Write Without the Slop

The register

Target voice: a German professional writing English at C2 level. Precise, direct, structurally clean. Reserved rather than enthusiastic. This is a register, not an accent, so no Germanisms, no false friends, no grammar errors. Near-native English, just without the bubbly American default.

Most AI slop is not wrong, it is over-written and over-organized. Too warm, too balanced, too scaffolded, too eager to summarize itself. Strip that and the text gets shorter and better. The goal is prose that reads like a competent person wrote it on purpose.

Work top down

Slop lives at every scale, from the table of contents down to the word. Polishing sentences inside a structure that is itself slop is wasted work, so run the passes in order. Each pass deletes text the later passes would otherwise polish.

1. Rethink the document. Reorder, merge, split, delete, and replace whole sections. The moves are below, the worked examples in structure.md.
2. Rebuild the paragraphs. One topic each, point first, steps out of prose.
3. Build the sentences right with the STE construction rules.
4. Kill the word-level tells, including the adopted Microsoft mechanics.
5. Check with the linter, then the human-only reads.

On any draft longer than a few paragraphs, a wording-only edit means the biggest pass was skipped. Make the structural moves, or state that the structure is sound and why. When writing new prose the same order applies as questions: what does the reader need, in what order, then the paragraph plan, then the sentences. When writing inside code (a comment, commit message, test name, error string), apply the same register and check the matching file under Beyond prose.

Two standing rules. Match the surrounding work (a repo's history, a doc's established voice, a mandated template); these rules sharpen writing, they do not override a house style the user follows. And when you restructure someone's draft, report the moves ("merged X into Y, dropped Z"), never silently.

Pass 1, restructure the document

Find	Move
An intro that previews, a conclusion that recaps, a section restating another	delete it, or merge its one real sentence into the body
Generated scaffold (Overview, Features, Conclusion; Summary, Changes, Testing on a two-line PR)	replace with the sections this document earns, often none
The point buried under background	reorder, lead with what the reader came for
Two sections sharing one topic	merge them
One section doing two jobs	split it
A wall of bullets where reasoning belongs	rewrite as prose
A step buried in a descriptive paragraph	pull it into a numbered list, one action per item
A heading for every two sentences	merge under fewer headings
A document twice as long as its content	cut it, half length is a normal outcome

Pass 2, rebuild the paragraphs

One topic per paragraph, six sentences maximum, the first sentence carries the point. Reach for a list only when the items are genuinely parallel and independent (steps, options, criteria); when ideas connect or need context, write the paragraph. A real sequence of actions is the one place a list is required: numbered, imperative, one action per item.

Pass 3, build the sentences right

The system is ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English, standardized by the aerospace industry in 1986 for maintenance manuals that had to survive a non-native reader. It works: given only a banned-word list, Claude cut measured slop by 3%; given this system, 74%. Full rules, modes, and evidence in ste.md.

Rule	Write this	Not this
One name for one thing	the cache, then the cache again	the cache, then the store, then the layer
One meaning per word	"fall" means to move down	"traffic fell" for a decrease
The short common word	use, start, help, make sure, before, after, about, get, show, also	utilize, commence, facilitate, ensure, prior to, subsequent to, regarding, obtain, demonstrate, additionally
Active voice, actor named	the parser reads the file	the file is read
One verb per action	analyze the log	perform an analysis of the log
No stacked auxiliaries	this improves throughput	it may help to improve throughput
Simple tense over progressive	the job writes the index	the job is writing the index
Plain verb over phrasal	start, contact, read, deploy	spin up, reach out, dive into, roll out
One idea per sentence, capped	20 words for an instruction, 25 for description	a 40-word coordinated chain
No semicolons	two sentences	one sentence, spliced
Condition before command	if the cache is cold, warm it first	warm the cache first if it is cold

Pass 4, the tells (kill on sight)

Tell	Fix
Em dash for drama or aside	period, comma, colon, or parentheses
"not X, but Y" / "it's not just X, it's Y"	state Y plainly
Rule-of-three that isn't load-bearing ("fast, clean, and reliable")	keep the one term that carries weight
Throat-clearing opener ("In today's world", "When it comes to")	delete, start at the point
Summary that restates the body ("In conclusion", "Ultimately")	delete, or end on the last real point
Transition filler ("Moreover", "Furthermore", "It's worth noting")	delete, the next sentence stands on its own
Forced enumeration ("Here are three reasons"), or a list padded to a round number	make the points in prose, keep only the real items
Reflexive hedging ("It's important to note that", "arguably", "may potentially")	cut, or make the qualification real and specific
Validation or flattery ("Great question", "You're absolutely right")	answer the thing
Slop vocabulary (delve, leverage, navigate, realm, landscape, tapestry, intricate, robust, seamless, crucial, vital, foster, harness)	the plain word
Category noun where a specific one exists ("the relevant component")	name the thing ("the auth middleware")
Numbers on an unordered set	bullets, since numbers imply sequence or rank
Expletive opener ("There are three options")	put the subject first ("Three options exist")
Statement that leads with the reader ("You can store files online")	start with the verb ("Store files online")
Hollow "you can" ("You can set the retry limit in config")	cut it ("Set the retry limit in config")
Link text that says nothing ("click here"), or directional-only reference ("above", "on the left")	describe the destination, name the thing
Significance inflation ("stands as a testament", "marks a pivotal moment")	state the plain fact, drop the importance claim
Inflated copula ("boasts", "serves as", "features" where "is" or "has" fits)	restore the plain verb
Vague authority ("studies show", "experts agree")	name the source, or cut the claim
Participle-chain tail ("..., further cementing its legacy")	end the sentence at the fact
False inclusivity ("Whether you're a beginner or an expert")	say who it is actually for
Chatbot scaffolding ("Let's dive in", "As you can see", "Happy coding!")	delete, start and end at the content
Negative-space hype ("Say goodbye to X", "Gone are the days of Y")	state what the thing does

The verb-first and hollow-"you can" rows come from the Microsoft Writing Style Guide, like the expletive opener. Those adopted mechanics apply in every mode, they are not house-style extras; the full set with the serial-comma and heading rules is in microsoft-style.md and formatting.md.

When you cut a vague phrase, replace it with a fact, not a quieter adjective; a hedged rewrite is the same slop at lower volume. Do not dodge a listed word into something more contorted, rephrase the sentence instead.

Modes

Strict for procedures, runbooks, install and migration steps, error and log messages, and deprecation notices. Every STE rule, 20-word cap, contractions expand. Flavored is the default everywhere else: keep the sentence, verb, and paragraph discipline, cap at 25 words, contractions and the register stay. House-style when the destination has an established style, most often the Microsoft guide. The house wins on contractions, em dashes, and warmth; every other tell and every pass above stays in force. Pick it for the destination, never because the text is technical.

Pass 5, check the draft

Read once against the passes above. Then lint (resolve slop-lint.mjs next to this SKILL.md):

node slop-lint.mjs README.md              # a file, flavored mode
node slop-lint.mjs --strict runbook.md    # procedures, 20-word cap
echo "$draft" | node slop-lint.mjs        # prose not yet written to a file

Lint before and after an edit and report the delta. The score is violations per 100 words and only means something against another version of the same text; under about 50 words it is noise. Skip it for a one-liner, or when node is unavailable. The linter sees words and sentences only. Structure (pass 1) and the two naming rules (one name for one thing, one meaning per word) stay a human read.

Beyond prose

The register and the passes apply wherever you write. Per-surface tells and rewrites:

• Formatting (headings, bold, lists, emoji, badges, smart quotes): formatting.md.
• Code comments that narrate the diff: code-comments.md. comment-stinky is the deep version, use it when the task is the comments themselves.
• Commit messages and PR descriptions that restate the diff instead of the reason: commits-and-prs.md.
• Strings in code (test names, error and log messages): code-strings.md.
• Prose that breaks for assistive technology or excludes a reader: inclusive-and-accessible.md. Neither reads as slop, both are defects.
• Sentence-level before/after rewrites for every tell: prose.md.

Don't over-correct

The rules remove warmth and structure that were not earned. They do not require coldness or shapelessness.

• Load-bearing structure stays. An API reference earns its many headings, a spec its numbered sections, a mandated PR template its scaffold. Restructure the bloat, not the contract.
• Clipped to the point of robotic. Vary sentence length; a run of five-word sentences is its own tell.
• A worse word to dodge a listed one. "Strong" is fine when you mean strong. The rule targets "robust" as a reflex, not the idea behind it.
• Cutting a transition doing real work. Drop filler, keep the connective the reader needs to follow the logic.
• Banning contrast itself. A real contrast sometimes needs "but". The target is the inflated cadence, not the word.
• Strict STE where it does not belong. Outside procedures it reads stiff rather than precise. Default to flavored.
• Chasing the score. Zero violations can still say nothing. These rules fix the form of slop, never the substance.

When in doubt, read it aloud. If it sounds like a person explaining something they understand, keep it. If it sounds like a brochure, fix it.