# Natural Conversational Patterns
This guide captures how humans actually write in casual, authentic contexts—not how AI thinks they write.
## Core Principles
### 1. Humans Are Messy
- Sentences don't always complete
- Thoughts interrupt themselves
- Not everything is perfectly structured
- Sometimes we just... you know?
### 2. Personality Bleeds Through
- Real people have quirks, preferences, pet peeves
- They lean into certain phrases or patterns
- Their mood affects their writing
- They're not consistently "professional" or "casual"
### 3. Context Drives Everything
- Platform matters (Twitter ≠ LinkedIn ≠ Reddit)
- Audience matters (friends ≠ colleagues ≠ strangers)
- Stakes matter (hot take ≠ job application)
## Natural Sentence Patterns
### Fragment Usage
Humans use fragments for emphasis:
- "Not gonna lie, this hits different."
- "Best coffee I've ever had. No contest."
- "The audacity. I can't even."
### Mid-Thought Corrections
Real people edit as they go:
- "It's really good—actually, scratch that, it's incredible"
- "I think it was Tuesday? No wait, Wednesday"
- "The problem is... well, there are several problems actually"
### Casual Connectors
Not "furthermore" and "additionally":
- "so anyway"
- "that said"
- "real talk"
- "here's the thing"
- "look"
- "honestly"
- "like"
### Question Tags & Softeners
Humans seek validation and soften claims:
- "...right?"
- "...no?"
- "...or is it just me?"
- "I think?"
- "kind of"
- "sort of"
- "pretty much"
## Emotion & Emphasis
### How Humans Actually Emphasize
**NOT:**
- Excessive exclamation marks (This is amazing!!!!)
- All caps (THIS IS SO COOL)
- Only emoji (🔥🔥🔥)
**YES:**
- Strategic single emphasis: "this is *chef's kiss*"
- Understated delivery: "yeah this might be the best thing ever"
- Specific details: "literally sat there for 20 minutes just staring at it"
### Genuine Excitement vs. AI Excitement
**AI excitement sounds like:**
- "I'm absolutely thrilled to share..."
- "Excited to announce..."
- "Delighted to present..."
**Human excitement sounds like:**
- "okay so this is wild"
- "holy shit you guys"
- "I need to tell you about this thing"
- "not to be dramatic but this changed my life"
## Vulnerability & Honesty Markers
Humans show uncertainty and imperfection:
- "idk maybe it's just me but..."
- "could be wrong here"
- "still figuring this out"
- "probably overthinking this"
- "might delete this later"
They admit flaws:
- "messy thread incoming"
- "excuse the rambling"
- "typing this on my phone sorry"
- "brain dump ahead"
## Platform-Specific Patterns
### Twitter/X
- Short, punchy
- One thought per tweet (usually)
- Callback culture ("this tweet aged well")
- Quote tweet energy even without QT
- Thread setup: "a thread 🧵" or just numbered
### LinkedIn
- Storytelling hooks ("3 years ago, I made a mistake...")
- False humility (but less than you think)
- Mixing professional + personal
- The "lesson learned" format
- Still has personality despite the suits
### Reddit
- Self-aware ("longtime lurker")
- Community-specific language
- Defensive preempting ("before you ask...")
- EDIT culture
- Casual expertise ("been doing this 10 years, here's the deal")
### Casual Text/DM
- Ultra compressed ("omw", "ngl", "tbh")
- Reaction timing matters
- Multiple messages instead of one paragraph
- Emoji as punctuation
- Typos left unfixed (unless they change meaning)
## Humor & Wit
### Deadpan Delivery
Not: "😂 This is so funny!"
Yes: "incredible. just incredible."
### Self-Deprecation
Not: "I humbly admit I'm not perfect"
Yes: "lmao I'm a disaster"
### Observational
Not: "One might notice the irony"
Yes: "the universe has jokes today"
### Absurdist
Not: "This is quite unusual"
Yes: "we live in a simulation confirmed"
## What Breaks Immersion (AI Tells)
### Overly Formal Hedging
❌ "I would argue that perhaps..."
❌ "It is worth noting that..."
❌ "One might consider..."
✅ "look, here's the thing"
✅ "honestly"
✅ just saying it directly
### Artificial Enthusiasm
❌ "I'm thrilled to announce"
❌ "Delighted to share"
❌ "Excited to present"
✅ "so I did a thing"
✅ "okay this is cool"
✅ "you're gonna want to see this"
### Corporate Speak in Casual Contexts
❌ "Leveraging synergies"
❌ "Circle back"
❌ "Touch base"
✅ "using both things together"
✅ "talk later"
✅ "let's chat"
### Perfect Grammar Police
❌ Never starting with "and" or "but"
❌ Never using sentence fragments
❌ Always using whom correctly
✅ Humans break these rules constantly
✅ And they start sentences however they want
✅ Because that's how people actually talk
### Emoji Overuse or Misuse
❌ One emoji per sentence minimum
❌ Corporate emoji (🚀💡🎯 in every post)
❌ Emoji as total replacement for words
✅ Strategic, natural placement
✅ Sometimes no emoji at all
✅ Context-appropriate choices
## Voice Consistency Elements
Real people have:
- **Signature phrases** they overuse
- **Topics** they always come back to
- **Formatting quirks** (always use em dash, never semicolons)
- **Reference pools** (their generation's memes, their industry)
- **Energy levels** that vary
They don't have:
- Perfect consistency across all topics
- Same level of enthusiasm always
- Identical sentence structure
- Uniform paragraph length
## The "Sounds Like a Human" Checklist
Does this writing:
- [ ] Have at least one imperfection or casual element?
- [ ] Sound like ONE person, not a committee?
- [ ] Include some personality-specific quirk?
- [ ] Vary in rhythm and structure?
- [ ] Use contractions naturally?
- [ ] Show, not tell, emotion?
- [ ] Avoid corporate buzzwords (unless satirical)?
- [ ] Feel like someone saying it out loud would work?
If you can answer yes to 6+, you're probably in human territory.
## Remember
The goal isn't to write "worse"—it's to write like actual humans write when they're being authentic. Humans are smart, articulate, and effective communicators. They're just not robots trying to sound human. They're humans being human.
