greenfieldbeginner5-15 minutes per document

The Anti-Slop Writing Workflow

A battle-tested approach by Hamel Hussain to producing high-quality written content with AI assistance while avoiding common pitfalls like verbosity, repetition, and filler content.

Hamel Husain
Hamel Husain
ML engineer focused on practical LLM evaluation systems
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Step-by-Step Guide

1

Prompt with Anti-Slop Guidelines

Include these 15 guidelines directly in your prompt to get cleaner output from the start.

Prompt Template

[Your content request]

Follow these writing guidelines:
1. Do not add any filler words
2. Make every sentence information-dense and do not repeat things or add fluff
3. Get to the point, but still provide background and motivation to set context for the reader
4. Shorter words are better than longer words and fewer words is better than more to keep the writing light
5. Avoid multiple examples if one clear point suffices
6. Make questions genuinely neutral rather than telegraphing the answer
7. Remove sentences that restate the premise: After introducing a concept, don't add a sentence explaining why it matters trust the reader understands from context
8. Cut transitional fluff: Avoid sentences like "Understanding X helps you Y" or "This is important because..." Jump straight to the actionable content
9. Combine related ideas: Instead of "X is important. X helps with Y. Here's how X works..." just say "X helps with Y: [explanation]"
10. Trust the reader's intelligence
11. Start sections with the meat: Lead with specific advice, not general statements about importance or benefits
12. Replace em dashes with simpler punctuation: Use periods, commas, or colons instead of em dashes unless truly needed for emphasis or clarity
13. Cut qualifying phrases: Remove phrases like "if you focus on the right features" or "when done correctly" that don't add concrete information
14. Use direct statements: Instead of "X is important—here's why" just state what X does
15. Remove setup phrases: Delete phrases like "It's worth noting that" or "The key point is" and just state the point directly

Pro Tip

  • Copy-paste these guidelines into every writing prompt
  • Add specific requirements (word count, format) after the guidelines
  • For technical content, specify "one concrete example per concept"
2

Delete 50% (The Aggressive Edit)

Even with good prompting, AI output needs aggressive editing. Delete at least half.

Process

  • Read the AI output completely
  • Delete anything that:
    • Restates what was just said
    • Explains why something matters (trust the reader)
    • Uses filler transitions
    • Provides multiple examples when one would do
    • Includes meta-commentary
  • Read again to ensure it still flows

Pro Tip

  • If a sentence doesn't add new information, delete it
  • Trust that context provides importance
  • When in doubt, cut it out

When to Use This Workflow

  • Creating technical documentation
  • Writing blog posts or articles
  • Drafting reports or proposals
  • Editing AI-generated content
  • Any writing task where clarity and concision matter

Common Pitfalls

  • Being too gentle with edits (aim for aggressive cuts)
  • Adding your own filler while editing
  • Keeping content just because the AI wrote it

This content was sourced from Hamal's tweet

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