Stop Slop

Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose.

Credit: Hardik Pandya — github.com/hardikpandya/stop-slop (MIT)

Core Rules

1. Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs.
2. Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency.
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.
• 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. State the content directly.

• "Here's the thing:" / "Here's what/this/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"

Emphasis Crutches

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

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

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.

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

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

Telling Instead of Showing

• "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"

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Structures to Avoid

Binary Contrasts

Create false drama. State the point directly.

• "Not because X. Because Y." / "Not because X, but because Y."
• "[X] isn't the problem. [Y] is." / "The answer isn't X. It's Y."
• "It feels like X. It's actually Y." / "The question isn't X. It's Y."
• "not X, it's Y" / "isn't X, it's Y" / "stops being X and starts being Y"

Fix: State Y directly. Drop the negation.

Negative Listing

Listing what something is not before revealing what it is.

• "Not a X... Not a Y... A Z."
• "It wasn't X. It wasn't Y. It was Z."

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

Dramatic Fragmentation

• "[Noun]. That's it. That's the [thing]."
• "X. And Y. And Z."
• "This unlocks something. [Word]."

Fix: Complete sentences. Trust content over presentation.

Rhetorical Setups

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

Fix: Make the point. Let readers draw conclusions.

False Agency

Giving inanimate things human verbs. AI loves this because it avoids naming the actor.

• "a complaint becomes a fix" → Someone fixed it.
• "the decision emerges" → Someone decides.
• "the culture shifts" → People change behavior.
• "the data tells us" → Someone reads it and draws a conclusion.

Fix: Name the human. "The team fixed it that week" beats "the complaint becomes a fix."

Narrator-from-a-Distance

• "Nobody designed this." / "This happens because..." / "People tend to..."

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

Passive Voice

• "X was created" → Name who created it
• "Mistakes were made" → Name who made them

Fix: Find the actor. Put them at the front.

Sentence Starters to Avoid

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

Rhythm Patterns

• Three-item lists → Use two or one
• Questions answered immediately → Let questions breathe or cut them
• Every paragraph ends punchily → Vary endings
• Em-dashes → Remove. Use commas or periods.
• Staccato fragmentation → Don't stack short punchy sentences
• Lazy extremes (every, always, never, everyone, nobody) → Use specifics

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Examples

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."

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."

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."

Dramatic Fragmentation

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

After: "Speed, quality, cost — pick two."

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."