How to get AI to write in your style — show it, don't describe it

To get AI to write in your style, show it a piece written that way instead of describing the style. Name one or two articles that do what you want, say what to take from them — the structure, or only the voice — and give the new topic its own material. Then save the result as a reusable style, so you never paste the example in again.

Most people try the opposite first: a paragraph of adjectives in a prompt. It is the reason so much "in my voice" output still sounds like every other AI draft.

Why describing your style does not work

"Warm but direct, short sentences, a bit of humour, no jargon." Every model reads that differently, and none of it says what you actually do: that you open on a scene from the reader's week, that a paragraph makes one claim, that you never end on a question, that the second section is always the counter-case. Those are the things a reader recognises as you, and they are almost impossible to put into adjectives.

A style prompt also decays. It is one instruction among many, and over a long draft the model drifts back to its default voice — the confident, evenly paced, slightly over-structured one.

What an example carries that a description cannot

A piece you point at shows, rather than tells:

• The shape. How it opens, what order the parts come in, where the headings fall, how long it runs.
• The rhythm. Sentence length, how paragraphs begin and end, how often it changes pace.
• What it leaves out. No throat-clearing, no summary of what it just said, no "in today's fast-moving world". Absence is half of a style, and only an example shows it.

That is why "write it like this one" usually beats a page of instructions — as long as the model takes the right things from the example.

The real risk: borrowing the content

The common failure is not a wrong voice. It is a new piece that quietly reuses the example's facts, figures, anecdotes or turns of phrase, because to a model the example is just more text on the subject. You asked for the way it was written and got some of what it said.

So keep two things apart, and say which is which:

1. The model — the piece to write like. It decides how the new piece is written. Nothing in it should be cited or carried over.
2. The material — the notes, files or links for the new topic. Every fact comes from here, and anything missing should be asked for, not filled in from the model.

Also say what to take: "just like it" means the form as well as the voice; "in its voice" means only the voice. Those produce different pieces.

How to do it in MindMax

1. Pick the model by the job. A launch post to model a launch post, a memo for a memo — yours or one you admire. A note, a PDF, a Word file or a web page all work.
2. Name it in a writing brief. In a new document, type /, choose Writing brief, and write the task the way you would say it: “A launch post for the new sync feature, just like [[Last spring's launch post]], from @sync-notes.” From your words it works out whether you want the form or only the voice; you can also put the use in brackets after the link.
3. Let it plan in the model's shape. The plan follows the model's run of parts, filled with your new subject, and the facts come from what you @'d. A short piece is written straight through; add “show me the outline first” to stop at the plan.

One piece named as the model, one link as the material.

4. Read it against the model. Put the opening next to the original's. If it drifted, write what the model does on the brief's Voice line and write that section again.
5. Save the style. Right-click the model in the file tree — or two or three of your own pieces — and choose Save as my genre…. The assistant drafts the structure, the voice and the checks, keeps the pieces as samples, and shows you the draft. Nothing is saved until you press Save skill.

The style, written down as a genre you can read and edit before it is saved.

From then on the genre sits in the brief's genre menu, for any topic. It is a plain-text writing skill — you can open it, change a rule, or share it with a colleague who needs to write the same way.

One example or three?

• One is enough for a single piece. It is also how quirks sneak in: if your example opens with a question, every piece may.
• Two or three of your own, doing the same job, give a steadier voice. That is the better basis for a saved style.
• Your best, not your latest. The model sets the ceiling.
• The same kind of piece. A column and a status update share an author, not a style.

Where it goes wrong

• Close, not identical. A reader who knows the author may still tell. Rewrite the lines that matter most yourself.
• The style cannot rescue the substance. A piece in your voice with nothing to say is still empty — give it real material for the new topic.
• Someone else's voice is still theirs. Writing in the manner of a piece you admire is how most people learn; publishing their phrases is not. Check any line that sounds borrowed.

What is not claimed

No model is trained or fine-tuned on your writing. The example, or your saved samples, are read each time they are used — which is also why changing the samples changes the next draft immediately.

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The feature is on AI writing, and the whole workflow is write in the style of an example. Step by step: use a piece as a model · Download MindMax