write-prose

Writing Prose That Doesn't Sound Like AI

Guidelines for writing clear, human-sounding prose. Based on the Anti-Slop Reference. Apply these when writing documentation, blog posts, READMEs, or any prose.

Here is a passage from The Economist. Its house style is the register most prose this skill covers should default to: documentation, explanation, argument.

No form of emissions reduction, though, can quickly bend the current trajectory.[1][2] Endurance is what remains.[3][14] Making air conditioning more efficient, cheap and widespread[10] saves lives[6] and fits well with other policy goals, like making clean electricity cheap to produce and consume.[7] Ten years ago a commitment to phase out the fluorinated gases in cooling systems was reached in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.[8][9] There is scope for extra international efforts to improve the machinery that uses them.[7][19] This could double the cooling benefit of phasing out the gases.[6]

Each sentence sets out to say one thing, says it, and stops.

It is simple plain English prose. It carries no byline and needs none. Plainness, not personality, does the work. It's not trying to sell anything. It lets you figure out what the takeaways are.

Write like that.

Here, on the other hand, is a horrendous rewrite, as sloppy as possible:

In this piece, we'll dive deep into the fascinating world of cooling![1] 🌡️[15] Here's the thing:[2] emissions reduction alone isn't going to cut it. In today's rapidly-warming world,[4] it's not about quick fixes — it's about endurance.[3] When it comes to[5] air conditioning, a technology that cools indoor air,[20] one might argue[5] that a comprehensive, holistic approach — making units more efficient, more affordable, and more accessible[10] — could potentially help save countless lives in some cases,[6] while seamlessly aligning with broader policy goals like fostering[7] clean, affordable electricity for all, and also, it's worth noting,[5] building on the pivotal commitment to phase out fluorinated gases that was reached ten years ago in Kigali — the vibrant capital of Rwanda —[16] a commitment that has reshaped the landscape of cooling policy and continues to empower stakeholders[9] across the realm of climate diplomacy.[8]

But here's where it gets really exciting.[11] 🤯 The Kigali deal isn't just a treaty — it's a game-changer.[3] The machinery that leverages[7] these gases gets a myriad of enhancements via this framework,[19] which could unlock further benefits, and which, honestly,[5] may potentially double the cooling upside of phasing them out, depending on context.[6][8] Getting there is just[12] a matter of commitment. Furthermore, as we can see,[5] the journey ahead is a rich tapestry of innovation — a testament[7] to what we can achieve when we navigate this challenge together. In conclusion:[5] the bottom line?[13] Endurance is the name of the game — in other words, success is all about sticking with it for the long haul.[14] 💪

Do NOT write like that.

The numbers below refer to the [bracketed] markers in both passages. Where a number appears in each, the pair is the sloppy and the plain version of the same thing. Entries 17 and 18 are paragraph-scale tells that a one-paragraph sample cannot show.

1. Throat-clearing: an opener that announces the piece instead of starting with the subject: "In this piece, we'll...", "Let's dive into...", "Let's explore...", "In this section, we will...". Don't clear your throat. The first sentence should do real work.
2. Announce-then-deliver: a label and a colon in place of stating the fact ("The fix: retry on timeout", "Startup: the win", "Here's the thing: ..."). The label is scaffolding. State the fact as a sentence: "Retrying on timeout fixes it."
3. Not-X-but-Y: "It's not X, it's Y" / "isn't just X, it's Y", the #1 LLM rhetorical crutch. State the positive directly. Restructure every time.
4. Today's-world opener: "In today's [fast-paced/digital/modern] world...".
5. Filler phrases: they add zero information; state the thing directly.
   • "It's worth noting that..." / "It's important to note that..." / "Notably, ..." / "Importantly, ..." / "Interestingly, ..."
   • "As we can see..." / "As mentioned earlier..."
   • "In conclusion, ..." / "To summarize, ..."
   • "Furthermore, ..." / "Moreover, ..." / "Additionally, ..." -> use "and", "also", or just start a new sentence. If every paragraph opens with "However" or "Furthermore", drop the transition word and start with the actual subject.
   • "When it comes to..." / "In the realm of..."
   • "One might argue that..." / "It could be suggested that..."
   • "A [comprehensive/holistic/nuanced] approach to..." -> "an approach to"
   • "honest"/"honestly"/"to be honest" as a throat-clear ("the honest tradeoff", "honestly, it's fine"): in speech this flags a rare, significant admission; sprinkled everywhere it's noise. Delete it in nearly every case.
6. Hedging: the worst offender. "This approach may potentially help improve performance in some cases" means nothing. Say "this is faster" or say "we haven't benchmarked this yet". The original commits: "saves lives", "could double".
7. Inflated diction: puffed-up words where plain ones exist: enhance/leverage for improve/use, plus seamlessly, fostering, pivotal, myriad, landscape, realm, empower, journey, tapestry, testament, navigate. The Banned Words lists below are the fuller reference.
8. Sentence sprawl: one over-long sentence stacking clauses that should be separate sentences, chained with "so", "which", "but", and "and", each extending or qualifying the last. Write one idea per sentence. When a draft sentence joins two thoughts, try the split. Keep the join only when the connection itself is the point.
9. Artifact-as-agent: the commitment "has reshaped the landscape" and "continues to empower". Really, people reached a commitment; say what happened, with the actors in place. Three stacked habits make these sentences (e.g. "Your tests shaped the ones that landed"):
   • Artifact as agent: an inanimate subject performs a verb only a person can do ("your tests shaped", "this PR introduces", "the change enables"). The person who did the work vanishes.
   • Oblique reference instead of naming: the object is pointed at through a relative clause or metaphor ("the ones that landed") rather than named ("our new tests").
   • Narrative compression into a single transitive clause: a who-did-what story (I read your tests, adapted them, committed mine) flattened into "X verbed Y", an aphorism that sounds polished because it discards the actors and the order of events. Common as a sentence-final flourish.