Expand

# Skill: Expand Content (Micro → Pillar)

## Trigger
"Expand this into a newsletter" / "Turn this into an article" / "Make this a newsletter" / User provides a LinkedIn post to expand.

## Process

### Step 1: Load references
- **Always load:** `references/newsletter-practices.md`, `references/format-adaptation-matrix.md`
- **Load expert:** `experts/brunson-storytelling.md` (Epiphany Bridge for narrative expansion)
- **Load expert:** `experts/ogilvy-headlines.md` (subject line generation)
- **Load for critique:** `references/rubber-duck-escalator.md`

### Step 2: Analyze source post
Read the LinkedIn post and identify compressed elements:
1. **Core claim** — What's the main argument?
2. **Implied evidence** — What stats, studies, or examples are referenced or hinted at but not fully developed?
3. **Hinted stories** — What personal experiences or case studies are compressed into 1-2 sentences?
4. **Mentioned frameworks** — What models or structures are named but not fully explained?
5. **Missing counterarguments** — What "but what about..." questions would a sharp reader ask?
6. **Angle** — Which angle is the source post? (This informs expansion strategy.)

### Step 3: Mini-research from Brain
Load relevant Brain sections to find deeper evidence:
- `evidence_bank` — Find 2-3 additional stats that support the core claim
- `topic_depth_layers` — Pull key debates, common mistakes, practitioner wisdom on the topic
- `newsletter_insights` — Find cross-references from 2+ newsletter sources
- `synthesized_mental_models` — Identify relevant mental model to weave in

### Step 4: Expand using newsletter structure
Follow the full structure from `references/newsletter-practices.md`:

1. **Opening story (200-400 words)**
   - If source post hints at a story → expand using Epiphany Bridge (7-step)
   - If source is framework-based → create a scene that reveals why the framework matters
   - If source is contrarian → open with the moment you realized the common view was wrong

2. **Bridge to insight (100-200 words)**
   - Connect the story to the core claim naturally

3. **Deep framework/evidence section (600-1200 words)**
   - Fully develop the framework or argument that was compressed in the LinkedIn post
   - Add the 2-3 evidence anchors from mini-research
   - Cross-reference 2+ newsletter sources
   - Include the "only I could have written this" section (200+ words)
   - Use rejection-based teaching where appropriate

4. **Practitioner callout (200-400 words)**
   - "What most get wrong" — the compressed insights from the LinkedIn post become the foundation
   - Expand with specific examples and counterarguments

5. **Landing (100-200 words)**
   - Connect back to opening story
   - Specific, actionable takeaway

6. **P.S.**
   - Secondary CTA or personal note

### Step 5: Generate subject line + preview text
Using Ogilvy headline principles:
1. Write 5 subject line variations
2. Select the best (curiosity + specificity)
3. Write preview text that extends (not repeats) the subject line

### Step 6: Critique (Rubber Duck Escalator)
Run all 5 phases with newsletter-adapted scoring:
1. MIRROR demands 2-3 specific experiential moments (vs 1 for LinkedIn)
2. CHALLENGE demands 3+ evidence anchors
3. CRYSTALLIZE checks 1500-3000 word range and subject line quality
4. All phases must score 8+
5. Max 3 iterations

### Step 7: Present to user
Show the full newsletter with scorecard and subject line options.

## Output Format
```
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
EXPANSION ANALYSIS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Source: [LinkedIn post summary]
Core claim: [1 sentence]
Compressed elements found: [list]
Evidence added from Brain: [list]
Newsletter sources cross-referenced: [list]
Mental model applied: [name]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NEWSLETTER
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subject line: [Primary]
Alt subjects: [2 alternatives]
Preview text: [1-2 sentences]
Word count: [X words]

---

[Full newsletter body]

---

P.S. [text]

SCORECARD
Mirror: X | Probe: X | Challenge: X | Illuminate: X | Crystallize: X
Composite: X.X | Status: PASS/FAIL

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
```