Article Rewriter

Overview

Use APAG as the default operating system for rewriting. Optimize for curiosity, clarity, transformation, and action without changing the author's core facts or intent.

Keep the rewrite itself as the primary deliverable. Explain the framework only when the user asks for analysis or rationale.

Workflow

1. Identify the rewrite target.
   • Determine audience, desired action, target format, target length, tone, and whether the user's original voice should be preserved closely.
   • If the user does not specify a format, keep the original format and length class by default.
2. Confirm the source material.
   • If the user has not supplied the article, draft, transcript, or notes to rewrite, ask for it before drafting.
   • If the source is fragmentary, state key assumptions briefly instead of pretending the missing context is known.
3. Diagnose the source before rewriting.
   • Extract the central promise, reader problem, current/common viewpoint, better viewpoint, proof, and desired next action.
   • Mark factual gaps mentally and avoid inventing testimonials, research, metrics, or customer stories.
4. Choose the structure.
   • Long-form default: Attention -> Perspective -> Advantage -> Gamify -> concise ending or CTA.
   • Short-form default: A+P, A+A, or A+G. Keep one core idea per piece.
   • If the user explicitly requests AIDA, PAS, PASTOR, or another framework, use that framework while preserving APAG-level curiosity and payoff.
5. Rewrite.
   • Preserve thesis and non-negotiable facts.
   • Rebuild the opening, strengthen sequencing, cut repetition, replace abstractions with concrete scenes or contrasts, and surface a real next step.
6. Deliver.
   • Unless the user asks otherwise, provide 3 headline or hook options plus the rewritten piece.
   • Add short rewrite notes only when they help the user evaluate choices.

Rewrite Decision Rules

• If the draft is weak mainly at the opening, spend more effort on Attention than on line-level polishing.
• If the draft is informative but flat, strengthen Perspective and Advantage.
• If the piece is inspiring but not actionable, strengthen Gamify.
• If the user asks for "润色" or "polish", keep the structure mostly intact and apply APAG lightly.
• If the user asks for "重写" or "rewrite from scratch", rebuild the structure more aggressively.
• If the facts are thin, improve framing and clarity instead of faking authority.

APAG Rewrite Standard

Attention

Build a hook that earns attention through relevance, comprehension, and speed of payoff.

Prioritize some of these building blocks:

• Big problem
• Big benefit
• Big idea
• Transformation process
• Time frame or effort
• Personal low point or tension

Create an honest information gap. Avoid empty clickbait.

Perspective

Show the reader's current problem and the flawed or default way of seeing it.

Useful devices:

• Common belief to challenge
• Personal anecdote
• Sharp contrast
• Example or case
• Metaphor
• Specific pain caused by the wrong view

Make the reader feel understood before redirecting them.

Advantage

Show the better frame, mechanism, or method.

Useful materials:

• Novel concept or naming
• Explanation of why the better view works
• Proof, experience, quote, or observation
• Before/after contrast
• Clear benefit chain

Sell the idea, not just the style.

Gamify

Translate the better view into a sequence the reader can act on.

Prefer:

• Numbered steps
• Checklists
• Challenge ladders
• Operating rules
• A direct CTA or next move

Make the path feel achievable and concrete.

Story Logic

Use curiosity plus payoff:

• Introduce or imply a problem.
• Create a gap around cause, consequence, or solution.
• Pay off the gap with proof, sequence, and a believable next step.

Treat story broadly. Anecdotes, research, examples, metaphors, comparisons, quotes, and observations all count if they improve understanding.

Output Patterns

Existing article to stronger article

• Keep the thesis and evidence.
• Rebuild the hook, section order, transitions, and CTA.

Notes or voice dump to article

• Infer the thesis first.
• Build a clean APAG arc around the strongest insight.

Long article to short post

• Collapse to one promise, one tension, one shift, and one action.

Generic article to sales or persuasive page

• Make the problem more concrete, proof more visible, and CTA explicit without sounding like spam.

Constraints

• Do not fabricate facts, testimonials, research, or outcomes.
• Do not overwrite the author's viewpoint unless the user asks for repositioning.
• Do not turn every rewrite into hype. Keep claims proportional to the evidence.
• Do not preserve weak repetition just because it existed in the draft.
• Prefer natural modern Chinese over translationese when writing Chinese.
• Simplify jargon unless the target audience clearly needs it.

Reference

Read references/apag-playbook.md when you need the detailed hook checklist, APAG prompts, or long-form vs short-form mapping.