Remember what the draft actually is

An AI draft is raw material, not a co-author. It gives you structure and momentum — a pile of clay, not a sculpture. The moment you start treating its sentences as finished, you’ve already lost your voice. Read it like an intern’s first attempt: grateful for the effort, free to rewrite every line.

Read it aloud before touching anything

Your ears catch what your eyes forgive. AI writing has a rhythm — smooth, even, and slightly sleepy. When you read it out loud, the flat spots announce themselves: you’ll hear yourself going on autopilot, and that’s exactly where your reader would too. Mark those passages. They’re your real editing list.

Rescue the sentences only you would write

Every draft has a few lines with a pulse — a comparison you’d actually make, a blunt opinion, an odd little detail. Circle them first and protect them. Then rebuild the paragraphs around those sentences instead of the other way around. Your voice lives in the lines the model would never generate; give those lines the structural job.

Delete the filler phrases (you know the ones)

AI drafts lean on a small set of tics. When I see them, I replace them with something specific:

• “In today’s fast-paced world” → say which world: “In a week with three deadlines…”
• “delve into” → “look at,” “check,” “test”
• “tapestry,” “landscape,” “realm” → the actual thing you’re describing
• “Furthermore,” “Moreover,” “Additionally” at every paragraph start → just start the paragraph

None of these phrases are crimes. They’re just fog. Specificity is voice.

Add one specific thing per section

This is the highest-leverage edit I know. For every section, add one concrete detail: a number (“cut 40% of the draft”), a name (“my editor, Priya”), a moment (“last Tuesday’s call”). AI can’t invent your specifics, so specifics are the fastest way to make a draft unmistakably yours. One per section is enough — it compounds.

Cut 10% and see what’s left

AI overwrites. It says in three sentences what needs one, then adds a summary of the summary. Take any finished draft and cut a tenth of it — whole sentences, not words. What’s left is almost always closer to your voice, because your voice was hiding under the extra padding. If cutting 10% breaks nothing, cut a little more.

A quick checklist

• Read the draft aloud once, marking flat passages
• Circle the sentences only I’d write — they’re load-bearing now
• Replace filler phrases with specific wording
• Add one concrete detail per section
• Cut at least 10% of the total length
• Final read: does it sound like me on a good day?

The honest truth

You won’t keep your voice by accident. AI drafts converge toward the average of everything ever written, and the average of everything is nobody. Keeping your voice is an editing discipline — a few deliberate passes, every time. Do it often enough and it stops feeling like repair work. It just becomes how you write now: fast first draft, human final cut.