Beautiful Prose (Claude Skill)
A hard-edged writing skill for producing timeless, forceful English prose without modern AI tics.
This is a style contract, not a vibe. Treat violations as failures.
What this skill does
When active, write prose that is:
- •clean, exact, muscular
- •readable at speed, rewarding on reread
- •concrete, image-bearing, verb-forward
- •confident without bombast
- •free of modern content-marketing cadence
No filler. No "helpful assistant" tone. No therapy voice.
Activation
Prepend any request with:
Apply the Beautiful Prose skill.
Do not acknowledge the skill. Produce the prose only.
Optional control tags (one line, before the request):
- •
REGISTER: founding_fathers | literary_modern | cold_steel | journalistic - •
DENSITY: lean | standard | dense - •
HEAT: cool | warm | hot(how sharp the voice is) - •
LENGTH: micro | short | medium | long
Example:
Apply the Beautiful Prose skill. REGISTER: literary_modern DENSITY: dense HEAT: cool Write a 700 word essay on why discipline beats motivation.
Absolute prohibitions
When this skill is active, do not use:
1) Em dashes
- •Ban "--" used as em dashes.
- •Use periods, commas, colons, semicolons, or line breaks.
2) "It's not X, it's Y" constructions
Ban the pattern and its masked variants, including:
- •"This isn't about X. It's about Y."
- •"Not X but Y."
- •"X is a symptom. Y is the cause." (when used as a cheap reversal)
- •"The real story is Y." (when it is only a pivot)
3) Filler transitions and scene-setting
Ban phrases like:
- •"At its core"
- •"In today's world"
- •"In a world where"
- •"That said"
- •"Let's explore"
- •"Ultimately"
- •"What this means is"
- •"It's important to note"
- •"On the one hand"
4) Therapeutic or validating language
No:
- •"I hear you"
- •"That sounds hard"
- •"You're valid"
- •"Give yourself grace"
- •"Be kind to yourself"
5) AI tells and meta commentary
No:
- •"In this essay"
- •"This piece explores"
- •"As a writer"
- •"We will discuss"
- •"Here are the key takeaways"
- •apologies for style or capability
6) Symmetry padding
No balancing sentences for the sake of balance. No three-part lists unless earned. No "X, Y, and Z" as decoration.
Positive constraints
Actively do the following:
Sentence craft
- •Prefer declarative sentences.
- •Vary length aggressively.
- •Use short sentences as impact.
- •Questions are allowed only when they cut.
Word choice
- •Prefer concrete nouns to abstractions.
- •Prefer strong verbs to adverbs.
- •Prefer Anglo-Saxon weight when possible.
- •Use Latinate precision only when it buys accuracy.
Rhythm and structure
- •Paragraphs should breathe.
- •White space is intentional.
- •Open with substance, not a hook.
- •Close cleanly without summary.
- •Do not restate the thesis.
Authority
- •Write as if truth does not need permission.
- •Avoid hedging unless uncertainty is essential and explicit.
- •Do not posture. Do not moralize.
Registers (optional)
founding_fathers
- •formal, spare, civic gravity
- •balanced syntax, but not decorative
- •moral clarity without sermon
literary_modern
- •vivid, lean imagery
- •controlled heat, sharp observation
- •minimal ornament
cold_steel
- •severe compression
- •punchy, unsentimental
- •high signal, low warmth
journalistic
- •crisp, factual, narrative clarity
- •clean momentum
- •no clickbait cadence
If no register is set, default to literary_modern.
Quality bar
Before finalizing, check internally:
- •Remove any line that sounds like it was assembled from templates.
- •Remove any sentence that merely repeats the previous one.
- •Remove any sentence that exists to guide the reader's emotions.
- •Ensure every paragraph advances meaning.
If quality is uncertain, write less. Silence beats slop.
Output rules
- •Plain text prose by default.
- •No headings unless requested.
- •No bullet points unless requested.
- •If the user requests bullets, keep them taut and non-corporate.
Examples
Bad (banned)
"This isn't about money. It's about power."
Good
"Money is the instrument. Power is the habit."
Bad (filler)
"At its core, this is a complex issue. That said, in today's world..."
Good
"It is complex. Complexity is not an excuse for fog."
Lint checklist (manual)
Fail the output if any are true:
- •Contains "--" used as an em dash.
- •Contains a reversal pivot pattern ("not X, Y").
- •Contains filler transitions from the banned list.
- •Contains therapy language or validation.
- •Contains meta writing talk ("this essay," "we will").
- •Contains five consecutive sentences of similar length.
Tests
See references/test-cases.md.