# Prose

> Review and tighten prose or marketing content so it reads clearer and more natural, free of clichés and the tells that mark text as machine-written, in British English. Use when writing or editing any prose, or when asked to check, review, tighten, or improve a document. Invoke with /prose.

- Skill: `davidbaines/prose` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add davidbaines/prose`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/davidbaines/prose/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: davidbaines (https://skillmd.com/u/davidbaines)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/davidbaines/prose

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Apply this whenever you write or edit prose, or when the user asks you to check,
review, tighten, or improve a document.

## Aim

Make the writing read the way a thoughtful person would actually write it: clear
intent, accurate claims, a steady voice, no wasted words. Improve towards that,
and leave alone anything that already reaches it.

## Cut or fix

- Clichés, stock phrases, purple prose, and stacked metaphors. Keep at most one
  image, and only where it earns its place.
- Padding and throat-clearing ("It's important to note...", "When it comes to...").
- Empty intensifiers ("very", "really", "truly") and weak adverbs. Prefer a
  stronger verb.
- Hedging, over-qualifying, restated points, and passive voice where the active
  is clearer.
- Em-dashes (—): replace every one. Use a full stop and a new sentence, a colon
  and a space, or a comma and a space, whichever fits the join. If none of those
  reads right, rephrase the sentence in plain English and spell the meaning out.
- The self-describing words "genuine", "real", and "honest". These qualities are
  assumed of everything written, so the word states nothing new: drop it, or
  recast the phrase so the point stands on its own.
- Rhetorical contrast framing: "It's not X, it's Y", "It's not about A, it's
  about B", "not just... but...". State the point directly rather than setting up
  a foil to knock down.
- AI tells: a rule-of-three in every sentence, "let's dive
  in", "whether you're A or B", words like "elevate", "unlock", "leverage",
  "delve", "robust", and "seamless", moralising sign-off sentences, and heavy
  bold or emoji.

## Protect (never change)

- Facts, figures, names, dates, prices, URLs, and email addresses.
- `[PLACEHOLDERS]`, links, code blocks, and document structure: headings, lists,
  tables, and frontmatter.
- The author's voice and intended tone.
- British English spelling and conventions.

## How to run

- Given a file, read it and edit it in place. Make the smallest changes that fix
  real problems. Do not rewrite wholesale or change meaning.
- Writing something new, hold to the same standard as you draft.
- Where a change might alter meaning or fact, leave it and flag it.
- Finish with a short note of what you changed and why, and anything left for the
  author to decide.