The Writing-Voice Questionnaire

You are going to interview me about my writing voice using the 100-question Writing-Voice Questionnaire from Stone Arch Collective (stonearch.ai/resources/writing-voice-questionnaire), then compile my answers into a voice profile you can use to draft things that actually sound like me.

HOW TO RUN THE INTERVIEW:

- I will probably answer by voice, so my answers may be rambly, out of order, or answer three questions at once. That's fine — your job is to catch everything, not to make me be tidy. If one answer covers a later question, note it and skip that question when you get there.
- Ask 2–3 questions at a time, never a whole section at once. Wait for my answer before continuing.
- After each of the ten sections, read back what you learned in 3–5 short bullets and ask me to confirm or correct before moving on. Don't skip this — it catches a wrong read early.
- "I don't know" and "skip" are real answers. Don't press. Mark those as light preferences, not rules.
- If I paste or read you real samples of my writing at any point, treat them as stronger evidence than my self-descriptions.
- Offer me a choice up front: FULL (all 100 questions, ~45–60 min, can be split across multiple sittings — keep track of where we left off), or EXPRESS (just the first two questions of each section, ~15 min).

WHEN THE INTERVIEW IS DONE, compile everything into a single markdown file called voice-profile.md, output in a code block so I can copy and save it. Structure it as: Core identity (one paragraph) / Registers (if my voice shifts by context) / Writing mechanics / Tone & emotional registers / Vocabulary & signature language / Hard nos / Always-Never quick reference / Signature phrases & real calibration quotes (only quotes I actually gave you — never invent one) / What matters most (top 2–3 things) / How to use this. Tag every pattern in the Always-Never list as HARD RULE (never break), STRONG TENDENCY (~70–80% of the time), or LIGHT PREFERENCE (context-dependent). Only mark something a HARD RULE if I stated it as absolute. End the file with this reminder to any future AI reading it: "A piece using 3 of these patterns naturally beats one forcing in 10 awkwardly. When in doubt, less imitation, more inhabitation."

THE 100 QUESTIONS:

Section A — Identity & Range
1. In one line, how would you describe your own writing personality to a stranger?
2. List every context you write in during a normal week (texts, email, Slack, LinkedIn, proposals, reports). Which one feels most "you"?
3. Which register is closest to your natural voice: warm and conversational, dry and efficient, energetic and expressive, formal and precise, or something else entirely?
4. Do you write differently to friends than to colleagues than to strangers? Describe the biggest gap.
5. Is there a mismatch between how you sound out loud and how you sound in writing? Describe it.
6. Which of your writing "voices" do you actually like, and which one do people misread?
7. When someone reads something you wrote and says "that sounds just like you" — what did they just read?
8. When something you wrote lands wrong, what usually went sideways — too formal, too terse, too try-hard, too flat?
9. Do you think of yourself as "a writer," or as someone who writes because the job requires it? Why does that distinction matter (or not)?
10. Name three writers, public figures, or people you know whose written voice you admire — and say specifically what you admire about how they write, not what they write about.

Section B — Process & Mechanics of Drafting
11. Walk through how a real piece of your writing actually gets made, start to finish.
12. Do you draft in your head first, dump ideas then organize, or start clean and linear?
13. If you use AI to help write something, what's your actual workflow — dump and edit, back-and-forth iteration, something else?
14. What's the first thing you fix in an AI-generated draft? What's the second?
15. What does "done" look like for you — polished and perfect, or first-acceptable-version-and-ship?
16. How much time do you typically spend on a piece of writing before it goes out?
17. Do you write better under a deadline, or does rushing wreck your voice?
18. When you edit your own writing, are you cutting or adding by the second pass?
19. Do you read your writing out loud before sending anything important?
20. Name a piece of writing you're actually proud of. What made it good?

Section C — Sentence & Paragraph Mechanics
21. Short sentences or long ones — what's your natural rhythm?
22. Do you like variety (short-long-short), or one default length you fall into?
23. Em dashes, semicolons, ellipses — which punctuation do you reach for, and which do you avoid?
24. Oxford comma: yes, no, or don't care?
25. Do you use exclamation points freely, sparingly, or basically never?
26. Paragraph length — one-sentence beats, medium 3–5 sentence chunks, or long blocks?
27. Are you a "bullet person," a "prose person," or genuinely both depending on context?
28. Do you use contractions (don't, can't, I'm), or spell things out formally?
29. Any punctuation or formatting habit you know you overuse but keep doing anyway?
30. Any mechanical pet peeve — a comma habit, a spacing choice — that makes writing feel "wrong" when someone else does it?

Section D — Structure & Flow
31. How do you usually open a piece of writing — a story, a question, a flat statement of the point, a joke?
32. How do you usually close — wrapped up neatly, trailing off, a call to action, a punchline?
33. Do you signpost transitions explicitly ("next," "so," "here's the thing"), or trust the reader to follow?
34. Thesis-first or narrative-first — do you lead with the point or build to it?
35. When you disagree with someone in writing, do you assert your position or ask questions to probe theirs?
36. Do you name people directly in your writing, or keep things anonymized/general by habit?
37. When listing examples, do you tend toward exactly three, or does the number vary naturally?
38. Do you trust the reader to make connections, or spell out the "so what" every time?
39. What's your instinct when a piece is running long — cut it, split it, or let it run?
40. Do you write the way you'd want to be introduced at a party, or the way you'd want to be remembered in a eulogy? Pick whichever metaphor lands and explain.

Section E — Tone Dials
41. On a scale from "pure business" to "pure personality," where do you sit by default — and does it move by audience?
42. How do you show warmth in writing — through soft language ("I'd love to," "no pressure") or through being useful (information, action, follow-through)?
43. Do you ever go fully formal, or do you always keep some personality even in serious contexts?
44. How much humor do you let into professional writing?
45. Do you use sarcasm? With whom, and never with whom?
46. When you're genuinely excited, how does that show up on the page?
47. When you're frustrated or angry, do you write it hot and revise later, or wait until you've cooled down?
48. How do you comfort someone in writing — with words, with practical help, or do you avoid writing about hard things and call instead?
49. Do you apologize easily in writing, rarely, or almost never?
50. Is there a topic or situation where your humor switches off completely?

Section F — Vocabulary & Signature Language
51. What regional expressions, family sayings, or personal catchphrases show up in your writing without you planning them?
52. What's a word or phrase you use constantly that other people notice?
53. What business jargon do you use unironically ("low-hanging fruit," "circle back"), and which do you refuse to say?
54. What words or phrases make you cringe when someone else uses them?
55. Do you swear in writing? In which contexts, and how much?
56. What's a phrase you say so often people could impersonate you with it?
57. How technical or jargon-heavy do you get, and does that change by audience?
58. Do you use emoji? Which ones, how often, and where never?
59. Are there specific words you were taught to avoid (by a teacher, editor, boss) that still stick with you?
60. If an AI ghost-writing you used one word you'd never use, what word would break the illusion instantly?

Section G — Emotional & Interpersonal Registers
61. How do you write when disagreeing with someone you respect?
62. How do you write when disagreeing with someone you don't trust?
63. How do you give praise in writing — specific and public, brief and private, or saved for in-person?
64. How do you receive praise — does it land differently in writing than said to your face?
65. When it's a hard conversation, do you prefer writing it out or having it live (call/in-person)? Why?
66. What triggers real anger for you professionally, and how does your writing change when you're actually angry versus just annoyed?
67. Do you name your intentions directly ("I'm being blunt here because…"), or let tone carry it?
68. When someone's upset and you don't have a fix, what do you actually write to them?
69. What does broken trust do to how you write to that person afterward?
70. Describe a time you nailed "professional but still human" in writing — what made it work?

Section H — Formatting & Output Preferences
71. Bold, italics, headers — organizing tools you reach for, or clean unformatted prose by default?
72. Lists or paragraphs as your default — and does that change between internal notes and external-facing writing?
73. Do you trim relentlessly, or let a piece run as long as it needs?
74. Do you like "here's the short version" up front, or do you prefer to arrive at the point?
75. Writing a report or proposal versus a text message — what actually changes besides length?
76. Do you like footnotes, asides, parentheticals — or fold everything into the main line?
77. Any format you actively avoid (never a listicle, never a numbered "5 tips" post)?
78. Do you want a strong opening hook even in mundane writing (a status update, an internal memo), or is that reserved for public-facing pieces?
79. What's your gut reaction to AI-polished, "sterile" prose — do you notice it, and what specifically gives it away?
80. If someone had to guess your writing from formatting alone, no words, what would give you away?

Section I — Boundaries, Hard Nos & Cringe
81. What would you never write, no matter who asked or how good the reason sounded?
82. What rhetorical trick (fake urgency, manufactured outrage, attack-mode language) do you refuse to use even when it would "work"?
83. What's your reaction to hype language ("game-changing," "revolutionary") — use it, tolerate it, or cut it on sight?
84. Describe a real example of writing (yours or someone else's) that made you cringe. What specifically was wrong with it?
85. What's an opener (cold outreach, a pitch) that makes you instantly distrust the sender?
86. Are there names, facts, or details you'd never include without explicit permission?
87. Where's the line between confident and arrogant in your own writing — where do you personally draw it?
88. Is there feedback you'd never put in writing, preferring to say it out loud instead?
89. What's the worst version of "you" an AI could produce if it got your voice wrong? Describe it so it's easy to catch.
90. What matters more when something you wrote goes out under your name — how it sounds, or whether it's true? Or are they inseparable for you?

Section J — Calibration, Samples & Priorities
91. Paste (or read me) three real examples of your own writing from different contexts (a text, an email, a post). What do they have in common?
92. Give me one line you've written that's unmistakably "you" — the sentence a friend could pick out of a lineup.
93. What's your litmus test for telling AI-drafted writing that actually sounds like you from an AI trying hard to imitate you?
94. If a draft is "trying too hard" to sound like you, what should it strip out first?
95. Rank in order of importance when something goes out in your name: sounding smart, sounding warm, being accurate, being fast, being memorable.
96. Name one thing about your voice that's a hard rule (never break it) versus a strong preference (usually, but not always).
97. Who are you writing for most often — and does your voice change more by audience or by stakes?
98. If you had to lose one part of your voice to gain more clarity, what would you keep no matter what?
99. What's a compliment about your writing that actually lands as useful information, not empty praise?
100. If this profile is wrong six months from now, what's most likely to have changed — your role, your audience, or you?

Start now: greet me briefly, ask whether I want FULL or EXPRESS, remind me I can answer by voice and skip anything, then begin with Section A.