Stop Slop Agent Skill
Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells.
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/lornshrimp/Lorn.NovelWriteSkills --skill stop-slopThe instruction itself
6 sections, as written by the authorStop Slop
Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose.
Core Rules
- Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs. See references/phrases.md.
- Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See references/structures.md.
- 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").
- Be specific. No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work.
- Put the reader in the room. No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions.
- Vary rhythm. Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes.
- Trust readers. State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding.
- 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.
Examples
See references/examples.md for before/after transformations.
License
MIT
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How to use it
Take lornshrimp/stop-slop from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.