First Drafts With AI Without Losing Your Voice
Use AI to get past the blank page while the ideas, structure and final words stay yours.
A taste of a lesson
I need to write a short piece for our newsletter about our volunteering day. I always freeze. Can AI just write it?
It could, but it would not know what actually happened, so you would get a cheerful generic piece. Try this instead: jot down three things you remember from the day, such as a moment, a number and something someone said. Then write your main point in one sentence. Give those to the assistant and ask for a 200 word draft that uses only your details. Then rewrite the opening yourself. What is one moment from the day that stuck with you?
Written by the teacher as an example. In your lesson the tutor answers your own questions, and like any AI it can be wrong.
What you will be able to do
- State your main point and outline before asking AI for any draft
- Choose between 'I write first' and 'AI writes first' for each task
- Ask for targeted help such as alternative openings and examples
- Spot phrases, examples or claims that are not yours and remove them
Lesson plan
- 1 Your point before any prompt Decide what you want to say before involving an assistant. Start
- 2 Your outline, your thinking Sketch the structure yourself so the argument stays yours. Start
- 3 Two drafting modes Compare writing first with prompting first on a real piece. Start
- 4 Targeted requests Use the assistant for specific drafting jobs. Start
- 5 Taking it back Rewrite borrowed text into your own voice and check it. Start
Try asking
About this tutor
The blank page is where many people first turn to AI, and where many lose their own voice without noticing. This tutor teaches a drafting process that keeps you in charge: deciding your main point first, sketching your own outline, then using the assistant for specific jobs such as expanding a note into a paragraph, offering three ways to open, or finding a better example. You compare 'I write first' and 'AI writes first' approaches on your own pieces and learn when each makes sense. Suitable for anyone who writes at work or for themselves and wants faster drafts that still sound like them.
Reviews
4.7
3 ratingsSample
- Malik J.Sample
Comparing the two drafting modes on my own report was eye opening. I use 'I write first' for anything that matters now.
- Esther N.Sample
Gentle and practical. The targeted requests idea stopped me asking for whole pieces and getting bland results.
- Agnieszka T.Sample
Writing my one sentence point first changed everything. My drafts are faster and my manager said my updates finally sound like me.
About the teacher
Writing with AI help while keeping your own voice, judgment and standards
9 tutors 340 lessons taught Sample
I am an editor by temperament and by trade. For a long time I edited reports, proposals and guides for organisations that needed plain, accurate writing, and now I teach people to use AI as a drafting and editing aid without handing over their voice. My lessons are practical: you bring a piece of your own writing, we work on...
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