1Try It First

Before I explain anything, open this link.

Open writing-model.md

Reading it as a human, it might not make much sense.

That's because this format is meant for AI to read.

Copy the entire contents and paste it into your AI of choice — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, whatever works. Just ask: "What is this?"

The AI will explain it to you, in your context, in your words.

That's WOIM.

Write Once, Interpret Many — write facts once, accurately. Let AI optimize the explanation for each reader. The author doesn't need to write different versions for different audiences. AI does that.

Still not sure? Ask your AI "I still don't get it." That's WOIM too.

The full definition of WOIM is in the file you just fed to your AI. I won't repeat it here. From this point on, this article is about how I built it.

2You're Already Doing It

If you're reading this, there's a good chance you're already doing something close to Write Once, Interpret Many (WOIM).

Brainstorming with AI to nail down a spec. That's the thing.

You throw your ideas at AI, and it helps you organize them. After several rounds, what was vague becomes clear. Plenty of engineers and business professionals already do this every day.

What you end up with is a spec that contains nothing but facts.

That alone might already be WOIM.

3WOIM Is Hard

The idea behind WOIM is simple. Write only facts. Don't mix in opinions. Leave reader-facing adaptation to AI.

But when you actually try it, it's tough.

You think you're writing technical facts, but before you know it, "why I chose this" (design judgment) and "this is how it should be" (value judgment) have crept in.

Humans are bad at separating facts from opinions.

WOIM is right in theory. But few people can write a facts-only document on the first try.

I thought this was the biggest barrier to WOIM.

4Just Talk to AI

Turns out, there's an easy way.

Build it through conversation with AI.

You don't need to write the perfect document from scratch. Just talk to AI about your ideas. AI asks back: "Is that a fact, or an opinion?" You work through the ambiguities together. Only the facts remain.

That's exactly how writing-model.md was made. I told AI "I'm thinking about this kind of model," AI structured it, I reviewed and revised. We went back and forth many times, distilling it down to nothing but facts.

A document about WOIM, written in the WOIM model, using the WOIM method.

Sounds too neat to be true, but it's a fact. That's why I keep the source and the article separate. Facts over there, experience over here. I think you need both to really get it.

5Give It a Try

The WOIM source document is public. Don't just feed it to AI — try creating one yourself.

The process is simple:

  1. Talk to AI about the topic you want to write about
  2. Ask AI: "Organize what we discussed into facts only"
  3. Read the output and remove anything that isn't a fact
  4. Repeat

It doesn't have to be perfect from the start. Through repeated dialogue, facts and opinions naturally separate.

writing-model.md (AI-facing source)
writing-model.html (human-readable version)

WOIM is not a philosophy.
It's a structure that naturally emerges when you minimize information friction in a world where AI exists.🥴