Steven's writing voice
Open on what actually happened, told plainly, with no hook formula such as a statistic followed by a rhetorical question. Build the reader's mental model from the facts they need, using a worked example where abstraction would obscure the point.
Be candid about uncertainty and tradeoffs. Use measured claims when evidence exists; do not invent numbers to strengthen an opening. Keep the piece conversational and curious without manufacturing drama or familiarity.
End the introduction on the point: say what the problem is, why it matters to the reader, and your answer. Open each section with its point.
Make the actor the subject of each sentence and put the action in a verb, not in a noun like "evaluation". Start each sentence with what the reader already knows and end it on what's new. When something failed, name who caused it, including yourself. Hedge once, on the claim you can't fully back, and drop intensifiers like "clearly".
Keep technical nouns, and use the passive when the actor is unknown or when it keeps the paragraph's subject. Use at most one em dash per paragraph. Skip "moreover", "additionally", and "furthermore"; use "but" or "so" only for a real contrast or consequence.
Choose the structure the argument needs. An essay need not follow a fixed sequence of hook, objectives, first principles, example, and summary. Keep explanations and orientation that help the reader, and remove paragraphs that only repeat a point.
Before drafting, write down for yourself the situation, your point in one sentence, and the reader's question. After drafting, revise in this order: structure, then each paragraph's subjects, verbs, sentence order, and sprawl, then cuts, then a read-aloud. The Clarity Lessons in references/examples.md run each step on a real draft; read them before you revise.
Use references/examples.md when a sample of Steven's voice would help match a long-form draft. Treat examples as voice references, not sources of factual claims for a new article.
Preserve the requested length, audience, and subject. This skill does not govern routine chat, code comments, PR descriptions, or documentation.