name: stop-slop description: Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells. metadata: trigger: Writing prose, editing drafts, reviewing content for AI patterns author: Hardik Pandya (https://hvpandya.com)

Stop Slop

Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose.

Core Rules

1. Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs. See references/phrases.md.

2. Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See references/structures.md.

3. Use active voice. Every sentence needs a human subject doing something. No passive constructions. No inanimate objects performing human actions ("the complaint becomes a fix").

4. Be specific. No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work.

5. Put the reader in the room. No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions.

6. Vary rhythm. Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes.

7. Trust readers. State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding.

8. Cut quotables. If it sounds like a pull-quote, rewrite it.

Quick Checks

Before delivering prose:

• Any adverbs? Kill them.
• Any passive voice? Find the actor, make them the subject.
• Inanimate thing doing a human verb ("the decision emerges")? Name the person.
• Sentence starts with a Wh- word? Restructure it.
• Any "here's what/this/that" throat-clearing? Cut to the point.
• Any "not X, it's Y" contrasts? State Y directly.
• Three consecutive sentences match length? Break one.
• Paragraph ends with punchy one-liner? Vary it.
• Em-dash anywhere? Remove it.
• Vague declarative ("The implications are significant")? Name the specific implication.
• Narrator-from-a-distance ("Nobody designed this")? Put the reader in the scene.
• Meta-joiners ("The rest of this essay...")? Delete. Let the essay move.

Scoring

Rate 1-10 on each dimension:

Below 35/50: revise.

Examples

See references/examples.md for before/after transformations.

License

MIT

Stop Slop

A skill for removing AI tells from prose.

What this is

AI writing has patterns. Predictable phrases, structures, rhythms. This skill teaches Claude (or any LLM) to catch and remove them.

Skill Structure

stop-slop/
├── SKILL.md              # Core instructions
├── references/
│   ├── phrases.md        # Phrases to remove
│   ├── structures.md     # Structural patterns to avoid
│   └── examples.md       # Before/after transformations
├── README.md
└── LICENSE

Quick start

Claude Code: Add this folder as a skill.

Claude Projects: Upload SKILL.md and reference files to project knowledge.

Custom instructions: Copy core rules from SKILL.md.

API calls: Include SKILL.md in your system prompt. Reference files load on demand.

What it catches

Banned phrases - Throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, business jargon, all adverbs, vague declaratives, meta-commentary. See references/phrases.md.

Structural clichés - Binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency, narrator-from-a-distance voice, passive voice. See references/structures.md.

Sentence-level rules - No Wh- sentence starters, no em dashes, no staccato fragmentation, no lazy extremes, active voice required.

Scoring

Rate 1-10 on each dimension:

Below 35/50: revise.

Author

Hardik Pandya

License

MIT. Use freely, share widely.