# Vs Core Tropes > Review text for AI writing tropes. Use this skill when the user wants to check prose for AI-sounding patterns, or says "tropes", "check for AI slop", "does this sound AI", "deslop", or wants to make text sound more human. - Skill: `lallapallooza/vs-core-tropes` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add lallapallooza/vs-core-tropes` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/lallapallooza/vs-core-tropes/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: Lallapallooza (https://skillmd.com/u/lallapallooza) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/lallapallooza/vs-core-tropes --- # AI Tropes Review Review the target text against the catalog below. Report patterns that appear repeatedly or cluster together. A single instance is not a finding -- repeated patterns or clusters of 3+ different tropes are. ## Process 1. Read the target text (file, diff, or pasted prose) 2. **Mandatory**: Run `check-unicode.sh` on the target path(s) before the manual review. If it finds issues, run `fix-unicode.sh` to auto-fix them. These scripts live in the skill directory alongside this file. ```bash bash /check-unicode.sh # If issues found: bash /fix-unicode.sh ``` 3. Scan for patterns from every category below 4. Report findings with: location (line or paragraph), the trope, a concrete rewrite 5. One-offs get a note. Repeated patterns or clusters get flagged. ## Output ``` ## Tropes Review **Overall**: [Clean | Minor tells | Needs rewrite] ### Findings - **Line/paragraph**: [where] - **Trope**: [name from catalog] - **Text**: [the offending passage] - **Rewrite**: [concrete alternative] ### Patterns [Which tropes appear more than once -- the systemic issues, not the one-offs] ``` --- ## Tropes Catalog Source: [tropes.fyi](https://tropes.fyi) by ossama.is ### Word Choice **Magic adverbs.** "Quietly", "deeply", "fundamentally", "remarkably", "arguably" -- adverbs that inflate mundane descriptions into false significance. - "quietly orchestrating workflows, decisions, and interactions" - "the one that quietly suffocates everything else" - "a quiet intelligence behind it" **"Delve" and friends.** Part of a family of overused AI vocabulary: "certainly", "utilize", "leverage" (as verb), "robust", "streamline", "harness". - "Let's delve into the details..." - "Delving deeper into this topic..." - "We certainly need to leverage these robust frameworks..." **"Tapestry" and "landscape".** Ornate nouns where simple words work. Also: "paradigm", "synergy", "ecosystem", "framework" used decoratively. - "The rich tapestry of human experience..." - "Navigating the complex landscape of modern AI..." - "The ever-evolving landscape of technology..." **"Serves as" dodge.** Replacing "is" with pompous alternatives. AI avoids basic copulas because repetition penalty pushes toward fancier constructions. - "The building serves as a reminder of the city's heritage." - "The station marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of regional transit." ### Sentence Structure **Negative parallelism.** "It's not X -- it's Y." The single most identified AI writing tell. One per piece can work. Ten is an insult. Variants: "not because X, but because Y", the cross-sentence "The question isn't X. The question is Y." - "It's not bold. It's backwards." - "Feeding isn't nutrition. It's dialysis." - "Half the bugs you chase aren't in your code. They're in your head." **Dramatic countdown.** "Not X. Not Y. Just Z." Builds false tension by negating things before the reveal. - "Not a bug. Not a feature. A fundamental design flaw." - "Not ten. Not fifty. Five hundred and twenty-three lint violations across 67 files." - "not recklessly, not completely, but enough" **Self-posed rhetorical questions.** Asks a question nobody was asking, answers it for drama. - "The result? Devastating." - "The worst part? Nobody saw it coming." - "The scary part? This attack vector is perfect for developers." **Anaphora abuse.** Repeating the same sentence opening 3+ times in quick succession. - "They assume that users will pay... They assume that developers will build... They assume that ecosystems will emerge..." - "They could expose... They could offer... They could provide... They could create... They could let... They could unlock..." **Tricolon abuse.** Overuse of rule-of-three, often extended to four or five. One tricolon is elegant. Three back-to-back is pattern failure. - "Products impress people; platforms empower them. Products solve problems; platforms create worlds. Products scale linearly; platforms scale exponentially." - "workflows, decisions, and interactions" **"It's worth noting."** Filler transitions that signal nothing and connect nothing. Also: "It bears mentioning", "Importantly", "Interestingly", "Notably". - "It's worth noting that this approach has limitations." - "Importantly, we must consider the broader implications." - "Interestingly, this pattern repeats across industries." **Superficial analyses.** Tacking "-ing" phrases onto sentences for shallow depth. - "contributing to the region's rich cultural heritage" - "highlighting the enduring legacy of the community's resistance and the transformative power of unity in shaping its identity" - "underscoring its role as a dynamic hub of activity and culture" **False ranges.** "From X to Y" where X and Y aren't on any real scale. "From innovation to cultural transformation" -- what's in between? Nothing. - "From innovation to implementation to cultural transformation." - "From the singularity of the Big Bang to the grand cosmic web." - "From problem-solving and tool-making to scientific discovery, artistic expression, and technological innovation." ### Paragraph Structure **Short punchy fragments.** Excessive one-sentence paragraphs for manufactured emphasis. No human writes first drafts this way. - "He published this. Openly. In a book. As a priest." - "These weren't just products. And the software side matched. Then it professionalised. But I adapted." - "Platforms do." **Listicle in a trench coat.** Numbered points disguised as prose. You told it to stop making lists and it did this instead. - "The first wall is the absence of a free, scoped API... The second wall is the lack of delegated access... The third wall is the absence of scoped permissions..." - "The second takeaway is that... The third takeaway is that... The fourth takeaway is that..." ### Tone **"Here's the kicker."** False suspense before an unremarkable observation. Also: "Here's the thing", "Here's where it gets interesting", "Here's what most people miss", "Here's the deal". **"Think of it as..."** Patronizing analogy. Defaults to teacher mode. Often the analogy is less clear than the original concept. - "Think of it like a highway system for data." - "Think of it as a Swiss Army knife for your workflow." - "It's like asking someone to buy a car they're only allowed to sit in while it's parked." **"Imagine a world where..."** The futurism invitation. Sells the argument with a utopian fantasy list. - "Imagine a world where every tool you use -- your calendar, your inbox, your documents, your CRM, your code editor -- has a quiet intelligence behind it..." - "In that world, workflows stop being collections of manual steps and start becoming orchestrations." **False vulnerability.** Performative self-awareness. Real vulnerability is specific and uncomfortable. AI vulnerability is polished and risk-free. - "And yes, I'm openly in love with the platform model" - "And yes, since we're being honest: I'm looking at you, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta" - "This is not a rant; it's a diagnosis" **"The truth is simple."** Asserting clarity instead of demonstrating it. If you have to tell the reader it's clear, it isn't. Also: "The real story is..." waving away everything prior. - "The reality is simpler and less flattering" - "History is unambiguous on this point" - "History is clear, the metrics are clear, the examples are clear" **Grandiose stakes inflation.** Everything is world-historical. A blog post about API pricing becomes a meditation on civilization's fate. - "This will fundamentally reshape how we think about everything." - "will define the next era of computing" - "something entirely new" **"Let's break this down."** Pedagogical hand-holding. Also: "Let's unpack this", "Let's explore", "Let's dive in." - "Let's break this down step by step." - "Let's unpack what this really means." - "Let's explore this idea further." **Vague attributions.** Unnamed authorities. If you can't name the expert, you don't have a source. - "Experts argue that this approach has significant drawbacks." - "Industry reports suggest that adoption is accelerating." - "Observers have cited the initiative as a turning point." **Invented concept labels.** Compound labels that sound analytical but aren't established terms. Names a thing, skips the argument. Multiple in one piece is a strong AI signal. - "the supervision paradox" - "the acceleration trap" - "workload creep" ### Formatting **Em-dash addiction.** 2-3 per piece is natural. 20+ is AI. - "The problem -- and this is the part nobody talks about -- is systemic." - "The tinkerer spirit didn't die of natural causes -- it was bought out." - "Not recklessly, not completely -- but enough -- enough to matter." **Bold-first bullets.** Every bullet starts with a bolded phrase. Almost nobody formats lists this way by hand. Telltale in docs, READMEs, blog posts. - "**Security**: Environment-based configuration with..." - "**Performance**: Lazy loading of expensive resources..." **Unicode decoration.** Arrows, smart quotes, box-drawing characters, special characters you can't type on a regular keyboard. Only printable ASCII is natural. Real writers produce straight quotes, `->`, and `---` section dividers -- not `-`, `->`, or `"` `"`. - "Input -> Processing -> Output" - "# -- Section ------------------" - Smart quotes: "like this" instead of "like this" ### Composition **Fractal summaries.** "What I'll tell you; what I'm telling you; what I just told you" at every level. - "In this section, we'll explore... [3000 words later] ...as we've seen in this section." - "A conclusion that restates every point already made in the previous 3000 words" - "And so we return to where we began." **Dead metaphor.** One metaphor beaten across the entire piece. Humans introduce a metaphor, use it, move on. AI repeats it 10 times. - "The ecosystem needs ecosystems to build ecosystem value." - "Walls and doors used 30+ times in the same article" - "Every paragraph finds a way to say 'primitives' again" **Historical analogy stacking.** Rapid-fire company/revolution name-drops for false authority. - "Apple didn't build Uber. Facebook didn't build Spotify. Stripe didn't build Shopify. AWS didn't build Airbnb." - "Every major technological shift -- the web, mobile, social, cloud -- followed the same pattern." - "Take Spotify... Or consider Uber... Airbnb followed a similar path... Shopify is another example... Even Discord..." **One-point dilution.** Single argument restated 10 ways across thousands of words. 800-word thesis padded to 4000 with different metaphors for the same idea. **Content duplication.** Same section or paragraph appearing verbatim or near-verbatim in different parts of the piece. Happens when the model loses track of what it already wrote, especially in longer output. **Signposted conclusion.** "In conclusion", "To sum up", "In summary." Competent writing doesn't announce it's concluding. - "In conclusion, the future of AI depends on..." - "To sum up, we've explored three key themes..." - "In summary, the evidence suggests..." **"Despite its challenges..."** The rigid formula: acknowledge problems, immediately dismiss them, end optimistic. - "Despite these challenges, the initiative continues to thrive." - "Despite its industrial and residential prosperity, Korattur faces challenges typical of urban areas." - "Despite their promising applications, pyroelectric materials face several challenges that must be addressed for broader adoption." --- Any of these patterns used once might be fine. The problem is when multiple tropes cluster or a single trope repeats. Flag the patterns, not the one-offs.