By the editorial team · Published October 26, 2026

Prompts / Writing directions

Prompts that do one job, then hand the decision back.

Not a prompt dump. Eight directions, one per writing stage, each explained: what it gets done, what to put in the brackets, why it is built that way, what it returns, and what you still have to check. Use them inside a session you set up with a mega prompt.

01DiscoverFind the angle you have material for.
02OutlineStructure with evidence mapped to it.
03DraftOne draft from your material, in your voice.
04RewriteBounded changes you can inspect.
05CritiqueA reader's report, not a rewrite.
06VerifyEvery claim listed for you to check.
07FinishThe closing audit before release.

01 / Discover

Find the angle you have material for.

Stage prompt 01 / Discover372 words · 6 variables

Discover Writing Ideas

Turns a vague interest or a pile of notes into three to five concrete, arguable angles, each tied to what you know firsthand and each marked with what you would still need to verify before writing it.

A subject you keep circling but cannot turn into a piece
A folder of notes, voice memos, or half-finished drafts that needs a spine

Open the prompt

02 / Outline

Structure with evidence mapped to it.

Stage prompt 02 / Outline333 words · 6 variables

Rough Idea to Outline

Turns one chosen angle plus your raw notes into two outlines with different structural bets, where every section names the point it makes, the evidence from your notes it uses, and the gaps marked [VERIFY].

A chosen angle and a page or more of notes that have not found their order
Pieces where the structure is a genuine decision: lead with the number or the story, chronology or argument

Open the prompt

03 / Draft

One draft from your material, in your voice.

Stage prompt 03 / Draft335 words · 7 variables

Write First Draft

Produces exactly one first draft from an approved outline and your raw material, in your voice, with every gap marked [VERIFY] and a short list of what the assistant was unsure about, so your first edit starts from an honest proposal.

Any nonfiction piece with an approved outline and real notes behind it: a post, a newsletter issue, a report section, an essay
Writers who find the blank page slower than the red pen and want something concrete to judge

Open the prompt

04 / Rewrite

Bounded changes you can inspect.

Stage prompt 04 / Rewrite342 words · 5 variables

Rewrite Without Losing Voice

Rewrites your own rough paragraphs for one named problem (clarity, length, flow) while preserving your stance, rhythm, vocabulary, and specific details, and shows every change as an OLD/NEW pair with a few words on why.

A rough paragraph of yours that is right in substance and wrong in one way: too long, muddled, choppy, lead buried in sentence four
Writers whose drafts come back from AI 'improvement' sounding like a press release

Open the prompt

Stage prompt 05 / Rewrite237 words · 3 variables

Bounded Edit

Makes exactly one change to your current text and returns only the changed sentences as OLD/NEW pairs, with a plain confirmation that nothing else moved, so a late edit never quietly rewrites the rest.

Late-stage fixes to a piece that is otherwise locked: a date, a name, a sentence that overstates, a paragraph's first line
Edits to text other people have approved, where every changed word has to be visible

Open the prompt

05 / Critique

A reader's report, not a rewrite.

Stage prompt 06 / Critique387 words · 5 variables

Critique Your Draft

Puts the assistant in a named reader's chair and gets back where that reader got lost, stopped believing, would skip, which sentences sound generated, and the three fixes that matter most, without a single rewritten line.

A full draft you have already edited once and can no longer see clearly
Pieces with a specific reader whose patience and skepticism you can describe

Open the prompt

06 / Verify

Every claim listed for you to check.

Stage prompt 07 / Verify394 words · 3 variables

Fact-Check Pass

Extracts every checkable claim in a draft into a table (claim, type, where it came from in your raw material or 'unsourced', consequence if wrong, what would verify it) and states plainly that nothing has been verified, so the human check is fast and complete.

Any draft going somewhere public or consequential: a post, a newsletter, a report, an email to a client
Drafts that mix your own notes with the assistant's drafting, where you have lost track of which numbers were yours

Open the prompt

07 / Finish

The closing audit before release.

Stage prompt 08 / Finish372 words · 5 variables

Final Human Edit

Runs the closing audit before release: lists AI tells, voice drift against your own samples, claims still needing a source, places where the meaning moved away from your notes, and the one paragraph you should rewrite by hand. The assistant fixes nothing.

Any piece about to be published, sent, or submitted under your name
Drafts that have been through several AI turns and have lost track of what you originally meant

Open the prompt

Set-up first

Every stage prompt assumes a session brief.

The mega prompts carry the piece, the material, the voice, and the turn rules once, so these stage prompts can stay short.

Questions

About the prompt library

What is the difference between a stage prompt and a mega prompt?

A mega prompt sets up a whole session: the piece, the material, the voice, the rules. A stage prompt does one job inside that session, such as producing an outline or listing every checkable claim. Most sessions use one mega prompt and two or three stage prompts.

Do I need the mega prompt first?

Not strictly. Every stage prompt restates the rules it needs. But without the session brief you will repeat your material and voice notes in each one, and the assistant will have less context for the judgment calls.

Why are there no 'write me a blog post' prompts here?

Because a prompt that produces a finished piece in one turn is the thing vibe writing replaces. These prompts move a piece one stage forward and then hand the decision back to you. The format-specific set-up lives in the mega prompts.

Which assistants do these work with?

Any chat assistant. They avoid model-specific syntax. Behavior varies by model and over time, so each page records its last review date.