In C, direct memory control is the top feature, which means you can assume anyone who uses your code is going to want to control memory through the process. This means not allocating from wherever and returning blobs of memory, which means designing different APIs, which is part of the reason why learning C well takes so long.
I started writing sort of a style guide to C a while ago, which attempts to transfer ideas like this one more by example:
Echoing my sibling comment - thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for sharing this work.