AI Writing Tropes to Avoid

Comprehensive catalog of AI writing patterns that make text feel machine-generated. Any single pattern used once might be fine. The problem is when multiple tropes appear together or when one trope repeats throughout a piece.

How to Use

When writing or editing prose:

1. Draft the content.
2. Check against the trope categories below.
3. If you spot a pattern, rewrite that passage.
4. Re-read the whole piece for pattern density — a few is tolerable, a cluster is not.

Trope Categories

Word Choice

Overused vocabulary and phrasing that AI defaults to. See references/word-choice.md.