual: balance between emotion and objectivity.

Each dimension should include examples that illustrate your chosen tone in practice.

3. Guidelines

This section establishes the content rules:

  • Accessible writing: how to use plain language and explain complex ideas.
  • Form of address: how you refer to your audience ("you" vs. other forms).
  • Text structure: guidelines for paragraphs, formatting, and organization.

These guidelines make for a consistent presentation and text that's easy to understand.

4. Writing rules

The last section covers the concrete rules of your language use:

  • Error-free writing: rules for spelling and grammar.
  • Sentences: guidelines for length, structure, and complexity.
  • Formulation: concrete choices in words and phrasing.

These rules make for polished content at a consistent level of quality.