Stop Slop: make your writing sound human again

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 Phrases to Remove below.

2. Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See Structures to Avoid below.

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:

Dimension	Question
Directness	Statements or announcements?
Rhythm	Varied or metronomic?
Trust	Respects reader intelligence?
Authenticity	Sounds human?
Density	Anything cuttable?

Below 35/50: revise.

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Phrases to Remove

Throat-Clearing Openers

Remove these announcement phrases. State the content directly.

• "Here's the thing:"
• "Here's what [X]"
• "Here's this [X]"
• "Here's that [X]"
• "Here's why [X]"
• "The uncomfortable truth is"
• "It turns out"
• "The real [X] is"
• "Let me be clear"
• "The truth is,"
• "I'll say it again:"
• "I'm going to be honest"
• "Can we talk about"
• "Here's what I find interesting"
• "Here's the problem though"

Any "here's what/this/that" construction is throat-clearing before the point. Cut it and state the point.

Emphasis Crutches

These add no meaning. Delete them.

• "Full stop." / "Period."
• "Let that sink in."
• "This matters because"
• "Make no mistake"
• "Here's why that matters"

Business Jargon

Replace with plain language.

Avoid	Use instead
Navigate (challenges)	Handle, address
Unpack (analysis)	Explain, examine
Lean into	Accept, embrace
Landscape (context)	Situation, field
Game-changer	Significant, important
Double down	Commit, increase
Deep dive	Analysis, examination
Take a step back	Reconsider
Moving forward	Next, from now
Circle back	Return to, revisit
On the same page	Aligned, agreed

Adverbs

Kill all adverbs. No -ly words. No softeners, no intensifiers, no hedges.

Specific offenders:

• "really"
• "just"
• "literally"
• "genuinely"
• "honestly"
• "simply"
• "actually"
• "deeply"
• "truly"
• "fundamentally"
• "inherently"
• "inevitably"
• "interestingly"
• "importantly"
• "crucially"

Also cut these filler phrases:

• "At its core"
• "In today's [X]"
• "It's worth noting"
• "At the end of the day"
• "When it comes to"
• "In a world where"
• "The reality is"

Meta-Commentary

Remove self-referential asides. The essay should move, not announce its own structure.

• "Hint:"
• "Plot twist:" / "Spoiler:"
• "You already know this, but"
• "But that's another post"
• "X is a feature, not a bug"
• "Dressed up as"
• "The rest of this essay explains..."
• "Let me walk you through..."
• "In this section, we'll..."
• "As we'll see..."
• "I want to explore..."

Performative Emphasis

False intimacy or manufactured sincerity:

• "creeps in"
• "I promise"
• "They exist, I promise"

Telling Instead of Showing

Announcing difficulty or significance rather than demonstrating it:

• "This is genuinely hard"
• "This is what leadership actually looks like"
• "This is what X actually looks like"
• "actually matters"

Vague Declaratives

Sentences that announce importance without naming the specific thing. Kill these.

• "The reasons are structural"
• "The implications are significant"
• "This is the deepest problem"
• "The stakes are high"
• "The consequences are real"

If a sentence says something is important/deep/structural without showing the specific thing, cut it or replace it with the specific thing.

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Structures to Avoid

Binary Contrasts

These create false drama. State the point directly.

Pattern	Problem
"Not because X. Because Y." / "Not because X, but because Y."	Telegraphed reversal
"[X] isn't the problem. [Y] is."	Formulaic reframe
"The answer isn't X. It's Y."	Predictable pivot
"It feels like X. It's actually Y."	Setup/reveal cliche
"The question isn't X. It's Y."	Rhetorical misdirection
"Not X. But Y." / "not X, it's Y" / "isn't X, it's Y"	Mechanical contrast
"It's not this. It's that."	Same formula, different words
"stops being X and starts being Y"	False transformation arc
"doesn't mean X, but actually Y"	Negation-then-assertion crutch
"is about X but not Y"	False distinction
"not just X but also Y"	Additive hedge

Instead: State Y directly. "The problem is Y." "Y matters here." Drop the negation entirely.

Negative Listing

Listing what something is not before revealing what it is. A rhetorical striptease.

Pattern	Problem
"Not a X... Not a Y... A Z."	Dramatic buildup through negation
"It wasn't X. It wasn't Y. It was Z."	Same structure, past tense

Instead: State Z. The reader doesn't need the runway.

Dramatic Fragmentation

Sentence fragments for emphasis read as manufactured profundity.

Pattern	Problem
"[Noun]. That's it. That's the [thing]."	Performative simplicity
"X. And Y. And Z."	Staccato drama
"This unlocks something. [Word]."	Artificial revelation

Instead: Complete sentences. Trust content over presentation.

Rhetorical Setups

These announce insight rather than deliver it.

Pattern	Problem
"What if [reframe]?"	Socratic posturing
"Here's what I mean:"	Redundant preview
"Think about it:"	Condescending prompt
"And that's okay."	Unnecessary permission

Instead: Make the point. Let readers draw conclusions.

Formulaic Constructions

Pattern	Problem
"By the time X, I was Y."	Narrative template
"X that isn't Y"	Indirect. Say "X is broken"

False Agency

Giving inanimate things human verbs. Complaints don't "become" fixes. Bets don't "live or die." Decisions don't "emerge." A person does something to make those things happen. AI loves this because it avoids naming the actor.

Pattern	Problem
"a complaint becomes a fix"	The complaint did nothing. Someone fixed it.
"a bet lives or dies in days"	Bets don't have lifespans. Someone kills the project or ships it.
"the decision emerges"	Decisions don't emerge. Someone decides.
"the culture shifts"	Cultures don't shift on their own. People change behavior.
"the conversation moves toward"	Conversations don't move. Someone steers.
"the data tells us"	Data sits there. Someone reads it and draws a conclusion.
"the market rewards"	Markets don't reward. Buyers pay for things.

Instead: Name the human. "The team fixed it that week" beats "the complaint becomes a fix." If no specific person fits, use "you" to put the reader in the seat.

Narrator-from-a-Distance

Floating above the scene instead of putting the reader in it.

Pattern	Problem
"Nobody designed this."	Disembodied observation
"This happens because..."	Lecturer voice
"This is why..."	Same
"People tend to..."	Armchair sociologist

Instead: Put the reader in the room. "You don't sit down one day and decide to..." beats "Nobody designed this."

Passive Voice

Every sentence needs a subject doing something. Passive voice hides the actor and drains energy.

Pattern	Fix
"X was created"	Name who created it
"It is believed that"	Name who believes it
"Mistakes were made"	Name who made them
"The decision was reached"	Name who decided

Instead: Find the actor. Put them at the front of the sentence.

Sentence Starters to Avoid

Pattern	Fix
Sentences starting with What, When, Where, Which, Who, Why, How	Restructure. Lead with the subject or the verb.
Paragraphs starting with "So"	Start with content
Sentences starting with "Look,"	Remove

Wh- openers become a crutch. "What makes this hard is..." becomes "The constraint is..." or better, name the specific constraint.

Rhythm Patterns

Pattern	Fix
Three-item lists	Use two items or one
Questions answered immediately	Let questions breathe or cut them
Every paragraph ends punchily	Vary endings
Em-dashes	Remove. Use commas or periods. No em dashes at all.
Staccato fragmentation	Don't stack short punchy sentences
"Not always. Not perfectly."	Hedging disguised as reassurance

Word Patterns

Pattern	Problem
Lazy extremes (every, always, never, everyone, everybody, nobody)	False authority. Use specifics instead of sweeping claims.
All adverbs (-ly words, "really," "just," "literally," "genuinely," "honestly," "simply," "actually")	Empty emphasis. See Adverbs section above.

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Examples

Example 1: Throat-Clearing + Binary Contrast

Before:

"Here's the thing: building products is hard. Not because the technology is complex. Because people are complex. Let that sink in."

After:

"Building products is hard. Technology is manageable. People aren't."

Changes: Removed opener, binary contrast structure, and emphasis crutch. Direct statements.

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Example 2: Filler + Unnecessary Reassurance

Before:

"It turns out that most teams struggle with alignment. The uncomfortable truth is that nobody wants to admit they're confused. And that's okay."

After:

"Teams struggle with alignment. Nobody admits confusion."

Changes: Cut hedging ("most"), removed throat-clearing phrases, deleted permission-granting ending.

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Example 3: Business Jargon Stack

Before:

"In today's fast-paced landscape, we need to lean into discomfort and navigate uncertainty with clarity. This matters because your competition isn't waiting."

After:

"Move faster. Your competition is."

Changes: Eliminated jargon entirely. Core message in six words.

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Example 4: Dramatic Fragmentation

Before:

"Speed. Quality. Cost. You can only pick two. That's it. That's the tradeoff."

After:

"Speed, quality, cost—pick two."

Changes: Single sentence. No performative emphasis.

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Example 5: Rhetorical Setup

Before:

"What if I told you that the best teams don't optimize for productivity? Here's what I mean: they optimize for learning. Think about it."

After:

"The best teams optimize for learning, not productivity."

Changes: Direct claim. No rhetorical scaffolding.