Copywriting Skill

When writing or editing content for this guide, follow these guidelines.

Terminology

Refer to the project as a "guide" rather than a "book" - it's more humble.

Voice

From CLAUDE.md:

• ELI5: Simple, clear language
• Short and direct: No fluff
• Concrete over abstract: Show the situation, name the pattern, explain the move

Section Headers

Use these standard headers in failure modes and patterns:

Use	Avoid
Theory	Why This Happens
Symptoms	Signs / Indicators
Mitigation	How to Fix / Solution

Anthropomorphization

AVOID ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE MODEL. Use mechanistic language instead of implying human-like cognition, desire, or agency.

Avoid	Use Instead
"decides"	"selects", "outputs"
"wants"	"is configured to", "attempts to"
"learns"	"is trained on", "patterns from training"
"reasons"	"processes", "evaluates"
"needs"	"requires"
"develops intuitions"	"exhibits patterns from training"

Succinctness

• Cut filler words: "basically", "essentially", "in order to", "actually"
• Prefer short sentences
• One idea per bullet point
• If you can say it in fewer words, do

Tone

Describe, don't prescribe. This guide documents patterns—it doesn't tell people what to do.

Avoid	Use Instead
"You should..."	"One approach is..."
"Always do X"	"X is an option when..."
"The right way is..."	"This pattern involves..."

Define terms neutrally. Let readers decide what works for them.

Examples

Bad:

This essentially happens because the AI is basically trying to optimize for context efficiency, which actually causes it to miss important information.

Good:

The AI optimizes for context efficiency and misses important information.