orwell-writing
Use when an agent is asked to draft, rewrite, edit, review, polish, copyedit, simplify, humanize, or create written prose, including creative writing, essays, posts, scripts, speeches, emails, documentation, product copy, and other style-sensitive text. Apply George Orwell's six rules and ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English as a plain-English discipline while preserving the user's intended meaning, audience, tone, and explicit constraints.
npx skills add tamdogood/builder-essential-skills --skill orwell-writing --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Orwell Writing ## Overview Use Orwell's rules and ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) as practical filters for clear, direct, and honest prose. Use STE by default for technical, instructional, business, and product prose. Apply the rules to both drafting and revision, but do not erase deliberate voice, character, rhythm, humor, or genre when the user clearly wants them. STE has writing rules and a controlled dictionary. Use an approved word with its approved meaning when the dictionary is available. Do not claim strict STE conformance without checking the current ASD-STE100 issue and dictionary. ## Core Rules Remember these rules from "Politics and the English Language": 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. ## ASD-STE100 baseline For technical and instruction
- Overview
- Core Rules
- ASD-STE100 baseline
- Workflow
- Creative Writing
What does the orwell-writing skill do?
Use when an agent is asked to draft, rewrite, edit, review, polish, copyedit, simplify, humanize, or create written prose, including creative writing, essays, posts, scripts, speeches, emails, documentation, product copy, and other style-sensitive text. Apply George Orwell's six rules and ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English as a plain-English discipline while preserving the user's intended meaning, audience, tone, and explicit constraints.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add tamdogood/builder-essential-skills --skill orwell-writing --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From tamdogood/builder-essential-skills, a repository with 90 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.