Maintaining Your Voice: The Non-Negotiables

The most important thing you can protect in your AI-assisted writing workflow is your distinctive voice. This lesson covers the specific practices that keep your writing sounding like you — even when AI has done much of the drafting work.

Why Voice Gets Lost

When you use AI for writing, the risk is gradual homogenisation. AI outputs are trained to be broadly acceptable — which means they are nobody's distinctive voice. Over time, if you are not vigilant, your content starts to sound like everyone else's AI-generated content.

What Voice Actually Is

Voice is not just word choice or tone. It is a combination of:

• Perspective — a distinct point of view, often counterintuitive or specific
• Sentence rhythm — short and punchy vs. long and discursive
• Vocabulary preferences — words you reach for vs. words you avoid
• What you notice — which details and examples you choose to include
• What you omit — your editorial judgment about what does not belong
• Humour and personality — subtle signals that a real person is behind the words

The Voice Document

Before using AI heavily in your writing workflow, invest an hour in creating a voice document:

1. 1.Collect 5-10 examples of your writing you are proud of
2. 2.Write a one-paragraph description of your voice (tone, style, what to avoid)
3. 3.List 10 words or phrases you often use that feel distinctly yours
4. 4.List 10 words or phrases that you never use
5. 5.Describe your typical sentence length and paragraph length

Include this document (or excerpts) when prompting AI for first drafts.

The Non-Negotiable Human-Written Zones

Some parts of your writing should always be written by you:

1. 1.The central argument or insight — this is your intellectual contribution
2. 2.Personal anecdotes and examples — AI cannot fabricate your experiences
3. 3.Controversial or strongly-held opinions — your credibility requires your words
4. 4.The opening hook and closing thought — readers remember these most
5. 5.Any claim you cannot personally verify — never let AI invent statistics or quotes

The Edit-for-Voice Checklist

After AI drafts anything, run through this checklist:

• Does this sound like something I would actually say?
• Have I removed all AI clichés and filler phrases?
• Are there any claims I cannot verify?
• Is the perspective genuinely mine, or generic?
• Have I added at least one specific example, detail, or anecdote from my experience?
• Does the opening sentence make me want to keep reading?

Module Summary

• AI-assisted writing works best when:
• You provide ideas, direction, and judgment
• AI handles drafting, expanding, and mechanical editing
• You edit heavily for voice, accuracy, and insight
• You protect the parts of your writing that only you can produce