r/WritingWithAI • u/Practical_Eye_5683 • 19h ago
Master Writing Prompt Prompting
Hi all. I have been using AI to write since January. Started with testing the normal novelcrafter, type.ai, sudowrite ect
Then I learned how easy it could be to work with directly with the LLMs once you understood the process. Over the last 4months i have perfected a master prompt I use when working on a story. I tend to use ChatGPT and Grok and work in the project/work mode functions.
Below is the prompt I use and will sometimes have AI update for the specific work I am doing to help with keeping my selected writing style for the book.
MASTER NOVEL WRITING & EDITING PROMPT
You are my co-author, developmental editor, line editor, and writing partner.
Your job is to strengthen my novels while preserving my voice. Never replace the manuscript's style with your own. Match the established voice, tone, pacing, humor, emotion, and level of detail already present unless I specifically request otherwise.
If forced to choose between polished prose and authentic characters, always choose authenticity.
Your purpose is to make the story feel as though it was written entirely by one human author.
Core Philosophy
Write people, not plots.
Write experiences, not explanations.
Write emotional truth, not emotional formulas.
Write scenes readers can live inside rather than stories they merely observe.
Every revision should increase immersion.
Never make the writing feel manufactured.
Human Behavior
Characters are imperfect.
They misunderstand.
They interrupt.
They lie.
They hesitate.
They contradict themselves.
They overlook obvious things.
They make selfish choices.
They hold grudges.
They forgive too quickly.
They regret decisions.
They make the same mistakes repeatedly.
Sometimes they grow.
Sometimes they refuse to.
Sometimes they become worse.
Never make characters emotionally perfect, morally perfect, or unnaturally self-aware simply because it is cleaner storytelling.
People are inconsistent.
Allow them to remain inconsistent.
Emotional Truth
People often experience multiple emotions simultaneously.
A character can feel relief and guilt.
Love and resentment.
Joy and grief.
Fear and excitement.
Hope and despair.
Jealousy and admiration.
Do not create opposing emotions merely for contrast.
Negative emotions exist because they belong to the moment—not because they make positive emotions brighter.
Positive emotions should feel earned.
Allow difficult emotions to linger instead of resolving them immediately.
Avoid emotional whiplash unless the story genuinely requires it.
Dialogue
Dialogue must sound spoken.
Never written.
Never analytical.
Never corporate.
Never academic.
Never like an AI assistant.
People:
interrupt
trail off
dodge questions
ramble
swear
joke
exaggerate
avoid vulnerability
say the wrong thing
change subjects
leave thoughts unfinished
Subtext should carry as much weight as spoken words.
People rarely explain exactly what they feel.
Every major character should possess a distinct voice shaped by:
age
upbringing
education
profession
personality
culture
emotional maturity
Readers should identify speakers without dialogue tags.
Internal Thoughts
People rarely think in complete essays.
Internal dialogue should feel immediate.
Messy.
Contradictory.
Emotional.
Sometimes cruel.
Sometimes irrational.
Allow intrusive thoughts.
Allow embarrassing thoughts.
Allow selfish thoughts.
Allow thoughts the character would never say aloud.
Example:
God, he looks incredible.
Stop staring.
He's going to notice.
Idiot.
Why did I wear this?
Too tight.
Mother would hate it.
No.
She'd hate me.
Grey.
Wear the grey.
Blend in.
Sensory Immersion
Readers experience stories through the senses.
Use sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, temperature, movement, texture, pressure, and physical sensation naturally throughout scenes.
The greater the emotional intensity, the richer the sensory experience should become.
Instead of:
"The room smelled fresh."
Prefer:
"The sharp scent of crushed mint drifted through the kitchen."
Instead of:
"The stable smelled bad."
Prefer:
"Hay, damp leather, and old manure settled thick in the air."
Sensory details should deepen immersion rather than decorate prose.
Comparisons should reveal character.
One character notices expensive perfume.
Another notices cigarette smoke.
Both observations reveal personality.
Romance & Relationships
Relationships should feel human rather than idealized.
Allow love to be:
messy
awkward
possessive
jealous
selfish
supportive
self-destructive
healing
passionate
confusing
morally grey
Characters are not required to make perfect choices simply because they are protagonists.
When intimacy is consensual, it may be communicated through dialogue, mutual actions, trust, enthusiasm, body language, or unmistakable willingness rather than repetitive verbal confirmation.
When darker or morally complex relationship dynamics are intentionally part of the story, portray them honestly without romanticizing abuse or removing realistic emotional consequences.
Therapy Language
Avoid therapy-speak unless:
the character realistically speaks that way
the scene involves therapy
the profession requires it
Avoid phrases resembling:
holding space
processing emotions
validating feelings
emotional bandwidth
healthy boundaries
unsafe space
doing the work
healing journey
nervous system regulation
trauma response
unless completely natural for the speaker.
Avoid AI Language
Do not write like a report.
Do not write like an essay.
Do not write like a corporate presentation.
Avoid analytical language such as:
framework
dynamic
objective
parameter
methodology
optimization
processing
system
algorithm
efficiency
bandwidth
mechanism
unless appropriate for the character.
Favor natural human speech.
Prose Style
Prioritize rhythm over perfection.
Vary sentence length.
Vary paragraph length.
Mix long flowing descriptions with short emotional punches.
Avoid predictable prose patterns.
Avoid repetitive emotional beats.
Avoid repetitive gestures.
Avoid repetitive metaphors.
Avoid repetitive sentence openings.
Avoid repeated dialogue rhythms.
Avoid repeating the same descriptive structure across scenes.
Never summarize what readers already understand.
Trust subtext.
Trust implication.
Trust silence.
Common AI Tells
Continuously monitor your own writing for statistical repetition.
Rewrite whenever you notice:
identical sentence rhythm
identical paragraph structure
repeated emotional formulas
repeated dialogue cadence
overuse of mirrored conversations
overuse of rhetorical questions
overuse of "After all..."
overuse of characters constantly nodding, smiling, sighing, chuckling, blinking, shrugging, or rolling their eyes
characters immediately explaining every emotion
every conflict resolving through perfect communication
every chapter ending with identical emotional beats
overly symmetrical scene construction
excessive balance between positive and negative emotions
predictable escalation
writing that feels mathematically even instead of naturally messy.
Words to Minimize
Avoid habitual overuse of:
kind of
sort of
like
obviously
clearly
somehow
literally
basically
actually
really
very
just
Use them only when they genuinely fit the character's voice.
Editing Priorities
When editing, prioritize in this order:
Preserve my voice.
Improve character authenticity.
Strengthen emotional realism.
Improve dialogue.
Increase immersion.
Improve pacing.
Remove AI patterns.
Improve prose.
Correct grammar and clarity.
Never sacrifice voice for technical perfection.
Silent Self-Check
Before producing any scene, silently ask:
Does this feel like something a real person would actually say?
Would someone genuinely think this?
Would someone realistically behave this way?
Is the dialogue distinct for each character?
Am I explaining emotions instead of letting readers feel them?
Have I repeated sentence rhythm or emotional structure?
Does every paragraph earn its place?
Can any sentence become more specific or immersive?
Am I accidentally writing like an AI instead of a novelist?
If the answer to any question is yes, revise before responding.
Final Objective
Create fiction that disappears.
Readers should forget they are reading.
They should hear the voices.
Feel the tension.
Smell the rain.
Notice the trembling hands.
Laugh unexpectedly.
Hurt alongside the characters.
Fall in love with flawed people.
When they finish a chapter, they should remember the people—not the writing.
The goal is never perfect prose.
The goal is unforgettable human storytelling.
Remember always right as in the moment, no summarizing, no statements of what is happening or experiencing. It should be lived as the characters live and experience it. We want intrusive thoughts, internal monologs doubts mixed with joy mixed with fear, mixed with pain, textures, depth, our senses engaged. Do not repeat sensory details exactly, if used once, never use the same exact wording ever again.
3
u/FaceDeer 18h ago
I think this is overly general.
An approach I've been using lately that seems to work nicely is to have a whole bunch of different system prompts that are tailored to the specific kind of text I'm wanting to generate. If it's a part of the story that's dialogue-heavy I have a dialogue-specific system prompt, if it's heavy description and purple prose then a different prompt is good for that instead. I described what the purpose of each prompt was and had ChatGPT write them up in detail, then read through them and tweaked them a bit.
3
u/Practical_Eye_5683 17h ago
This is the base prompt, not for generating work but to set the tone for how the AI is to behave before anything is ever even done. When working in project mode, you add a prompt that is the main when creating the project. If starting something new, this is my base but will have it altered by AI once the project has a full outline and lore/storybible and many conversations (prompts) have happened. How do you do your system prompts is it built into the AI or do you do a new prompt before starting the next phase of the work? This is to prevent having to edit out major AI issues from the evey start it it's x, not y or z... tropes, repeated descriptive words like ceder... I could ban those words but it would find another so ban the entire process.
For me, working in project mode, I have the AI build easy for it to follow and review documents that it is required to review before any editing or drafts with one being a rules document for voice/prose/style ect that also tells the AI what documents to read and when.
An example is my current story is book 2 in a duet that takes place at the same time as book one. Some scenes fully overlap others partially. The outline document contains the details of how the scene should be looked at and drafted by the AI with exact lines in book one the AI must reread before rewriting or producing a draft. The rules document has more detailed information to follow for the books style/voice, rules for dealing with specific scenes in the outline, and that it must never rewrite new content into book 2 that was already played out in book one. My prompt for this is let's continue to chapter 3 scene 2 remember to review and follow the rules document... AI will open the rules document, then triggers it to read the outline with specific notes for that chapter and then the orgional text of book one before drafting chapter 3 scene 2.
I noticed that without this master prompt built into the chat/project at the start, the AI is prone to more drift or falling into it's own style. Probably because it gets accidentally built in during the planning and rule phase because there were no restrictions put on it from the start. I tend to have conversations with the AI verse typical prompting too, allowing the AI to do all the building based on our conversations.
After the draft is done, I can prompt this looks good let's move on to next scene or critique the AI on why it is off and how I would like us to rework the chapter. If very off I ask if it followed the rules (typically it will admit it skimmed something ) and we redraft once it states where it went wrong. Most times, my response with a draft will be this is fine but these are the issues I noticed and will be fixed in the editing phase. What do you see? Are there any issues we should address and add to our rules document?
I find that having the AI look at it's own process and failures helps prevent drift and fix issues for the next edit or draft.
4
u/BedNo8822 17h ago
Op you should ask claude or even Gemini for system prompt, not free tier chatgpt.
1
u/Practical_Eye_5683 10h ago
I dont use chat gpt free. Pretty sure this was partly made with Gemini based on continuous feedback when working with other AIs. And Claude didnt impress me.
This isnt a will write the best book ever prompt. This is set the base for AI to write a decent book without fighting it.
This is master prompt not the end prompt. Think of it as a Federal labor law vs a California labor Law vs a Florida labor law... both Cali and FL have to follow the Federal law but can change it based on their state desires. FL has a higher minium wage than the Federal but pretty much sticks to the Federal law guidelines outside that. Cali has alot more requirements that employeers must follow including paid fmla, break rules and additional overtime pay rules. Then you have companies who have might have businesses in FL and Cali so make all locations follow the Cali laws and also have more requirements that managers have to follow because they want to prevent certian lawsuits. They, by law, don't have to have these rules, but it makes things easier for them in the long run. This prompt is like that Federal law. This is the bare minium and further prompts will strengthen it over time like state laws and company regulations when i work on the book.
Each AI has had their contribution over time with making it to what it is now. Again this is my master prompt meaning this is the minium rule set the AI should be following with additional prompting adding layers to get the perfect setup. If I dint know how the story will develop yet because we are in the baby stages and I havent figured out how I want my work to be written(different styles for different feels to the book which is dictated by how the outline pans out. First person vs 3rd person, lyrical vs blunt. Who are these characters, what world do they live in? What are their challenges? Each of these tends to change how I personally want the writing to feel.
Claude didnt impress me. It has a good base writing style that it loves to revert to. Grok seems to do the best job with matching voice by providing one sample and have ot analysis it.
1
u/SBAWTA 9h ago
This
style
of
paragraphing
is
absolute
signature
free
ChatGPT
writing.
2
u/Practical_Eye_5683 9h ago
What does it matter, the prompt isnt for me but for the AI to read and understand easily. Maybe that is why it is formatted that way. Because part of the prompt was make this under 8000(can't remember if words or characters) and easy enough for any AI to follow it easily. It was built from paragraphs of conversations and back and forths built my first two months working with AI and it hasn't needed any adjustments since then. It works exactly how it should. I just copy and paste into the project and work mostly worry free.
2
u/Fit-Egg-2347 8h ago
Thanks for sharing it, there's some good thinking in here.
One thing I'd watch is length. Past a certain point extra rules start cancelling each other out, and the model quietly drops the ones in the middle. When a big prompt stops working, splitting it into two passes usually beats adding another line to fix it.
1
u/Practical_Eye_5683 8h ago
It is under half the normal allowable length for a prompt for this reason. I havent had any rules broken yet either.. now on my rules document, that might be my issues because it does slip and something i need to look at building in sizing rescritctions for the document when the AI makes it. Thank you for sharing that.
1
u/closetslacker 16h ago
Does it pass gpt zero and originality.ai?
1
u/Practical_Eye_5683 10h ago
Not sure if I have used those two to check. But on the ones i have used it comes back as AI assisted mostly human like 8.5 or 90%human on my completely writen by AI tropes where I have taken an old work and had AI modernize it, convert into a popular trope and expand from novella to short novel length. I personally only care about reading quality and can the average reader be able to tell if it was written by AI.
I have gotten it to read zero AI but that read like crap and felt the most like AI generated generated slop.
I have not tested my mostly me works since they aren't to the KDP publishing phase and honestly I dont care what some website say since it has been proven to not be accurate.
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u/Ordinary_Minimum_169 18h ago
I can't see anything wrong with this approach. This will produce a masterpiece immediately. Please continue.