How to sound
like you,
consistently.
The framework Maria uses to map and protect your brand voice. Three axes, a Do/Don't lexicon, and a five-step recipe for any draft that doesn't sound like you yet.
The single most expensive mistake people make with AI is letting their voice get flattened by a tool optimised for the median. The median is boring. Your audience didn't follow you for the median.
This guide is a framework — not a template. The three axes below are a coordinate system, not a destination. You'll plot yourself on each one, then test every draft against it. When something feels off, this is the document you'll come back to.
Plain reads like a Slack message. Poetic reads like a magazine column. Both work. The wrong pole for you reads like a costume.
Earnest commits. Witty winks. Most people write a wittier draft than they actually live; the audience eventually notices.
Personal opens with "I". Industry opens with "the market". Writers who oscillate are the ones readers can't summarise back.
Once you've placed yourself on the three axes, the next move is building a small vocabulary. Words you'll reach for. Words you'll refuse. This is the cheapest tool in the kit and the one people most often skip.
Reach for
- retainer · concrete, specific, the unit you work in
- compounds · the verb that explains why anything we do matters
- pillar · not "topic" — pillars are stances
- specific · vague kills brands; specifics build them
- recognisable · the actual goal, not "viral"
- cadence · what beats brilliance, repeatedly
Refuse
- unlock · what AI calls every change
- game-changing · what no founder has ever called their own work
- thought leader · nobody calls themselves this and means it
- leverage AI · the verb of someone who's never used it
- vibes · precision is the brand
- elevate · in 9 out of 10 sentences, "improve" is sharper
When a draft sounds wrong, you don't need a new draft. You need to run it through five questions in order. By the third, most of the work is done.
- Where did this come from? A real conversation, or a model? If you can't trace the origin to something you said out loud, stop. Re-record.
- Where am I on the three axes? Plain or poetic? Earnest or witty? Personal or industry? Read the first sentence out loud. If it crosses an axis you don't live on, rewrite the opening.
- What did I refuse? Find the three words from your "refuse" list. Replace them. Most drafts get sharper just from this step alone.
- What's the one sentence I'd want quoted back to me? Find it. Make it land. Cut everything that crowds it.
- Would my smartest friend roll their eyes? If yes — rewrite the post, not the framework. The framework is right; the draft is wearing a costume.
You sound like a quietly confident voice — direct, with dry humour, mostly speaking from your own desk.
Let Maria run this for you.
Every draft inside Maria is checked against your three-axis voice profile — and rewrites come back with a rationale you can actually argue with.