I’ve just sent off a second book manuscript that has, shall we say, relied heavily on an AI agent for either writing or editing. And I’ve been trying to analyse exactly what it is about the writing that is polished and prosaic on the surface, but which is also, to be honest, absolutely exhausting to read.

And it comes down to this – it’s not the em dashes or the “not X but Y” constructions or the repetitive “rule of three” sentence fragments. It’s the sameness of it all.

A skilled writer uses rhythm. They vary sentence lengths and use punctuation to show the relationship between things. Sometimes they repeat a construction three times, but sometimes it might be four or five – it depends on the way it feels.

Part of what I do for a living is teaching people to write. And I’ve always been suspicious of writing advice that is too formulaic. “Topic sentence followed by…” And that’s the problem, you see. Writing is both a craft and an art – it can’t be reduced down to a simple formula that everyone uses. Because that’s where you start to lose your own voice.

An LLM is a machine. It operates on ones and zeroes. It’s always going to take all the writing that has been fed into it and reduce it to a formula, and then repeat that formula till the reader is cross-eyed and ready to lie down for a week. Yes, seriously.

Because it is just too much when you have to read through 50,000–80,000 words of this stuff. There’s no rhythm, which means no pauses. And no pauses means you can’t digest what you’re reading. You can’t take a break. And it’s extremely tiring.

So, in the spirit of “show, don’t tell”, which is the secret, I believe to all great writing, I will share with you this piece of advice from Gary Provost. Pay close attention, because that first paragraph is what your AI writing sounds like.

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.

“Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals – sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

“So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.”

No notes, Gary. No notes.