convert-voice

# Convert Voice - The Donahoe Voice Rules

> *"These are non-negotiable. Every piece of copy - headline, email, sales page, webinar script, social post, ad - passes through these rules. They're not stylistic preferences. They're the operating system."* - The Donahoe Method, Voice Rules

This is the full Voice Rules pass: sentence mechanics, word choices, structural moves, and the Bullshit Filter on top. The output reads like one specific human telling another specific human about something that genuinely works.

The voice IS the method. Everything else is technique.

## When to Use

Trigger phrases: "apply donahoe voice", "voice rules pass", "donahoe voice", "kill the marketing speak", "rewrite in donahoe voice", "voice check", "make this sound like donahoe", "sentence mechanics pass", `/convert voice <draft>`.

Use when:
- A draft exists in default-AI voice or marketing-bro voice and needs Donahoe-fication
- A draft is structurally good but reads stiff
- The user wants a final voice pass before shipping
- A team-written draft has multiple voices and needs unification

Do NOT use for:
- Engineering momentum (use `convert-chute` - the Chute pass handles rhythm; Voice handles word choice and sentence mechanics)
- The standalone "would I actually say this?" filter (use `convert-bullshit-filter` - Voice runs the filter as one of several rules; the standalone version is the deeper isolated pass)
- Auditing for Method-fit (use `convert-audit`)
- Writing from scratch (use `convert-sales-page` / `convert-vsl` / `convert-open`)

## Inputs

Required:
1. **The draft** - paste in the section, page, or full asset
2. **Read-target** - sales page / email / VSL spoken / ad / headline-only - different read-targets have slightly different voice calibrations

Optional:
- **Existing seller voice samples** - if the seller has a signature voice, the Voice pass keeps Donahoe Voice Rules as the floor and layers seller voice on top
- **Banned-words list** specific to the seller (some sellers don't use profanity; some have specific words they avoid)
- `out_path` - caller-controlled output. Defaults via `build_report_path`.

## The Voice Rules (full method)

### Sentence Mechanics

These are the structural rules. Non-negotiable on every line.

**1. First person. Always.**
- "I" not "we"
- "you" not "customers" or "clients" or "users"
- The voice is one specific person to one specific person

✓ *"I learned this the hard way in 2019."*
✗ *"Our team has discovered through extensive research..."*

**2. Short paragraphs. 1-3 sentences.**
- White space isn't wasted space - it's pacing
- A wall of text creates friction
- Single-line paragraphs are emphasis tools - use sparingly, hit hard

**3. Mixed sentence lengths.**
- Short punch. Then a longer one that flows and breathes and gives the reader room to absorb. Then short again.
- Never uniform. The variation creates a pulse.
- See `convert-chute` for the rhythm engineering rules.

**4. Contractions.**
- "You're" not "you are"
- "Don't" not "do not"
- "It's" not "it is"
- Writing without contractions sounds like a terms-of-service agreement

**5. Read it out loud. Every time.**
- If you stumble, rewrite
- If it feels weird, rewrite
- If you wouldn't say it that way across a table, rewrite

### Word Choices

These are the word-level rules.

**6. Specificity over generality.**
- "$14,327 in 11 days" - not "significant revenue"
- "Tuesday morning at 6am" - not "soon"
- "Mike, a plumber from Akron" - not "a service business owner"
- Numbers, names, dates, places. Always.

✓ *"I pulled $14,327 in 11 days from a list of 2,200 people."*
✗ *"I generated significant revenue from a substantial list."*

**7. Visceral over abstract.**
- "Stomach-churning" - not "concerning"
- "Cash hitting your account" - not "revenue generation"
- "Wake up and check your phone" - not "monitor your results"
- Make them FEEL it.

✓ *"You wake up, you roll over, you check your phone, and there are four new sales notifications."*
✗ *"Customers experience improved revenue metrics through optimized conversion funnels."*

**8. Profanity as a precision tool.**
- Used for emphasis at key emotional moments, never as filler
- Signals "I'm being so real with you right now that I'm not even filtering myself"
- One well-placed "bullshit" hits harder than a paragraph of polite disagreement
- Used every other sentence, it's just noise - and signals the opposite of confidence
- Match the seller's voice - if the seller doesn't curse, don't insert it

✓ *"Most of the advice out there is - and I'm being generous here - complete horseshit."*
✗ Profanity sprinkled in every paragraph for "edge"

**9. Kill every word that sounds like marketing.**

Banned-on-sight word list (replace or delete on every encounter):

| Banned | Why it fails | Replace with |
|--------|--------------|--------------|
| Leverage | Corporate filler verb | Use / apply / pull / run |
| Optimize | Buzzword | Improve / fix / make better |
| Revolutionary | Empty intensifier | (Specific result instead) |
| Game-changing | Cliché | (Specific result instead) |
| Unlock your potential | Self-help cliché | (Specific outcome instead) |
| Take your business to the next level | Dead phrase | (Specific upgrade instead) |
| Cutting-edge | Empty intensifier | (Specific mechanism instead) |
| Best-in-class | Corporate filler | (Specific differentiation instead) |
| Synergy | Press-release filler | Delete |
| Robust | Empty | (Specific feature instead) |
| Streamline | Buzzword | Simplify / cut |
| Holistic | Marketing word | Whole / complete |
| Scalable | Overused | (Specific scaling fact instead) |
| Solution(s) | Replaces specifics | The actual thing it is |
| Empower | Cliché verb | (Specific capability instead) |
| Transform | Vague verb | (Specific change instead) |

If a word would appear in a corporate press release, delete it.

### Structural Moves

These are the optional voice moves that make Donahoe copy feel like Donahoe and not just clean prose.

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