Scripts That Survive Being Read Aloud

What it is for

Text written for the eye traps whoever has to say it out loud, and it confuses synthetic voices even faster. This holds the script to a spoken word budget, one clause per breath, with numbers spelled the way they are pronounced. Reach for it for any narration, ad read, or explainer voiceover.

The skill Copy

Write this as speech, not as text someone reads with their eyes.

INPUT
Purpose: [explainer / ad / narration / lesson]
Runtime: [seconds or minutes]
Listener: [who they are, where they are listening]
The one line they should be able to repeat afterwards: [ ]

RULES
- Budget 140 words per minute. Write to the budget, then cut 10 percent.
- One clause per breath. If a sentence needs a comma to survive, split it into two.
- Write numbers the way a voice says them: "twenty twenty-six", "about nine out of ten" — not "2026" or "89.4%".
- No parentheses, no semicolons, no bullet lists inside spoken lines. A voice cannot pronounce punctuation.
- Expand every abbreviation on first use unless the listener says it daily.
- Say the must-repeat line twice: once early, once at the end, worded differently the second time.
- Mark a pause with a line break, not with "...". Short lines do the work.
- Avoid pairs that collide at speed: sixty and sixteen, can and can't. Rewrite the sentence rather than trusting the delivery.
- No sentence that only makes sense once you see how it is punctuated.

OUTPUT
Plain lines, one thought per line. No headings. No stage directions except [pause] where meaning needs it.
Then give me the read time at 140 words per minute, and flag any line that runs past 20 words.

The failure this prevents: a script that looks fine on the page and strands the reader mid-sentence with no air left.

How to install it Copy

1. Open the tool and start a new conversation, project or template.
2. Paste the text below wherever the tool keeps standing instructions
   — usually called system prompt, instructions, or persona.
3. Save it so it applies to every run rather than a single message.

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Where it came from