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From taste
Editorial standards and writing taste derived from 547 books, 48 repeat-read authors, and hundreds of Readwise highlights. The judgment framework that other writing tools reference — what good prose looks like, what to kill, what to keep.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/taste:tasteThis skill is limited to the following tools:
The summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
The canonical reference for Chuck's writing taste — the editorial standards that inform how writing gets judged, edited, and critiqued. Self-contained; carries everything it needs. Other skills and commands reference this; it doesn't run on its own.
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
The canonical reference for Chuck's writing taste — the editorial standards that inform how writing gets judged, edited, and critiqued. Self-contained; carries everything it needs. Other skills and commands reference this; it doesn't run on its own.
Derived from repeat-read authors, ratings, and Readwise highlights across 547 books.
The passages Chuck highlights reveal a consistent aesthetic: lines that land a truth in the fewest possible words, usually with a knife-twist of dark humor or painful self-awareness.
"Love's pure free joy when it works, but when it goes bad you pay for the good hours at loan-shark prices." — David Mitchell
"We don't have a grown-up language for grief." — Chris Cleave
"The internet: always proving that you're not quite as special as you suspected." — Robin Sloan
"Perhaps at twenty, one is naturally curious about life, but at thirty, simply suspicious of anyone who still has one." — Chris Cleave
"My mother drank to get unhappy. Daddy just soaked." — Tom Rachman
"'You're such a nice woman,' he said. 'I can't understand why I'm so miserable with you.'" — John Updike
These are clean, muscular sentences. No ornamentation. The precision is the style.
Drawn to: Clean, voice-driven prose. Strong first person or tight close-third. Writers who trust the reader — who don't over-explain emotions but render them through action and observation. Short punchy sentences doing heavy lifting alongside longer narrative passages. Dialogue that sounds like actual human speech.
Not drawn to: Ornate or deliberately beautiful prose. Experimental structure for its own sake. Stream-of-consciousness. Dense description. Exposition-heavy world-building.
The sweet spot: A narrator smart enough to see the irony of their own situation and articulate enough to describe it in a sentence you want to underline — but not so literary that the voice becomes the point.
These absences define the taste as much as the preferences:
These are the canonical style rules. When any tool references "voice" or "style," this is what it means.
These patterns are banned. If you see them, remove them — don't replace them with a synonym, just cut them or restructure the sentence.
AI transitions: "Moreover," "Furthermore," "Additionally," "Nevertheless," excessive "However," "While X, Y" openings
AI cliches: "In today's fast-paced world," "Let's dive deep," "Unlock your potential," "Harness the power of," "It's important to note," "It's worth mentioning"
Corporate bloat: "utilize" (use), "facilitate" (help), "optimize" (improve), "leverage" (use), "implement" (build/do), "strategize" (plan), "synergy," "alignment," "ecosystem" (unless actual ecology)
Hedging: "various," "numerous," "myriad," "a number of," "it should be noted that," "it goes without saying"
Robotic patterns: Rhetorical questions followed by immediate answers. Obsessive parallel structures. Always using exactly three examples. Announcing emphasis ("It's crucial to understand that..."). Restating what you just said in different words.
Filler closers: "Let me know if you have any questions." "Hope this helps!" "Don't hesitate to reach out." "Looking forward to your thoughts." Cut them all.
Never sacrifice these in the name of style:
The core rules apply everywhere. These adaptations layer on top.
npx claudepluginhub shortrib-labs/shortrib-claude-marketplace --plugin tasteEnforces a hard-edged, muscular English prose style without AI tics or filler. Useful for essays, rewrites, or any writing needing clean, forceful, concrete language.
Audits writing against Kurt Vonnegut's 8 rules for fiction and nonfiction. Provides structural gut-checks and diagnoses why a piece feels lifeless.
Applies Strunk's Elements of Style principles to writing or editing prose: omit needless words, use active voice, prefer positive form, and keep related words together.