dividedby Write Well
Draft and de-slop English prose. Two entry points: draft builds from a blank page, improve polishes text you bring.
The de-slop rules in this skill govern prose it produces. They do not govern this instruction doc.
Mode is one parameter, picked once: article (narrative arc,
evidence-bound), readme (scannable, action-first), or general (default,
minimal structural opinion). Mode sets the target for the structure step. The
de-slop layer and the gates run the same in every mode.
Grounding and structure
Both entry points rest on two principles.
Grounding. Every concept must be grounded before a later beat leans on it: either reader-brings (a prerequisite the reader already holds) or must-define (this piece introduces it). Set that line with the user before drafting. An ungrounded concept the next move needs is a structural blocker, not a style nit. Ground it or restructure.
Structure. Weight asymmetry is deliberate. Decide which section deserves
40% and which 5% before writing. Pick an arc and state it: problem → solution → evidence, story → principle → application, or counterintuitive claim → proof → implications. Skim test: a heading-only read still conveys the
argument.
Entry point: draft
Core-finding. Dig until the core is one defensible sentence. Protocol:
references/core-finding.md. Done when: one sentence states the core and the stress-test verdict is holds.Grounding and structure. Set the reader-brings vs must-define line. Name the arc. Draft a weight map (section → share of total). Done when: line set, arc named, weight map drafted, skim test passes.
Draft. Write the full piece in the chosen mode, following the weight map. Ground every concept before it appears. Done when: full draft exists and no concept arrives ungrounded.
De-slop. Run the layer. Protocol:
references/de-slop.md. Done when: the De-slop gate is green.Gates. Done when: every red-line gate below is green.
Entry point: improve
Bring your own text. Skip core-finding.
Structure-check. Identify the arc. Audit section weight against actual word counts. Run the skim test. Done when: arc named, over- and under-weighted sections adjusted, skim test passes.
Density. Apply the sentence-load test from
references/de-slop.mdto every sentence. Done when: no scaffold or ornament sentence remains.De-slop. Run the layer. Protocol:
references/de-slop.md. Done when: the De-slop gate is green.Gates. Done when: every red-line gate below except the Core gate is green.
Red-line gates
Pass or fail. A failing gate blocks delivery.
- Core gate (draft only). The core is one defensible sentence. If it takes two, core-finding isn't done; return to core-finding.
- Density gate. Every sentence carries work. Remove the sentence; if the argument is unchanged, cut it.
- Burstiness gate. Sentence length varies. Uniform-length sentences read as machine output.
- De-slop gate. All de-slop passes ran; the output carries no em-dashes or en-dashes; AI-trace tells were judged in clusters, not isolation; the typographic-tell pass ran.
- Evidence gate. No invented facts. Vague-source claims ("studies show", "teams report") are flagged as proof gaps and sourced or cut, never laundered into assertions.
References
references/core-finding.md: the draft core engine — four shovels, the attack, the stress-test gate.references/de-slop.md: the de-slop layer — sentence-load density, burstiness, AI-trace passes, typographic tells, evidence-bound mode.
Attribution
Core-finding, the structural weight-and-arc framework, and the gate spine are adapted from d-wwei/great-writer (MIT). The grounding principle (reader-brings vs must-define) is adapted from mattpocock's writing-shape. Sentence-load density and evidence-bound mode are adapted from ehmo/slopbeth. The typographic-tell list is adapted from weijt606/anti-vibe-writing. The AI-trace audit is adapted from blader/humanizer.
d-wwei/great-writer is MIT-licensed. This skill is an independent synthesis, not a derived work or a soft-depend wrapper. See ADR 0035.