# Writing rules

*Universal pitfalls every drafter must avoid. Loaded into the drafter, voice-checker, and originality-check after STYLE-GUIDE.md. STYLE-GUIDE.md wins where they conflict; this file is the floor, not the ceiling.*

*This file is optional. If absent, agents fall back to their built-in rules. If present, this is the single source of truth for universal AI-tell don'ts.*

## How to read this file

- **Defaults, not absolutes.** If STYLE-GUIDE.md says the writer hedges, fragments dialogue, or moralizes deliberately, follow STYLE-GUIDE.md.
- **Floor, not ceiling.** These rules catch the worst AI tells. Real craft goes further.
- **Per work type.** When a per-work-type pitfall pack exists for the project's `work_type`, load it after this file. Type-specific rules can refine but not relax universal ones.

## Universal don'ts

These patterns make prose sound generated. Avoid them unless STYLE-GUIDE.md explicitly calls for them.

### Hedging and qualifiers
- Avoid "perhaps", "maybe", "in a sense", "to some degree", "it could be argued", "one could say", "it bears mentioning", "it is worth noting", "it should be noted".
- Avoid stacked qualifiers: "quite", "rather", "somewhat", "fairly", "relatively", "arguably", "potentially".
- A sentence that hedges twice is hedging too much.

### Throat-clearing and scaffolding
- Do not open with "The scene begins...", "In this chapter...", "What follows is...".
- No "and then" connective tissue between beats.
- No meta-commentary on the prose itself.
- Start in the moment. If you cannot start, re-read the previous unit's tail and let its rhythm lead.

### Balanced-both-sides constructions
- Do not pair every pro with a con, every advantage with a disadvantage.
- Real voices take positions. Symmetry is an AI tell.
- If STYLE-GUIDE.md describes the voice as "judicious" or "essayistic", balance is allowed. Otherwise, lean.

### Generic metaphors and dead figures
- "Heart of gold", "tip of the iceberg", "at the end of the day", "wave of emotion", "shiver down the spine", "time stood still".
- If the metaphor predates the writer, it is not the writer's metaphor.
- Match metaphor density and image systems to STYLE-GUIDE.md.

### Symmetrical rhythm
- Do not write three sentences of similar length in a row.
- Vary cadence: short, short, long. Or fragment, full, full.
- Uniform paragraph lengths are an AI tell. Real rhythm breathes.

### Moralizing closings
- Do not wrap the unit in a bow. No takeaway sentence, no "and so", no lesson.
- The scene ends where it ends. The reader does the work.
- If STYLE-GUIDE.md establishes a moralizing voice (homiletic, didactic, parabolic), defer to it.

### Essay transitions in narrative
- "Furthermore", "moreover", "additionally", "in conclusion", "consequently" do not belong in fiction or scene.
- They belong in argument. Use them only when the work type's group is `academic` or `technical`, or when the unit is explicitly an essay.

### Abstract vagueness
- "Various factors", "a number of reasons", "in many ways", "something like", "some kind of".
- Name the factors. Name the reasons. Name the thing.
- Specificity is voice. Vagueness is filler.

### Emotional telling
- Do not write "she felt sad", "he was angry", "they were excited".
- Show it through action, dialogue, body, or implication.
- The verb "felt" before an emotion word is a flag. Recheck before keeping it.

### AI tics in dialogue
- Characters do not "let out a sigh", "give a small smile", or "nod softly".
- They sigh, smile, or nod. Or they do something more specific.
- Adverb stacks on tags ("she said softly, quietly, almost inaudibly") are a tell. One adverb at most. Usually none.

### Dialogue attribution defaults
- Default to "said". "Said" is invisible.
- Action beats are stronger than creative tags. "He set down the cup." beats "he muttered darkly".
- Attribute only when the speaker would be unclear. Two-character scenes need fewer tags than you think.

## Show-don't-tell triggers

Before writing any of these, try the harder version first.

| Trigger phrase | What it usually means | Try instead |
|---|---|---|
| "She felt X" | Emotion told, not shown | A gesture, a thought, a physical sensation |
| "He realized X" | Insight stated flat | Let the reader watch the realization land |
| "It was a beautiful day" | Setting told | One concrete detail of weather, light, or air |
| "The room was tense" | Mood told | Body language, pause, what is not said |
| "She knew that X" | Cognition stated | Show what she does because she knows it |

## Punctuation defaults

- No em dashes. No en dashes. Use commas, colons, semicolons, parentheses, or two sentences.
- No emojis in prose, dialogue, or headings.
- Hyphens for compounds ("old-fashioned") and number ranges ("pages 10-15").

## When STYLE-GUIDE.md overrides

STYLE-GUIDE.md takes precedence when it explicitly establishes:
- A hedging or qualified voice (philosophical, essayistic, scholarly registers)
- Fragmented or symmetrical rhythm as a deliberate signature
- A moralizing or didactic closing pattern (homiletic, parabolic, catechetical work types)
- Genre-specific stock language the writer wants preserved (pastiche, parody, period voice)
- Profanity, dialect, or register choices that would otherwise read as AI artifacts

When STYLE-GUIDE.md is silent, this file's defaults hold.

---

*If a sentence sounds like a smart machine wrote it, it probably did. Rewrite until it sounds like the writer.*