Write longform

Write Longform — Orchestrator

Content — writes a longform / pillar piece via research → outline → draft → critic, scored on structure AND originality. NOT write-copy on a long doc. Capability metadata: routing.yaml. Methodology, philosophy, scope, the anti-collapse boundary: references/playbook.md [PLAYBOOK].

Core question: "Does this piece make ONE argument the reader can't get from the first page of search results, supported by real evidence, structured so each section earns the next — or is it a long string of generic paragraphs?"

Critical Gates — read first

1. One thesis the piece must own. A pillar piece argues ONE non-obvious claim, stated up front, defended throughout. "A guide to X" with no thesis is a list, not a pillar. No ownable thesis → BLOCK and ask.
2. Research before outline, outline before draft. The pipeline is strict-ordered: the research agent gathers real evidence (sources, data, examples, counter-arguments) BEFORE any structure; the outline commits the argument's spine BEFORE any prose. Drafting first produces generic filler — the exact write-copy-on-a-long-doc failure this skill exists to avoid.
3. Every section earns its place. Each section advances the thesis or it is cut. A section that could be deleted without weakening the argument is filler. The outline agent enforces section-level necessity.
4. Originality is a gate, not a nicety. The piece must contain ≥1 of: a non-obvious claim, a proprietary frame/model, original data/examples, or a contrarian-but-defended position. A piece that only restates consensus FAILs originality regardless of polish — this is the anti-collapse dimension (see references/playbook.md § "Why this isn't write-copy").
5. Cited or marked. Every factual claim is sourced or tagged [author-assertion]/[pattern-derived]. No invented statistics, no fake citations. Hard gate.

Quality Gate — 7 dimensions

Full rubric + Pass/Fail bands: references/rubric.md [PROCEDURE]. Critic agent: agents/critic.md.

• Gate: Total ≥36/49 AND every dim ≥4/7 AND the Originality dim ≥5 (the anti-collapse floor). Below → FAIL, route to the named agent, max 2 rewrite cycles.
• Dimensions: Thesis clarity · Structural integrity · Evidence quality · Originality · Reader-fit · Prose quality · Search/AEO-readiness.

Before Starting

Per references/_shared/before-starting-check.md. Recommended context:

Artifact	Source	Required?
research/icp-research.md	research-icp	Recommended — the target reader, their awareness stage, their VoC language
research/product-context.md	research-icp	Recommended — the proprietary frame / unique mechanism the piece can own
brand/BRAND.md	create-brand	Recommended — voice anchors + banned language
docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/optimize-seo-*.md	optimize-seo	Optional — the target keyword cluster + the pillar's place in a topic map
docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/campaign-plan.md	plan-campaign	Optional — the pillar's role in the content calendar

Pre-Dispatch + Mode

Run canonical Pre-Dispatch (references/_shared/pre-dispatch-protocol.md). Needed dimensions: topic · target reader (role + awareness stage) · the ownable thesis (the claim the piece defends) · piece-type (blog post / pillar page / essay) · target length · search intent (if SEO-anchored) · the proprietary angle (frame / data / experience the author brings). Missing thesis OR target reader → hard-block, ask one question. Full Cold Start + Missing-Input Hard Blocks: references/procedures/pre-dispatch.md.

Mode (references/_shared/mode-resolver.md): budget: deep. --fast collapses to research-lite → outline → single-draft (no rewrite loop). --fast does NOT skip Cold Start, Critical Gates 1-5, the research-before-outline order, or the cited-or-marked gate.

Agents + Routes

4 sub-agents (research → outline → draft → critic) in a STRICT sequential pipeline (the order is the whole point). Two routes — A (compose a new piece), B (called by another skill, e.g. optimize-seo commissioning a pillar). Full manifest + dispatch graph: references/agent-manifest.md [PROCEDURE].

Artifact Contract

• Path: docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/write-longform/[piece-type]-[date]-[slug].md
• Lifecycle: pipeline — re-run on thesis change, new evidence, or a search-intent shift.
• Frontmatter + body order + the source-ledger schema: references/format-conventions.md [PROCEDURE].
• Consumed by: evaluate-content (scores the published piece), optimize-seo (the pillar in a topic map), humanmaxxing (terminal AI-tell polish pass).

Anti-Patterns

references/anti-patterns.md [ANTI-PATTERN]. Re-read before any piece ships: no-thesis listicle, draft-before-research, consensus-restatement (the collapse-into-write-copy tell), invented statistics, filler sections, keyword-stuffing, wall-of-text-no-structure, length-padding to hit a word count.

Durable Rules (protected)

<!-- SLOW_UPDATE_START --> <!-- No pinned rules yet. Populate via the slow-update workflow (references/slow-update-fence.md). --> <!-- SLOW_UPDATE_END -->

Completion Status

• DONE — research ledger + outline + draft written, critic PASS (Originality ≥5).
• DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — piece complete but with thin evidence or a borderline-original thesis; flagged in the artifact.
• BLOCKED — no ownable thesis exists for the topic (it's a pure how-to with no argument); recommend a different format or scope.
• NEEDS_CONTEXT — no target reader / proprietary angle definable; recommend research-icp first.

Worked Example

End-to-end pillar piece (eng-manager audience, thesis "synchronous standups are a coordination tax", research ledger → outline → draft → critic PASS with a cycle-0 Originality FAIL the critic caught), plus the explicit side-by-side proving it is NOT write-copy: references/examples/longform-walkthrough.md [EXAMPLE].

References

• references/{playbook, rubric, format-conventions, anti-patterns, agent-manifest, research-method, structure-patterns}.md
• references/procedures/pre-dispatch.md [PROCEDURE]
• references/examples/longform-walkthrough.md [EXAMPLE]
• agents/{research, outline, draft, critic}.md
• references/_shared/{pre-dispatch-protocol, before-starting-check, mode-resolver, marketing-foundations}.md