Andrew Cuomo, standing left, helps advise his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, during a prison crisis in 1983. Associated Press

ALBANY—Meet Gov. Andrew Cuomo's chief speechwriter: Andrew Cuomo.

On a recent evening, Mr. Cuomo leaned across his desk in the Capitol and offered up a piece of paper with a list of words written in his squat, capitalized style.

From that list, Mr. Cuomo had delivered a 15-minute address for the inauguration of Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano.

"If I have done it right, I get it down very tight," Mr. Cuomo said. "You don't need more than four, five, six words or phrases," he added, saying he uses the notes "like an accordion," to prompt him to expand on specific topics.

The son of one of the Democratic Party's most celebrated public speakers, Mr. Cuomo has developed a speechwriting process that reflects his father's studiousness but with a decidedly distinct effect.

As he delivers his fourth State of the State address on Wednesday and prepares to launch a re-election campaign that will be watched by the nation, he has embraced a direct style, largely absent of rhetorical flourishes. The idea is to strike a nonpartisan tone—a departure from his father's often heated rhetoric and evocative imagery.

"He did longer speeches and they were more political speeches, which is a different kind of thing," Mr. Cuomo said. "I'm doing government speeches."

Peter Quinn, a speechwriter for former Gov. Mario Cuomo when the younger Mr. Cuomo was his father's top political aide, put it this way: "His father was roses and this guy is nuts and bolts."

That may be because even though Andrew Cuomo says he enjoys the "art" of public speaking, he has limited himself largely to policy addresses that advance his governing agenda. That means sidestepping the "red meat" speeches that could derail the goals of his office.

"Once you become a partisan, once you become political, once you're running for president—which is the is very costly from a governmental point of view," he said.

Nevertheless, he is a dedicated and fastidious speechwriter, playing the dominant role in the process from start to finish, say the governor and people familiar with his approach.

Mr. Cuomo spends weeks seeking ideas and advice from policy advisers and other staffers to create an outline, then writes a draft longhand. He revises it as many as 10 times, according to a person familiar with his process, before winnowing it down to a handful of "trigger" words or phrases that he transfers to a notecard.

Mr. Cuomo said he doesn't practice his speeches, and once at the lectern, he doesn't use a teleprompter.

While Mr. Cuomo has a speechwriter—Jacob Lieberman, who previously worked for former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly—the governor has his own interpretation of that job.

"I don't really have speechwriters," he said. "I have people who help with the research and idea development."

Mr. Cuomo said he relies on a joke or a personal anecdote, often involving his parents or his daughters, to help focus the audience. "First, you have to connect, and emotion, for me, does that best. Because most of the stuff I'm communicating is very dry. 'Let me explain to you why this budget is a good budget,'" he said in a monotone. "'We need a tax cut. Let me communicate to you why this is the appropriate tax cut. Let me explain to you property taxes as opposed to personal-income taxes.'"

He sighed. "Ugh, it's painful, you know? I tend to be more emotional. I'm comfortable with emotion."

The process doesn't end with the speech. Later, he dials top aides, donors, family, friends and even reporters, pressing for feedback on whether his remarks registered with the audience, why there was a murmur in the room or why attendees failed to stand or clap during a particular passage. He even criticizes himself for flubbing a line or delivering the "same old thing."

"He's not always easy to work with, but he cared a lot," said Robert Lehrman, a former White House speechwriter for former Vice President Al Gore and for Mr. Cuomo, who was then deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Development. "He cared about phrasing."

Mr. Cuomo said his favorite recent speech is one he delivered at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. It ended with him thundering from the podium before a standing ovation, as he delivered 14 rhetorical questions that each began with "Do you believe…?"

"They're rousing, they're passionate, yeah. But they tend to be political," he said of what he calls the "big room" types of speeches. "You can't do that about property tax cuts."

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