carousel-writer

Carousel Writer

A carousel is a swipeable teaching-or-story post — and one of the best formats there is for saves and dwell time (both strong ranking signals). But it only works if people swipe, and they only swipe if each slide earns the next. So this skill is opinionated about the cover, the one-idea-per-slide discipline, and keeping slides legible — not dumping paragraphs onto images.

Three principles:

1. The cover slide is the whole game. Slide 1 must hook and promise the payoff — it decides whether anyone swipes past it. Treat it like a thread opener or a Reel hook.
2. One idea per carousel, one idea per slide. A cohesive arc across slides, each advancing it by one beat. A slide crammed with three points loses the swipe.
3. It's copy and design. Minimal, legible text per slide; a clear visual hierarchy. A carousel is read at a glance on a phone — walls of text kill it.

Step 0 — Read the foundation first

Load brand-profile.md and voice.md. Voice applies to every slide (concise) and to the caption. Carry guardrails and any compliance/disclosure rules.

Step 1 — Lock the idea, goal, and platform

• One idea — the single thing this carousel teaches or tells.
• Goal — usually saves or authority (carousels excel here), sometimes comments.
• Platform — Instagram carousel, LinkedIn document/PDF carousel (very high dwell/saves), or TikTok photo carousel. Specs differ (see references/platform-specs.md).

Step 2 — Write the cover slide (hook + promise)

Use hook-writer. The cover must hook (stop the scroll) and promise what the swipe delivers ("5 hooks that actually work →"). It must be legible at a glance and at thumbnail size. No slow-build cover. See references/slide-craft.md.

Step 3 — Architect the carousel

Pick a structure (how-to, listicle, story, before→after, myth-bust, framework — see references/architecture.md) and outline the spine: the cover's promise and the ordered slides that deliver it. One idea per slide. Decide slide count by the idea, not a target — a tight 6 beats a padded 10.

Step 4 — Write the slides

Each slide: a clear headline + at most a short supporting line, front-loaded and legible. Maintain swipe momentum (progress, a small pull forward). Keep every slide in the brand voice and ruthlessly minimal — if it needs a paragraph, it's two slides. See references/slide-craft.md.

Step 5 — Land the payoff and a save-leaning CTA

End with a payoff/summary slide, then a CTA slide. Carousels win on saves, so the default CTA is "save this for later" (plus optionally follow/comment). One ask. A link, if any, goes to the caption/bio/first comment per platform.

Step 6 — Specify the visuals (design direction + image pack)

A carousel is visual. Provide:

• Design direction — layout, hierarchy, palette, type, and a consistent template across slides (consistency is what makes it look pro).
• The image-generation prompt pack — bundled prompts (Nano Banana / Ideogram, which render legible in-image text) to produce on-brand slides, with the exact slide text specified. Or a clean template spec for Canva/a designer. Flag AI-disclosure for generated images. See references/image-prompt-pack.md. (For deeper visual systems, see design-and-templates.)

Step 7 — Hand off

• Caption: the carousel post needs a caption that pulls people into slide 1 → caption-writer.
• Schedule: hand the finished carousel + caption to scheduling-and-queue.

Quality bar — self-check

• Does the cover hook AND promise the swipe, legible at a glance?
• Is it one idea, with a clear spine — one idea per slide, no crammed slides?
• Does each slide earn the next swipe (momentum, no filler slides)?
• Is the text minimal and legible on mobile — not a wall?
• Does it end on a payoff + one save-leaning CTA?
• Is there a consistent design direction and an image pack (or template) to produce it?
• Is AI-disclosure handled for generated visuals; no fabricated stats on slides?
• On-voice throughout?

Edge cases & pushback

• "Make it 10 slides" when the idea is 5 → resist padding; a tight carousel beats a bloated one. Offer the strongest N, not a quota.
• Better as something else → a single point is a single image; a dynamic story is often a Reel; a text argument may be a thread. Say so rather than forcing a carousel.
• Text-heavy source (a blog) → atomize into one idea per slide, don't paste paragraphs (see cross-platform-repurposing).
• No design tool / no AI images → provide a clean text-template spec that works on a simple branded background; don't block on production.
• Regulated/sensitive → carry compliance guardrails onto slides; only verifiable claims.

Related skills

• brand-profile, voice-builder — voice + guardrails.
• hook-writer — the cover hook.
• design-and-templates — deeper visual design system for slides.
• caption-writer — the post caption; cross-platform-repurposing — source → carousel.
• nano-banana, ideogram (creative-tool mini-skills) — generate the slide visuals.
• scheduling-and-queue — schedule the finished carousel.

References

• references/architecture.md — carousel structures, the spine, one-idea-per-slide, slide count.
• references/slide-craft.md — slide-level writing + visual hierarchy + the cover formula.
• references/platform-specs.md — IG / LinkedIn document / TikTok carousel specs.
• references/image-prompt-pack.md — the bundled image-generation prompt pack (Nano Banana/Ideogram).
• references/examples.md — worked carousels slide-by-slide, with prompts, vs a text-dump version.