sethshoultes/authors-edit

/authors-edit <file> [author1 author2 ...]

The core editorial command. Fans out to selected authors, consolidates their markup.

When to use

• You have a draft (any length) and you want editorial feedback from one or more author voices.
• You want marked-up passages with specific cuts and substitutions — not just opinions.
• You trust the fan-out-and-consolidate pattern: different authors will notice different things, and the consolidation will show consensus and productive disagreement.

Not for: real-time collaborative drafting (use /authors-channel); fast gut-check opinions (use /authors-critique); resolving a specific craft dispute (use /authors-debate).

Instructions for Claude

When this skill is invoked:

1. Parse arguments:

   • First positional: file path (required). If missing, ask the user to provide a file.
   • Remaining positionals: zero or more author names. Valid names: hemingway, orwell, didion, mcphee, king, vonnegut, baldwin, mccarthy, wallace, le-guin. Short forms accepted (e.g., papa for Hemingway, dfw for Wallace).

2. Verify the file exists. If not, tell the user the path isn't valid and stop.

3. If no authors were named, auto-select 1–2 based on genre signals:

   • Inspect the first 500 words of the file. Look for signals.
   • Marketing/landing page copy (product names, calls-to-action, benefit language) → Hemingway + Orwell.
   • Fiction (dialogue tags, scene description, narrative prose) → King + Vonnegut.
   • Personal essay or op-ed (first-person reflection, cultural argument) → Didion + Baldwin.
   • Long-form nonfiction / explanatory (research-heavy, sustained exposition) → McPhee.
   • Speculative fiction (invented terms, alternate-world setting) → Le Guin + King.
   • Literary / mythic fiction (weighty prose, violence, landscape as character) → McCarthy + Hemingway.
   • Self-aware cultural criticism (footnote candidates, meta-commentary) → Wallace + Didion.
   • Ambiguous: default to Hemingway + Orwell (safe generalists).

   Announce your selection to the user in one line: "No authors specified — picking <A> and <B> based on <signal>. Ok, or override?" Accept "ok" or a new list.

4. If .great-authors/ exists in the file's parent directory, note this in your dispatch prompts — the sub-agents will read bible files as part of the persona's ## Before you edit protocol.

5. Fan out via the Agent tool. For each selected author, dispatch a sub-agent in parallel (use multiple Agent calls in a single message):

   • subagent_type: <author>-persona
   • Prompt should include:
     • The full text of the file to be edited.
     • Instructions: "You are editing this draft. Return your output in the following structured format:
       • Verdict: one sentence naming your top-line reaction to the draft.
       • Marked passages: 3–8 quoted excerpts from the draft, each with your specific suggested edits inline. Use ~~strikethrough~~ for cuts and [→ replacement] for substitutions.
       • Start here: if there's a line above which you'd delete everything, quote the first sentence after that line and label it 'START HERE:'. Otherwise omit this section.
       • Hand off: if a different author in the great-authors roster would serve this piece better, name them in one sentence. If not, omit.

6. Consolidate the results. After all sub-agents return, produce a single consolidated view:

   # /authors-edit on <filename> — <author A> + <author B>
   
   **<Author A>'s verdict:** <one sentence>
   **<Author B>'s verdict:** <one sentence>
   
   ## Where they agree
   (list 1-3 concrete points both authors made)
   
   ## Where they disagree
   (list 1-2 concrete points they diverge on, or "No significant disagreement" if so)
   
   ## Highest-leverage change
   (pick ONE change that would most improve the draft. Name it in one sentence.)
   
   ## Marked passages
   
   (Show the marked-up passages, combining both authors' edits when they overlap. If they conflict on the same passage, show both versions labeled.)
   
   ## Start here (if any author flagged it)
   <first sentence after the cut line>
   
   ## Handoffs
   (Any cross-reference suggestions from individual authors, listed here. E.g., "McCarthy suggests Baldwin for the moral stakes in paragraph 3 — consider /authors-edit <file> baldwin.")
   

7. Output to stdout. Do not write to the manuscript. The human applies the edits.

Notes

• All dispatched sub-agents inherit the current working directory. If .great-authors/ exists, they will read it automatically per each persona's ## Before you edit protocol. You do not need to explicitly pass bible context.
• Fan-out should be parallel — dispatch all Agent calls in a single message using multiple tool-use blocks.
• If any sub-agent reports BLOCKED or returns nothing useful, consolidate with whatever authors succeeded. Never fail the whole command on one author's failure.
• If the user passed >2 authors, dispatch all of them. Consolidation scales to N.