narrative-tone

Match emotional register to purpose. Calibrates warmth, formality, urgency, and other tonal qualities. Use when: (1) the communication has high stakes where tone mismatch would cause misunderstanding, resistance, or relationship damage, (2) a draft exists but hasn't achieved its intended effect in review or testing, and the issue may be tonal rather than content-based, (3) the communication crosses hierarchical levels or cultural contexts where tone conventions differ significantly, (4) the message addresses high-stakes situations like performance feedback, conflict resolution, policy changes, or sensitive announcements, (5) recent communications used similar emotional register despite different purposes or audiences, suggesting a need for more intentional calibration, (6) the message contains unwelcome information like criticism, rejection, or bad news that requires careful delivery to avoid triggering defensiveness, (7) the content aims to create emotional experience alongside information transfer, as in narrative, persuasive, or educational contexts, (8) the communication shifts contexts requiring tonal recalibration from internal to external, technical to general audience, or formal to casual setting