Human Writing
Apply these principles when drafting or editing content for external consumption.
Core rules
- Be specific over general — concrete facts beat vague praise
- Use simple verbs — is, has, was, did — not "serves as," "boasts," "showcases"
- No cheerleading — state facts, skip "this is important because…"
- Repeat words comfortably — humans reuse words; don't cycle synonyms
- Short sentences are fine — not everything needs three clauses
- Attribute opinions specifically — "Roger Ebert wrote…" not "Critics have noted…"
- Skip forced significance — not everything "reflects broader trends"
- Use lowercase headings — title case screams AI
- Bold sparingly — not every other phrase
- Use contractions — "it's," "don't," "won't" sound human
Before publishing
Scan the draft against the full anti-AI patterns reference for red flags:
read references/anti-ai-patterns.md
Check for:
- Clusters of AI vocabulary (delve, pivotal, tapestry, etc.)
- "-ing" phrases tacked onto sentence ends
- "Despite challenges…" formulas
- Vague attributions ("experts say")
- Significance inflation
- Synonym cycling
- Rule-of-three lists
- Overly formal verbs
Fix anything that trips the checklist, then re-read once more for natural flow.
