> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://learn.byword.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Writing styles

> Teach Byword to write exactly how you want it to

Byword offers two powerful approaches to customize the writing style of your generated content:

1. **Basic writing styles** - Define your style with simple descriptors

2. **Custom writing styles** - Train Byword to mimic specific writing samples

## Basic writing styles

By default, all Byword accounts use basic writing styles. This simple approach lets you describe how you want your content to read.

### How to use basic styles

Enter adjectives that describe your desired writing style in the text field. For example:

* professional

* casual and humorous

* academic

* conversational

* technical

<Info>
  Keep your style descriptions clear and concise. One or two adjectives typically work best.
</Info>

### Best practices for basic styles

* **Do use adjectives**: "professional", "humorous", "academic"

* **Don't use instructions**: "you are writing to professionals", "make jokes", "you are an academic expert"

* **Keep it focused**: Style descriptions should only define tone, not formatting or structure

## Custom writing styles

For more precise control, Byword's custom writing styles allow you to provide actual samples of writing that you want to emulate.

### Creating a custom style

1. Click "Switch to custom writing styles" on your settings page

2. Select "Create custom style" or "Add a new custom writing style"

3. Enter a name for your style (for your reference only)

4. Choose how many samples to provide (1-3)

5. Copy and paste examples of writing you want to emulate

6. Click "Save Custom Style"

<Warning>
  Creating a custom style takes 60-90 seconds as Byword analyzes your samples.
</Warning>

### Sample selection tips

For best results when selecting writing samples:

* Choose content that clearly represents your desired style

* Provide at least 1,000 words total across all samples

* Use actual published content that exemplifies your target style

* Select samples with similar tones if using multiple examples

<Accordion title="When to use multiple samples">
  Multiple samples are beneficial when:

  * You don't have a single sample that's long enough (aim for 1,000+ words total)

  * You want to blend elements from different writing styles

  A single sample often works best when:

  * It already contains all the stylistic elements you want

  * It's substantial in length (over 1,000 words)

  * You want to precisely match a specific voice
</Accordion>

### Managing custom styles

After creating styles, you can:

* **Enable/disable styles**: Only one style can be active at a time

* **Edit styles**: Update samples or rename your styles

* **Delete styles**: Remove styles you no longer need

* **Switch back to basic**: Return to the simple adjective-based approach

## Using your styles

Once configured, your selected writing style (either basic or custom) will be applied to all articles you generate with Byword.

<Info>
  If you're in custom style mode but have no specific style enabled, Byword will use a default style.
</Info>

## When to use each approach

| Basic writing styles            | Custom writing styles                 |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Quick setup                     | More precise control                  |
| Simple needs                    | Brand voice matching                  |
| General tone adjustment         | Replicating specific authors          |
| Trying different styles quickly | Consistency across large content sets |