Make it sound like you

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Lesson 4 · 9 min

Make it sound like you

By the end

A saved voice note, and a draft that sounds like you wrote it.

  1. 1Learn
  2. 2Try it
  3. 3Human check
  4. 4Quick check

Learn · 3 min

Why AI sounds like AI

Left to itself, an assistant writes in a polished, upbeat, slightly corporate voice, full of lines like “I hope this finds you well” and “we’re thrilled to share” that you’d never say. It’s the average of a lot of business writing, so it sounds like everyone and no one.

Asking for “friendly but professional” barely helps, because that describes most business writing. Adjectives are vague. Examples aren’t.

Show it three samples

Paste three short pieces you wrote yourself, of the same kind as the draft you want: three customer emails for an email, three posts for a post.

The kind matters, because you write differently in a quote than in a post. Samples of the wrong kind teach it the wrong voice.

  • Pick pieces you were happy with, not your most formal.
  • Use your own words, not a version someone else edited.
  • Keep them short: a paragraph or two each is plenty.
  • Take out customer names and personal details first.

Get a description of your voice, then correct it

Before it drafts anything, ask it to describe your voice: sentence length, how you open and sign off, words you use, things you never do. Then correct it. A line like “I never say ‘reach out’” is exactly what makes the difference.

A useful description is specific: “Short sentences. Answer first, pleasantries after. Uses the customer’s first name. Signs off with a first name only. No exclamation marks.”

The corrected description is your voice note. Save it with your samples, and paste both in whenever you want a draft that sounds like you.

It may not remember unless you tell it

Don’t count on a new chat remembering your voice. Some assistants have memory features, but they don’t reliably keep your samples, so keep the voice note handy. Many assistants can also store standing instructions in their settings; the 03 Automator path shows how.

Expect close, not identical. Change a few words to your own, tell it what you changed, and it will adjust for the rest of the chat. When you catch a phrase you’d never use, add it to the note, so the next chat starts closer.

Try it on your business

6 min

Find three short things you’ve written that sound like you at your best, then pick one real piece you need to write next.

  1. 1

    Collect three short samples of your own writing, the same kind as the piece you need. Take out names and personal details.

  2. 2

    Fill in the prompt, run it, and read the voice description it gives you.

  3. 3

    Correct the description in one reply: what’s wrong, what’s missing, words you’d never use. Then let it write the draft.

  4. 4

    Save the corrected description as your voice note, with the three samples, somewhere you’ll find it next time.

Here are three things I wrote, in my own voice:
1. [PASTE SAMPLE ONE]
2. [PASTE SAMPLE TWO]
3. [PASTE SAMPLE THREE]
First, describe my voice in 5 to 8 short bullet points: sentence length, how I open and close, words I use and things I never do. Don’t write anything else yet. Wait for me to correct your description.
Once I’ve corrected it, write [WHAT YOU NEED, SUCH AS A REPLY TO A CUSTOMER ASKING ABOUT DELIVERY TIMES] in that voice, using only these facts: [THE FACTS].
Open ChatGPTOpen ClaudeOpen Gemini

Human check: before you use it

Quick check · question 1 of 2No grades

Which gives an assistant the best sense of your voice?

Ask the Distillery

Answers come from The Distillery’s own pages, with sources.

If the Distillery doesn’t know, it says so and points you to a person.