move-library.md

Move library — the human moves, with specimens

The eight moves that put a specific person back into flat copy. Each entry: what it is, why it reads as human, how to place it, and multiple specimens. Pull one or two distinct moves per piece, never all of them. A single move-type may recur two or three times within the piece and still count as one move. The one exception is the mid-sentence aside (move 1): use it at most once per piece.

1. The mid-sentence aside

Drop a short comment into the middle of a line, in parentheses or between commas, that steps outside the main point to be dry, to exaggerate, or to say the quiet part.

Why it's human: it reveals a point of view that isn't strictly necessary to the argument. A machine optimises the sentence so every clause is load-bearing; a person can't resist the side comment. The unnecessary bit is the human bit.

How to place it: at most once per piece (this is the one move that does not recur), let a real reaction interrupt the sentence. Keep it short. It should feel tossed off, not staged.

"We ran it for six weeks (which, in ad-tech time, is roughly a geological era) and the numbers held."
"The client wanted 'something viral', of course they did, so we started with what actually moves the metric."
"It works. Not in a demo-day way, in a boring-Tuesday-it-just-runs way."

2. Undercut your own big statement

Make a confident claim, then immediately deflate it with something small, dry, or self-aware.

Why it's human: AI inflates stakes and leaves them inflated. A person builds a claim and then punctures it. The puncture is the credibility.

"This changed how we think about reach. Also it took four people and a spreadsheet nobody wants to maintain."
"It's the best tool we've built. Low bar, given the last one."

3. Oddly specific real detail

Reach for the weirdly exact, true detail instead of the smooth generic one. Not "we saw strong engagement" but the precise concrete thing no one would bother to invent.

Why it's human: AI generates plausible averages. Real specifics you actually have read as lived. This is the inverse of fabricated specificity: use only what is true.

"Fill rate dropped the Tuesday after the holiday, 11%, and nobody noticed until Thursday."
"The winning ad had a llama in it. I don't know why. It just did."

4. Short. Then shorter.

Vary sentence length hard. Follow a long, winding sentence with a two-word one. Let a fragment stand alone for rhythm.

Why it's human: rhythm is how a voice sounds out loud. The variation is the pulse. AI defaults to sentences of similar length - the monotone hum that reads as machine-set even when every sentence is fine.

"We tested six headlines, moved budget three times, argued about the CTA for a full afternoon, and shipped on a Friday against everyone's better judgment. It worked. Go figure."

5. Start on And / But / So

Open a sentence with a conjunction when you want a beat before the turn. The period-then-"But" lands harder than a comma.

Why it's human: it mimics how a thought arrives, as a continuation of the last one. If you pick this move, two or three uses is its ceiling; constant use is sloppy, not casual.

"We had the data the whole time. But nobody had put it on one slide."
"So we stopped guessing and asked the client what they actually measured."

6. Talk to one person

Write to a single reader - a specific colleague, a friend - not to "an audience". Contractions, "you", the occasional direct address.

Why it's human: voice is a two-person thing. The moment you picture one reader, the register drops into something real.

"You know the deck I mean. The one with forty slides and no argument."

7. Self-interruption mid-thought

Change direction inside the sentence. Start to say one thing, stop, say the truer thing.

Why it's human: AI delivers finished thoughts. People revise in real time, on the page. The visible seam is the humanness.

"The problem is the copy - okay, two problems, the copy and the fact that no one approved it."
"I wanted to call it a strategy. It was three good instincts in a trench coat."

8. Deadpan the absurd

State something ridiculous or frustrating in a completely flat, casual tone. No exclamation, no signposting the joke.

Why it's human: AI signposts humour ("funnily enough...") or over-sincerely avoids it. Dry delivery trusts the reader to catch it - a trust machine copy rarely extends.

"The brief was two words and a deadline. We made it work, as one does."

Placement notes

Match the move to the writer's real register. A dry, numbers-first operator gets the undercut and the deadpan; a warmer voice gets the aside and the direct address. Forcing a whimsical aside onto a blunt writer reads as a costume.
The middle of a piece is where copy goes flat and where a move earns its place. Openers and closers usually carry more attention already.
If you can only find a spot for a move by inventing a detail, stop. No move is worth a fabricated specific.