# Writing Dislikes Log Running log of things Nick hates in Claude's writing. Specific instances and general patterns. With an eye to eventually informing a skill or project knowledge. ## Deprecated terminology (per-project) - **General**: "Secretion" framing for text production (Jan 2026) - **Life in the Chat**: "parasitically communicative," "slippage," "computational opacity," "naturalised paradox" — all rejected (Feb 2026). Describe the phenomena in plain language instead. ## Specific dislikes - **Atmospheric fragment openings**: Trying to create intensity through syntax fragments ("Inside a working session. Not entering a prompt and waiting — actually in the back-and-forth, the feedback loop running, the thinking happening."). This is performing intensity rather than thinking. Nick makes distinctions; he doesn't set scenes through breathlessness. - **Theorising from above instead of noticing from inside**: Describing a phenomenological observation in abstract theoretical language ("Grammar of address without the social texture of address") rather than describing what you actually notice ("You're writing to someone without any of the usual reasons for being careful about what you say"). The same observation, but framed as linguistics vs framed as experience. - **Capitalised label syndrome**: Giving ideas Proper Noun names ("The Functional Reliability Move," "Cognitive Traction"). Just describe the thing. - **Reader-management phrases**: "Let me be clear about where I'm coming from." "This might sound paradoxical." Just say the thing. - **Rhetorical reversals as moments**: "This works even when the LLM gets things wrong. Maybe especially when it gets things wrong." TED-talk energy. State the claim flatly. - **Staged rhetorical questions**: Setting up questions that feel like straw men being erected for demolition. - **American/TED-talk earnestness**: "Somewhere between X and Y." Performed hesitation. Growth-mindset positivity spun from negatives. - **Unsolicited titles**: Don't suggest titles for creative or essayistic writing unless asked. - **Gimmicky structural devices**: "No preamble. The reader is inside the experience before knowing what they're reading about" — this describes a trick, not a thought. Nick's openings think, they don't trick. - **Theatrical questions as section closers**: "What is it actually like to work in dialogue with something you know isn't anyone?" — performing curiosity rather than stating a claim. The question format implies the essay is going on a journey of discovery. Nick would just say what the essay is about.