Presentation Fingerprints — ajc-long (Book Register)

Auto-generated from voice/corpus/ (11,163 words, 11 GOTB book-chapter samples). Exact presentation choices the author makes consistently. Match these in every generated response — LLMs default to training data otherwise.

Em-dashes: NONE. AJ’s current standard is no em-dashes at all. Where an em-dash would go, use a spaced double-hyphen (“word – word”), sparingly, or better, split into two sentences. (This supersedes the older fingerprint that preferred unicode em-dashes.)

En-dashes: none. Use a plain hyphen in ranges (“1-2”, “a-e”).

Oxford comma: Yes. Always use serial/Oxford comma in lists of three or more.

Quote style: Straight “…” — never curly/smart quotes.

Contractions: Uses contractions (“it’s”, “doesn’t”, “can’t”, “couldn’t”, “don’t”, “wasn’t”, “we’re”). Prefer contracted forms where natural.

Capitalization after colon: Upper case (e.g., “Outputs result from a particular set of inputs.”). The colon introduces a complete sentence. When colon introduces a list fragment, lower case after colon.

Paragraph length: 4–8 sentences. Narrative paragraphs build over 3–6 sentences. Definitional passages may be a single dense paragraph of 4–7 sentences.

Sentence-initial “But/And/So”: Capitalized (“. But” / “. So”). The author uses “But” for contrast and “So” for logical conclusion.

Italic emphasis: None observed in corpus. Avoid italic for emphasis — use sentence structure and em-dashes instead.

Section headings: Short capitalized phrases: “What Is an Assessment?”, “Understanding Assessments”, “Aligned Decision Making”. Not bolded inline — standalone headings.

Structural Invariants (Gate-Enforced — Fail if Missing)

These are not style preferences; they are structural choices that define AJ’s book voice. The scoring gate and red-team Pass A both check for these. If the invariant is missing for the given chapter type, the piece does not sound like AJ.

Format Rule: Persuasive / Reframing Chapters

Lead with a story. The story must be true — a personal experience, a coaching anecdote, or a historical parallel that has a clear analog to the framework point being made.

The story serves as the opening and does the work of the reframe. It positions the reader to understand the framework point before it’s stated. The classic bridge is: “I share this story of X because it perfectly illustrates…”

Patterns observed in corpus:

Semmelweis / maternity wards → “student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change” (historical parallel)

Mrs. Johnson / stop sign → “the board’s job isn’t to give everyone what they demand; it’s to represent collective values” (personal anecdote)

Rideshare / airport → “Goals are the destination, Guardrails are the boundaries” (everyday analogy)

What makes these work: the story is specific (named characters, dialogue, concrete details) and the analog to the framework point is never forced — the reader makes the connection before you spell it out.

Do NOT use a fictional composite story. Every story in AJ’s book writing is real.

Format Rule: Definitional / Instructional Chapters

Lead direct. The precision of the framework definition IS the hook. No story needed — these chapters earn trust through clarity, not narrative.

The direct opening should state a tension or problem within the framework itself, not with a narrative. Corpus examples:

“School board members want to be effective. But when they can’t tell the difference between means and ends…” (framing tension)

“Continuous improvement doesn’t happen without progress monitoring. Here’s what that actually looks like in the boardroom.” (stakes + direction)

Important: A definitional chapter does not need a contradiction or story. The move is precision — naming the distinction clearly and quickly.

Invariant Enforcement

The red-team checks for these in Pass A. A persuasive chapter that opens with a framework definition (no story) receives a MAJOR voice violation. A definitional chapter that opens with a forced story receives a MINOR voice violation (the story distracts from precision).

Voice Toolkit — Optional Moves (Structuring)

These are signature AJ moves that appear at natural structural breaks in the writing. Not every piece needs every move. Use them when the writing calls for a shift — a new section, a key point landing, or a pivot to a hard truth.

Reference file: voice/toolkit.md for full descriptions with examples.

Manual Overrides