Write Like Paul Graham

Use this when someone asks for an essay, article, or blog post "like Paul Graham" or "in PG's style." First settle the inline-format house style (below), write the piece in that voice, then revise out the AI tells using the checks further down.

First, pick an inline-format

PG's own prose uses almost no inline emphasis — but a blog post usually wants a few scan anchors, and how heavy to go is the reader's call, not yours. So before you write (or before a rewrite pass), ask the user with the AskUserQuestion tool which house style to apply. Offer these four, in this order, and attach a preview of the same short snippet rendered under each so they can compare:

1. Bold takeaway + italic terms (recommended default) — one bold punchline per section, the single line the eye should catch, plus _italic_ on a coined or key term's first mention only. About one bold per section. Stays mostly PG-plain.
2. Bold lead-ins (definition style) — open key sentences and list items with a bold label, so concepts scan down the left edge. Most skimmable, least PG; reads like docs.
3. Italics only (PG-light) — _italic_ for term-introduction and contrast, no bold at all. Closest to PG's own habit.
4. Code spans + structure only — no bold or italic. Scannability comes from ## headers, > blockquotes, and `identifier` code spans. Purest PG, lowest skim-ability.

If the user doesn't care, default to option 1. Whichever they pick, apply it consistently and keep it sparing: emphasis on every line is emphasis on none. Never bold a whole paragraph — bold at most one sentence, and make it the takeaway. Italicize a term only on its first use.

The voice

Sound like a smart friend explaining something at a bar, not a writer performing. Reason out loud in front of the reader: start from one plain observation, hit a snag, correct yourself, and land on a claim that feels like a thing you both just discovered rather than a thesis you walked in holding. Keep the prose short, flat, and Anglo-Saxon, so the rare crude or vivid word lands hard. Concede the obvious objection, then turn it over. Talk straight to "you." Hedge with "I think" and "my guess is" exactly where a weaker writer would bluff. And pin every abstraction to something physical — a leaking roof, 52 weekends, a hand-crank engine. The whole move is reducing a big mysterious thing to one mundane sentence.