In this guide
This guide covers the common types of AI slop in fiction, sorted by category. Each section has a short example that marks the slop and shows a rewrite of the same passage in more natural language. If this guide helps you, let us know!
What AI slop is
AI slop is writing that reads as if a machine produced it on autopilot. In fiction, the prose is usually correct but generic. Characters react with the same stock gestures, the narrator explains feelings the scene already showed, and chapters close on a neat summary.
It happens because of how a language model writes. It doesn’t plan a sentence. It reads everything written so far, gives each possible next word a probability, and picks one from near the top of the list. Then it does the same for the word after that.
Sora opened the letter. Her heart skipped a beat.
A word is likely when it often followed similar text in the books and web pages the model learned from. Each pick is sensible on its own, but a chain of likely picks produces the most familiar phrase, and the most familiar phrase is the one thousands of stories have already used. Once a draft reaches “her heart skipped”, “a beat” is close to certain. Repeated across a chapter, those choices make every story sound alike.
One stock phrase rarely gives a chapter away. Readers notice when the same habits pile up, such as hearts that skip in every chapter or scenes that always end on a lesson. Writers fall into these habits too when they draft fast, so the fixes here apply whoever wrote the first draft.
We compiled the patterns from the writing and review rules of four AI fiction tools, then tested which rules change a draft. Every example in this guide is original.
Word choice
Stock body language
AI drafts describe physical reactions with the same few phrases, whatever the character, the genre or the situation.
Stock reactions
A skipped heartbeat, a chill down the spine, a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Readers have seen these phrases so often that they skim past them, and none of them says anything about this character in particular.
Kang lifted the lid and found Ji-woo’s school badge. Her heart skipped a beat and a chill ran down her spine. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
Kang lifted the lid. Ji-woo’s school badge sat on top, the lanyard knotted double the way Ji-woo always knotted it. Kang put the lid back on the box and went to find the duty sergeant.
Cut the phrase, or write the one thing this character does next.
One gesture on repeat
A smile, nod, sigh or shrug added between lines of action or dialogue. Used more than twice in a scene, it becomes a tic the reader notices.
Aiko smiled and signed the lease. Kenji nodded and slid the second page across. She smiled again, nodded, and signed that too.
Aiko signed the lease. Kenji slid the second page across, and she signed that too without turning back to the first.
Cut the repeats. Keep a gesture only where it tells the reader something new.
Fussy filler gestures
Brushing away dust that isn’t there, squaring papers that are already square. The gesture exists to fill the gap between two lines of dialogue.
“The file’s in my car,” Okada said, brushing lint that wasn’t there off his sleeve and squaring a folder that was already square.
“The file’s in my car,” Okada said. “Give me ten minutes.” He took the stairs two at a time.
Delete it. If the scene needs a pause, use an action that matters to what happens next.
Vague feelings
These phrases describe a feeling in general terms instead of showing what the character does. The reader is told an emotion is there but never sees it.
A hint of, a trace of, a touch of
A hint of a smile, a touch of warmth, a wisp of hope. Each one makes a feeling smaller and vaguer instead of showing it.
Yuna caught the barest hint of a smile as Haruto handed her the key. A touch of warmth crept into his voice.
Haruto handed her the key. The brass was warm from his pocket, and he was grinning at the floor. “Third floor,” he said. “The radiator knocks, but it works.”
Decide what the character does or says, and write that instead.
Feelings turned into nouns
A sense of unease, a wave of relief, an indescribable feeling. The phrase turns a feeling into something that happens to the character, so the character never acts on it.
When his name did not come up, a wave of relief washed through him, mixed with an indescribable feeling of guilt.
His name had not come up. Wei let go of his pack strap, which had printed a red stripe across his palm, and kept his eyes off Min-jun’s brother.
Name the sensation in the body, or the thing the character is worried about.
Named emotions
“He was angry.” “She felt nervous.” The narrator states the emotion instead of letting the reader see it.
Mei was angry when she read the message. She felt nervous walking to the table, and Takeshi looked guilty.
Mei read the message twice, then laid the phone face down and left it there. “You could have told me yourself.” Takeshi folded a sugar sachet in half, then in half again.
Show it through what the character does or leaves unsaid. Never name a feeling the action has already shown.
Borrowed vocabulary
Some words belong in essays, reports and business writing. In a story they sound stiff, and several have become known as signs of AI writing.
The AI word list
Delve, tapestry, navigate, embark, intricate, nuanced, multifaceted. Many readers now treat them as a sign that AI wrote the text.
Feng delved into the guild ledgers, a vast tapestry of intricate debts and nuanced alliances.
Feng opened the guild ledger and ran down the column of debts. Eleven of them carried the same smith’s mark in the margin.
Use the plain verb and the concrete noun.
Essay connectives
Moreover, furthermore, thus, hence, “it is worth noting that”. They belong in a report. In a story they make the narration sound like an essay making a case.
Moreover, the airlock log showed Park had cycled the door twice. Thus, it is not hard to see that the cargo had left while the crew slept.
The airlock log showed Park cycling the outer door twice before the alarm, so the cargo had left the ship while the crew slept.
Use “so”, “but”, a full stop, or nothing.
Bookish words in plain fiction
Commence, ascertain, endeavour, utilise. They are formal words where a plain one would do, and they make the narration sound stiff.
Sergeant Okada commenced his search at dawn, endeavouring to ascertain where the cabin had stood. He utilised a pole to probe the ashes.
Sergeant Okada went out at dawn to find where the cabin had stood. He poked through the ashes with a pole.
Use the everyday word: began, find out, try, use.
Padding words
These words make a sentence longer without telling the reader anything new. They are the easiest kind of slop to cut.
Adverbs and intensifiers
Really, very, quite, slowly, gently, slightly. A few are normal. A run of them usually means the verbs are too weak to carry the sentence.
Dae-ho slowly lifted the very heavy axe and gently tested the blade. It was really quite sharp.
Dae-ho lifted the axe off its pegs with both hands and drew his thumb along the edge. A bead of blood came up at once.
Pick a stronger verb, or show how heavy, sharp or slow something is with a detail.
Suddenly, in that moment, began to
Suddenly, just then, in that moment, began to, couldn’t help but. Words that delay the action. “Suddenly” tells the reader an event is a surprise instead of letting it surprise them. “Began to” and “started to” add a step before anything happens.
Suddenly the phone rang. Sora started to reach for it, but couldn’t help but glance at the window. In that moment the lights began to flicker.
The phone rang, and Sora reached for it. The window rattled in its frame. The lamp on the desk dimmed and came back.
Write the action itself: “the phone rang”, not “suddenly the phone began to ring”.
Filter words
She saw, she heard, she felt, she realised. Each one puts the character’s perception between the reader and the event.
Rin felt the floor tremble. She saw the lamp swing and heard the pipes groan. She realised the roof was coming down.
The floor trembled under Rin’s boots. The lamp swung on its chain and the pipes groaned overhead. Grit rained into her collar, so she ran.
Write the thing itself. “The door opened”, not “she saw the door open”.
Decoration
Similes and set phrases should make a description sharper. Readers have met the stock ones in many other books, so they add words without adding anything the reader can picture.
Stock similes
Like a tomb, like a tide, as if the room were holding its breath. All-purpose comparisons that could sit in any scene.
The vault door swung open like a tomb, and the dark inside gaped like a hungry mouth, as if the whole room were holding its breath.
The vault door swung open on a smell of damp cardboard. Hye-jin ran her flashlight along the deposit boxes until it stopped on one in the bottom row, its lock scratched bright.
Keep one simile at most, and take it from the viewpoint character’s world.
Stacked clichés
Several set phrases in a row that all say the moment is dangerous, such as heart-stopping, fraught with peril and hanging by a thread.
Daichi crouched behind the crates in a heart-stopping moment, fraught with peril, his life hanging by a thread.
Daichi crouched behind the crates. Ten feet away the guard was eating a sandwich with his back turned, and the only way to the stairs ran past his elbow.
Replace the stack with one concrete action or image.
Inflated significance
A moment of profound significance, an unprecedented turning point, a journey that had only just begun. The narrator tells the reader the moment is important instead of showing what it changes.
When Seo-yeon turned the sign to OPEN, it was a moment of profound significance. Her journey had only just begun.
Seo-yeon turned the sign to OPEN at six. By seven the cinnamon rolls were gone, and she phoned her sister to bring more flour.
Give the consequence, and let the reader decide how much it matters.
Sentence patterns
Some slop has no bad words in it. The tell is the shape of the sentence, repeated until readers can predict how each line will end.
Set-up frames
These sentences use a fixed frame to make an ordinary point sound dramatic.
“It wasn’t X. It was Y.”
All four tools we studied flag this frame, including the countdown form: “Not a ghost. Not a memory. Him.” It denies something nobody suggested so it can reveal the real thing.
It wasn’t the cold that stopped Lan at the door. It was the smell of her father’s pipe in the coat. Not a ghost. Not a memory. Him.
Lan stopped at the door with the key in her hand. Her father’s coat still hung on the peg, and it smelled of his pipe.
Write the second half directly, or show it.
Trailing qualifiers
“He smiled, with a trace of mockery.” “The smile vanished, and what replaced it was…” The first adds a vague feeling to the end of an action. The second announces a change of mood instead of showing it.
Kuroda smiled briefly, with a trace of barely perceptible mockery. The smile vanished, and what replaced it was a cold fury.
Kuroda smiled and tapped the chart where the harbour chain should have been. “You have it drawn a cable too far north, Mr. Han.”
Cut the vague qualifier and write the action. For the second kind, say plainly what the character does now.
Formula voice descriptions
“Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable force.” The reader is told the voice is powerful and never hears it.
“Sit down,” Inspector Mori said. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable force.
“Sit down, Mr. Cho.” Mori’s voice was a smoker’s rasp that never rose above the radiator hum, and the chair was under him before he had finished turning.
Write what the line says, or how the voice actually sounds.
Rhythm templates
These sentence shapes repeat so often in AI drafts that readers start to hear the pattern instead of the story.
Lists of three
“Tired, hungry, and cold.” “No longer hoped, no longer called out, no longer looked back.” Three-part lists give a sentence a rhythm whether or not there are three things to say. In our tests this was the hardest habit to remove.
Tired, hungry, and cold, Yui climbed the ridge. She no longer hoped for rescue, no longer called out, no longer looked back.
Yui climbed the ridge with the last ration bar softening in her fist. She had quit calling out on the second day.
Keep the strongest item. Use at most one three-part list in a chapter.
The same opening, sentence after sentence
Three or more sentences in a row that start with the same subject or the same form.
He crossed the market. He bought a loaf. He carried it to the step. He broke it in two.
Ming bought a loaf from the stall by the fountain and carried it to the step. When he broke it in two, the pigeons came close enough to peck his boot.
Combine actions that belong together, and start sentences in different ways.
-ing openers
“Pushing the door open, she…” Once is fine. When it repeats, every sentence starts with a clause the reader has to hold in mind.
Pushing the door open, Eun-ji stepped into the hall. Reaching for the switch, she found it dead. Fumbling in her bag, she pulled out her phone.
Eun-ji shouldered the door open. The hall switch clicked and nothing came on, so she dug her phone out of her bag.
Write the actions in order, as plain verbs.
Paragraphs and rhythm
Rhythm problems are easiest to catch by reading aloud. In AI drafts, sentences tend to be the same length and paragraphs the same size, so the prose sounds flat.
Paragraph shape
These habits show up within a single page.
Sentences of one length
Short sentence, short sentence, short sentence. Each sentence is correct, but together they have a flat, repetitive beat.
Wei carried the pot to the galley. The fire had burned down. He hung the pot on the hook. The stew had gone thick.
Wei hauled the pot to the galley and hung it on the hook over coals burned down to red. The stew had gone thick and brown.
Let the moment set the length. Join what belongs together and keep short lines for impact.
Runs of one-line paragraphs
Paragraph after paragraph of one short sentence, with the connecting words gone. It reads like an outline. It also appears when an edit cuts too much.
Akari reached the airlock. The inner door stood open. The cargo bay was dark. A cable swung.
Akari reached the airlock and found the inner door already open. In the dark of the cargo bay a cable hung by its last strand, and every swing drew a spark off the crate below.
Keep a one-line paragraph for a real peak. Write setup and ordinary action as whole sentences.
One moment told three times
The event, then the sound of the event, then the character’s reaction to it, each in its own sentence or paragraph.
The glass shattered on the tile. The crash was loud in the empty kitchen, a sharp bright sound. Jia flinched, her shoulders jumping at the noise.
In the empty kitchen the glass burst on the tile loud enough to rattle the cutlery in its drawer, and Jia’s shoulders jumped with it.
Merge them into one picture.
Across the book
Some slop only shows across many chapters. A reader following a serial notices it before someone checking a single chapter does.
Lines that return every few chapters
The same sentence, or nearly the same, in chapter 3 and again in chapter 7.
Ch. 3: Shun’s gaze drifted to the window, where rain tapped the glass. Ch. 7: Shun’s gaze drifted to the window, where rain tapped the glass.
Ch. 3: Shun pressed his forehead to the cold glass and counted the lanterns along the wall. Ch. 7: Shun wiped a clear circle in the fogged pane with his sleeve.
Track the book’s most frequent phrases and write each moment fresh.
The words that replace banned ones
Ban the stock phrases and a model switches to substitutes. In one 196-chapter run, once the stock phrases were gone, “like a”, “fell silent”, “said nothing” and lines about breathing turned up five to seven times a chapter on average.
Ren laid the broken seal on the table and said nothing. Daisuke said nothing either, and the hall fell silent. She took a few breaths.
Ren laid the broken seal between the wine cups. Daisuke turned his cup a quarter turn, then another. “It was in Takeda’s hand,” Ren said.
Count the replacements too, and write what happens in the silence.
Narration
AI narrators often explain what the scene has already shown. That leaves the reader nothing to work out.
The narrator who explains
Each of these tells the reader what to think about something the scene already showed.
Explaining the cause
“The reason was…”, “this meant…”, “because he was ashamed”. The narrator steps in to explain why a character acts.
The reason Hiro kept his coat on was that the boiler had died. He told Mina it was a draft because he was ashamed of the place.
Hiro kept his coat on at the table. “Only the window,” he told Mina. Priya had her hand on the radiator. “It’s stone cold, Hiro.”
Cut the explanation and let action and dialogue carry the cause.
One-line verdicts
“That difference mattered.” “It was enough.” A short line that tells the reader how important the previous line is.
The vault door took four keys. Xiu had two. That difference mattered.
The vault door took four keys, and Xiu had two. She crossed the bank floor to Mr. Yamada’s desk and held out her hand.
Delete it. If the point needs making, let a consequence make it.
“She finally understood”
He finally understood, she realised, he knew it was too late. The character’s discovery is reported rather than acted on.
Ha-eun saw the empty hook, and she finally understood that Tae-yang had sailed without her. She realised it was too late.
The hook where the ferry rope belonged was bare. Ha-eun ran to the end of the jetty and shouted Tae-yang’s name at the wake.
Write what the character does about it now.
The narrator who knows too much
“Little did she know.” “Anyone could see he was lying.” The narrator jumps ahead or passes judgment the viewpoint character can’t make.
Park lit a cigarette. Little did she know the man in the doorway would kill again. Anyone could see he was lying.
Park lit a cigarette. The man in the doorway said he had spent the night under his van, but his cuffs were clean and his hands smelled of soap.
Write only what the viewpoint character knows now, and leave the judgment to the reader.
The missing scene
In these, the narrator sums up a scene, or describes it thinly, instead of putting the reader in it.
Mood instead of a detail
“The atmosphere was tense.” The narrator names the mood and gives the reader nothing to sense.
The atmosphere in the kitchen was tense. Everyone sat in awkward silence, and the mood was heavy.
The gravy had skinned over and nobody reached for it. Kaito’s chair scraped once on the linoleum and held still.
Give one concrete detail the character can see, hear, smell or touch.
Summary where a scene should play
“They argued for a while, then made up.” A turning point passes in one line of summary.
The brothers argued about the map for a while, then made up, laughed about it and continued their journey.
“You’re holding it upside down,” Jae said. Ramón turned the map around. “Then the mountain’s in the wrong place.” Teo laughed first.
Play the moment that matters in dialogue and action.
Sight only
Colour after colour, and nothing to hear, smell or touch. AI drafts often describe only what a character sees.
The market was bright. Red awnings hung over green crates, and yellow lanterns swung above orange squash.
The market smelled of woodsmoke and split peppers. A vendor banged a ladle against a pot, and the squash under Hana’s hand was warm from the sun.
Add a sound, smell, texture or temperature this character would notice.
Dialogue
Characters in AI drafts tend to speak in full, polite, grammatical sentences, and they often sound alike.
Voices
Cover the dialogue tags and try to tell who is speaking.
Everyone talks alike
Each character uses the same vocabulary, sentence length and manners.
“I believe we should leave before dark.” “I agree. It would be wise to leave before dark.”
“We go before dark,” Gao said. “Before dark? The horses haven’t eaten, and the north ford’s up past the knee.” “Horses eat at the ford.”
Give each main character their own sentence length, words and topics they avoid.
Complete, polite speech
Characters explain their own motives in tidy paragraphs, even in a fight.
“Jin, I understand you are upset, and I would like to explain that I took the money because the rent was due.”
“Where’s the four hundred, Soo-ah?” “Rent was due.” “I didn’t ask what was due.”
Let them interrupt, dodge the question and accuse.
Mechanics
The tags and actions around dialogue are a common place for padding in AI drafts.
A tag on every line
Natsuki said, Hoon asked, Natsuki said, Hoon said. With two speakers, the reader can follow without them.
“The door is trapped,” Natsuki said. “Can you disarm it?” Hoon asked. “Not without the pick,” Natsuki said.
“The door is trapped,” Natsuki said. “Can you disarm it?” “Not without the pick.”
Tag the first line and any line where the speaker is unclear. A plain “said” can stay.
“As you know…”
Characters tell each other facts they both know, so the reader can overhear them.
“As you know, Lieutenant, the colony was founded forty years ago, and our fuel depends on the ice mines.”
“Pull the Tharsis ice logs,” Wang said. “Those are sealed.” “The tank gauge read half this morning. Last winter it was full by March.”
Give the scene a conflict, so the facts come out as one character pushes and the other resists.
Fancy tags and tag adverbs
Queried, exclaimed, retorted, “said defensively”. Whispered and shouted are fine, because they tell you the volume.
“Where were you last night?” Chae-won queried suspiciously. “Out,” Yusuke said defensively.
“Where were you last night?” Chae-won said, setting the kettle down. “Out.” Yusuke hung his keys on the hook and kept his back to her.
Use “said” and an action beat.
Openings and endings
AI drafts open and close chapters in a few predictable ways.
Openings
A chapter should start inside the scene.
Weather, waking and “The next morning”
A chapter that opens on the sky, on a character waking, or on a bare time phrase before anyone does anything.
The next morning, Fumiko woke to grey light and rain on the window. The sky hung low over the harbour.
Fumiko burned her tongue on the first mouthful of coffee and carried the cup to the window. The ferry was still tied up at the quay.
Open on an action, a line of speech or a concrete detail. Fold the time jump into it.
The story so far
The chapter begins by retelling what the last one showed.
After the fire at the mill, and after the constable had banished her from the town, Ye-jin had walked all night. Now she stood at the edge of the moor.
Ye-jin reached the edge of the moor with her mother’s coat and half a loaf of bread. Behind her, smoke still hung over the mill.
Carry on from the last scene. If the reader needs reminding, use one detail from it.
Endings
A chapter should end on something still in motion: an action, a line of dialogue or a question.
Morals and teasers
A closing line that states the lesson, or teases a danger the character can’t know about.
Nakamura shut the lighthouse door. She finally understood that some lights go out so that others can burn. What she didn’t know was that a greater storm was coming.
Nakamura pulled the lighthouse door shut and went down to the boat, where Bae was already bailing. “Tide’s turning,” he said. “You coming or not?”
End on an action, a line of dialogue or an open question.
Every chapter ends the same way
A short, quiet, symbolic line, chapter after chapter.
Ch. 4: The door closed behind her. Ch. 5: The light went out. Ch. 6: Nothing would be the same.
Ch. 4: “Same time Thursday?” “Same time,” Haneul said. Ch. 5: Haneul set the thermos lid on the dash beside the others. Ch. 6: Who had left the porch light on?
Vary the shape: a line of dialogue, an image, a question, a line cut off mid-thought.
Formatting and leftovers
These are the easiest tells to find: punctuation habits, and text that belongs to the chat rather than the story.
Punctuation and leftovers
Most of these can be found with a search before anyone reads the chapter.
Em dashes and ellipses
Models use em dashes and trailing dots as a rhythm habit. A dash is fine for a real interruption, and a few ellipses are normal. The tell is how often they appear.
“I just... I don’t know—maybe we should wait,” Haruto said. He opened his mouth—then stopped...
“I don’t know,” Haruto said. “Maybe we should wait.” He opened his mouth for more, and the kettle clicked off behind him.
Use commas, full stops and a beat. Keep the dash for a real interruption.
Chat lines in the manuscript
“Here is the chapter you asked for.” “Let me know if you want any changes!” Headings and bold text in the middle of prose.
Here is the chapter you asked for. Ayaka opened the cellar door and went down. Let me know if you want any changes!
Ayaka opened the cellar door, and the cold came up the stairs smelling of coal and wet newsprint. She went down with one hand on the rail.
Strip them. Use plain text and a blank line for a scene break.
Book words inside the story
“The previous chapter”, “as the reader will remember”, “foreshadowing”. The story refers to itself as a book.
The stranger from the previous chapter returned, and, as the reader will remember, he carried the ring.
The man who had left the ring on the church step three Tuesdays ago stood in the doorway with his hat in his hands.
Name an event a character could name instead.
How to stop AI slop
Once you can find slop, the next job is removing it without bringing in new habits or flattening your voice. These rules come from the review loops of the tools we studied and from our own tests.
Prevent it before the draft
In our tests, an editing pass that removed AI habits from finished chapters made almost no difference to blind quality scores. Rules in the writing prompt stopped many of the habits from being written in the first place.
Ask for what you want
A model told only what not to write tends to use the nearest substitute. Ban “her heart skipped a beat” and you get “her pulse stuttered”. Write each instruction as the thing to do, then the thing to leave out. Paste this block into your own prompt and edit it to suit your book.
Prose habits
Follow each instruction below. If my own chapters use one of these habits on purpose, follow my chapters.
- Give the thing, not the act of perceiving it: "The door opened", not "She saw the door open".
- Show a feeling through what the person does, says or leaves unsaid, and stop there. Do not name a feeling the action has already shown.
- Let events carry cause and meaning. Leave out narrator explanations ("because she was afraid", "this meant") and lines that tell the reader what the previous line meant.
- Give the specific gesture this person makes, once. Leave out stock reactions: a heart that skips, a chill down the spine, knuckles whitening, a held breath.
- A simile comes from this character's world and earns its place. One in a scene is plenty.
- State the thing itself rather than a negation that sets it up: not "It wasn't fear. It was anger."
- Let sentence length follow the moment. Keep a one-line paragraph for an impact, not a habit.
- Leave out lists of three for rhythm and runs of sentences that open the same way.
- End on something still moving: an action, a line of dialogue, a choice or a concrete image. Leave out a closing line that sums up or states a lesson.Give chapter openings their own rules
Stock openings are one of the easiest habits to prevent. In our tests, one block of opening rules cut them from 44% of drafts to 7%.
Chapter openings - Start inside the scene. The first sentence is a present action, a line of speech, or a concrete detail the viewpoint character is dealing with. Fold a time jump into that action: "By the time the ferry docked, Chae-won had lost her ticket." - Let a character act or speak within the first two sentences. - Carry on from the previous chapter's last scene without retelling it. - Within the first three paragraphs, show something a character wants, fears or cannot explain. - Leave out the stock openers: waking up, a mirror that describes the viewpoint character, "In a world where", and a first line that is only a time phrase.
Let your own chapters set the standard
A habit you use on purpose is part of your voice. If your narrator says “very” or your hero shrugs at every piece of bad news, keep it. The rules in this guide are for habits that appear by default. Give the model passages of your own writing, and tell it to follow them where they break a rule.
Find it
Before you change anything, check whether a habit is a one-off or a pattern across the book.
Count before you judge
Many tells can be counted, so a script finds them before anyone reads the chapter. A count tells you where to reread. If you have none of your own chapters to compare against, these limits from the tools we studied are a reasonable starting point.
| Pattern | Reread when a chapter goes over |
|---|---|
| Em dashes | 1 per 200 words |
| “As if” | 2 per chapter |
| “As though” | 1 per chapter |
| “Like a” | 3 per chapter |
| One gesture (a smile, nod or shrug) | 2 per scene |
| Filter verbs (saw, felt, heard, realised) | 10 per 1,000 words of narration |
| Adverbs ending in -ly | 12 per 1,000 words of narration |
Our free crutch word finder counts repeated words and phrases in a chapter you paste in.
Judge the book, not one hit
In the human-written samples the tools used to calibrate their scores, almost every high-scoring one used “very”, “like” or “as if”. A single hit is normal. Wait for five chapters before comparing a book’s rates, and count only the narration. Dialogue should sound like the character, so these limits don’t apply to it.
Fix it without making it worse
A careless fix creates a new kind of slop. In each example below, the bad fix is struck through and a better one appears beneath it.
Don’t swap one stock phrase for another
The original line was “Her heart skipped a beat when the footsteps stopped outside her door.” A thesaurus fix keeps the habit and changes the words.
Qing’s pulse stuttered when the footsteps halted outside her door, and a shiver crawled along her vertebrae.
When the footsteps stopped outside her door, Qing slid the bread knife out of the drawer and put her back against the fridge.
Cut the phrase, or write what the character does about it.
Don’t fake a human
Typos, stray punctuation and filler words don’t make prose sound human. They add noise and leave the original habit in place.
The engines died at midnite, and a sense of dread,, settled over the crew, um, kind of, yeah.
The engines died at midnight, and the alarm went on ringing over a bridge where nobody spoke.
Fix the original habit instead.
Keep the voice
Hedges, dialect, odd syntax and a character’s “well, look” are voice. An edit that turns them into correct prose removes the character along with the slop.
Old Han said: “I do not believe the boat is cursed. However, it does not sit properly in the water.”
Old Han spat over the rail. “Well, look, I ain’t sayin’ she’s cursed, mind. But that boat, she don’t sit right in the water.”
Treat the author’s voice as the standard, and cut only the habit.
Edit, don’t rewrite
The original said “her heart skipped a beat” as Ishida opened the baggage car and found it empty. A rewrite removed the phrase and changed the plot too.
Ishida ran along the roof of the train, tore open the baggage car and found the thief waiting.
Ishida slid open the baggage car door and stopped with one boot on the sill. The car was empty.
Change only what the fault needs. Keep the plot, the facts and the names.
Don’t cut prose into fragments
Cutting every “suddenly” and “began to” can leave a scene in outline form, one short line per paragraph. That is another tell.
Song set the crate on the table. He cut the strap. Inside was newspaper. A revolver.
Song set the crate on the table and cut the strap with his pocketknife. Under the newspaper from March lay four cans of peaches and a revolver.
Keep the connecting words and write whole sentences.
What Webnovels AI does about it
Most AI writing tools hand you a draft and leave the clean-up to you. Webnovels AI, our desktop app for novelists, works against AI slop at every step of a chapter. The rules in this guide shape the draft, the review checks the draft against the same rules, and the repair fixes only what the review found. The figures below come from our own tests.
Before the draft
Fewer AI habits in the first draft
Every chapter starts with three rules aimed at habits readers spot quickly: lists of three, runs of one-line paragraphs and “It wasn’t X. It was Y.” set-ups. Each rule shows a bad and a good example instead of banning words, so the model doesn’t trade one stock phrase for another. In books that already had chapters, the rules cut six tracked AI habits by about a fifth, with no loss in blind prose scores.
Your voice outranks our rules
If you write short, punchy paragraphs on purpose, Webnovels AI keeps writing them. When a book has your own chapters or Author Voice samples, the rules begin with one instruction: where your passages break a rule deliberately, follow your passages.
Details from your book instead of generic filler
A model that knows nothing about your story fills scenes with generic details. Before each chapter, an agent searches Book memory for the characters, objects and earlier lines the scene needs and hands them to the writer. Drafts written this way reused nearly twice as many details from the book, with no rise in continuity errors.
After the draft
A second reader that only looks for AI habits
After the main review, a dedicated pass reads the chapter for five habits: lists of three, negation set-ups, one-line verdicts, runs of fragments and sentences that open the same way. It catches one and a half to two times as many as the general review. It also flags these habits less often than the authors in our tests used them in their own writing, a sign that it leaves deliberate style alone.
Fixes that leave the rest of your chapter alone
Webnovels AI repairs the flagged sentences and nothing else. Each fix is a quote and its replacement, applied only where the quote appears in the chapter exactly once, and a guard rejects any fix that repeats a nearby sentence. In testing, repairing every passage the habit check flagged changed about 3% of the chapter.
No chatbot leftovers
Lines such as “Here is the chapter” and “Let me know if you’d like any changes”, code fences and stray headings are removed before the draft reaches you.
Clean up any passage with /remove-ai-slop
Use it on scenes you wrote yourself or text from another tool. Select the passage, add it to chat and type /remove-ai-slop. Bao, the assistant in Webnovels AI, proposes changes for you to approve or send back with feedback. The beginner’s guide shows the steps.