How do I edit a draft so it sounds like I wrote it?

Ask an assistant to improve a draft and you get the same voice every time: tidy, confident, a little bland, with a few phrases nobody says out loud. It is not wrong, but it is not you, and readers who know you notice.

The fix is to show it who you are. Give it a few samples of your own writing first, make it describe what it sees, and only then let it edit. The description matters, because you can check it. If it says you write short sentences and your samples are full of long ones, you catch the mistake before it edits anything.

What you need

• Two or three samples of your own writing, about 300 words or more in total. Pick things you are happy with, written for the same kind of reader as the draft.
• The draft you want edited.
• A list of anything that must not change: names, numbers, quotes, claims.

The prompt

Paste this into a new chat, then paste your samples and the draft.

I want a draft edited so it sounds like me. Work in two steps.

STEP 1: Read my writing samples and describe my voice in at most eight points (sentence length, openings, vocabulary I use and avoid, how I use humour or hedging, punctuation habits). For each point, quote a short fragment from my samples that backs it. Do not describe anything you cannot quote.

STEP 2: Edit my draft to match that voice. Keep every fact, number, name and claim exactly as written. Do not add facts, examples or sources. If a claim looks weak or unsupported, flag it in a list at the end instead of fixing it.

Finish with a list of the changes you made, grouped by type, and a list of anything you were unsure about.

MY SAMPLES:
[paste here]
MY DRAFT:
[paste here]
MUST NOT CHANGE: [names, numbers, quotes]

How to check the result

Read the voice description first, before the edit. Are the quoted fragments really in your samples? Do the points sound like you? If not, add a sample or correct the description, then run step 2 again.

Compare the edit with the draft side by side, using your word processor's compare feature if you have one. Check each number, name and claim. Any fact that changed is a failure of the prompt.

Read the result aloud. If any sentence makes you wince, it is not your voice, so put your own version back.

Finally, look at the flagged weak claims. The assistant is right to leave them. Whether to cut, support or keep them is your decision.

What good output looks like

This is an invented illustration of the shape. A voice point reads: "You open with a short statement and then explain. Evidence: 'Here is the problem. Nobody reads the manual.'" Another reads: "You avoid the word 'leverage'. It does not appear in any sample."

In the edit, a sentence such as "It is important to note that the process is time-consuming" might become "The process takes time." Same fact, fewer words, closer to the sample. The change list should say "shortened openings" and "removed filler phrases" so you can see the pattern.

If the changes list is long, that is fine. If it is empty and the draft looks different, the assistant did not tell you everything it did. Ask it to list every change again, and compare the two versions line by line.

Limits

• The match is only as good as your samples. Under about 200 words, the read is rough.
• It does not add facts, examples or sources. Thin paragraphs stay thin.
• It does not make text undetectable as machine-assisted, and no tool reliably can.
• It edits text you give it. It will not rescue an argument that does not hold up.

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