No Tropes (AI writing tells)
After drafting any prose, revise it against the tropes catalog in tropes-reference.md.
Core Principle
Write like a human: varied, imperfect, specific. Any single trope used once might be fine. The problem is when multiple tropes stack or a single trope repeats.
Quick Checklist
Before finalizing text, scan for:
- Word choice: "quietly", "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "serves as", "leverage", "robust"
- Sentence structure: "It's not X — it's Y", "The X? A Y.", tricolons, anaphora, false ranges, "-ing" tacked-on analysis
- Paragraph structure: Short punchy fragments as standalone paragraphs, listicles disguised as prose
- Tone: "Here's the thing", "Think of it as", "Imagine a world", "Let's break this down", invented concept labels, grandiose stakes inflation
- Formatting: Em-dash overuse (2-3 max per piece), bold-first bullets, unicode arrows (→)
- Composition: Fractal summaries, dead metaphors beaten into the ground, historical analogy stacking, one-point dilution, "In conclusion"
Revision Protocol
- Read the full draft
- Flag any trope matches from the reference
- Rewrite flagged passages using plain, direct language
- Prefer simple verbs ("is" over "serves as"), concrete nouns, and varied sentence structure
- Cut filler transitions ("It's worth noting", "Importantly", "Interestingly")
- If you catch yourself writing the same structural pattern 3+ times, break the pattern
1---2name: no-tropes3description: Detect and eliminate common AI writing tropes from generated text. Use when writing or revising prose, documentation, READMEs, commit messages, PR descriptions, blog posts, comments, or any non-code text output. Automatically applied as a self-revision pass (tropes.fyi).4---56# No Tropes (AI writing tells)78After drafting any prose, revise it against the tropes catalog in [tropes-reference.md](tropes-reference.md).910## Core Principle1112Write like a human: varied, imperfect, specific. Any single trope used once might be fine. The problem is when multiple tropes stack or a single trope repeats.1314## Quick Checklist1516Before finalizing text, scan for:1718- **Word choice**: "quietly", "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "serves as", "leverage", "robust"19- **Sentence structure**: "It's not X — it's Y", "The X? A Y.", tricolons, anaphora, false ranges, "-ing" tacked-on analysis20- **Paragraph structure**: Short punchy fragments as standalone paragraphs, listicles disguised as prose21- **Tone**: "Here's the thing", "Think of it as", "Imagine a world", "Let's break this down", invented concept labels, grandiose stakes inflation22- **Formatting**: Em-dash overuse (2-3 max per piece), bold-first bullets, unicode arrows (→)23- **Composition**: Fractal summaries, dead metaphors beaten into the ground, historical analogy stacking, one-point dilution, "In conclusion"2425## Revision Protocol26271. Read the full draft282. Flag any trope matches from the reference293. Rewrite flagged passages using plain, direct language304. Prefer simple verbs ("is" over "serves as"), concrete nouns, and varied sentence structure315. Cut filler transitions ("It's worth noting", "Importantly", "Interestingly")326. If you catch yourself writing the same structural pattern 3+ times, break the pattern
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