1---
2name: stop-slop
3description: Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells.
4metadata:
5  trigger: Writing prose, editing drafts, reviewing content for AI patterns
6  author: Hardik Pandya (https://hvpandya.com)
7---
8 
9# Stop Slop
10 
11Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose.
12 
13## Core Rules
14 
151. **Cut filler phrases.** Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs. See [references/phrases.md](references/phrases.md).
16 
172. **Break formulaic structures.** Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See [references/structures.md](references/structures.md).
18 
193. **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").
20 
214. **Be specific.** No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work.
22 
235. **Put the reader in the room.** No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions.
24 
256. **Vary rhythm.** Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes.
26 
277. **Trust readers.** State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding.
28 
298. **Cut quotables.** If it sounds like a pull-quote, rewrite it.
30 
31## Quick Checks
32 
33Before delivering prose:
34 
35- Any adverbs? Kill them.
36- Any passive voice? Find the actor, make them the subject.
37- Inanimate thing doing a human verb ("the decision emerges")? Name the person.
38- Sentence starts with a Wh- word? Restructure it.
39- Any "here's what/this/that" throat-clearing? Cut to the point.
40- Any "not X, it's Y" contrasts? State Y directly.
41- Three consecutive sentences match length? Break one.
42- Paragraph ends with punchy one-liner? Vary it.
43- Em-dash anywhere? Remove it.
44- Vague declarative ("The implications are significant")? Name the specific implication.
45- Narrator-from-a-distance ("Nobody designed this")? Put the reader in the scene.
46- Meta-joiners ("The rest of this essay...")? Delete. Let the essay move.
47 
48## Scoring
49 
50Rate 1-10 on each dimension:
51 
52| Dimension | Question |
53|-----------|----------|
54| Directness | Statements or announcements? |
55| Rhythm | Varied or metronomic? |
56| Trust | Respects reader intelligence? |
57| Authenticity | Sounds human? |
58| Density | Anything cuttable? |
59 
60Below 35/50: revise.
61 
62## Examples
63 
64See [references/examples.md](references/examples.md) for before/after transformations.
65 
66## License
67 
68MIT
69