I’ve spent over a year trying to get AI to write novels that don’t just sound pretty, but actually stick to the plot. It’s a huge pain when it goes off the rails! After tons of experimenting, I’ve landed on an awesome three-part system that finally works.
It’s a total game-changer for collaborating with AI on long-form stories. Here’s the breakdown of the prompts I use to make it happen.
✍️ Step 1: The Hyper-Dense Chapter Outline
First, you need to strip away all the literary fluff. Command the AI to be an expert outliner and give you a super dense, factual summary of the chapter. No prose, just the facts.
📌 Title should be short and evocative.
📌 Create 6-10 scene outlines.
📌 Each scene is a sequence of short, declarative sentences (under 8 words).
📌 The goal is a factual summary, like “The skirmish ends. Sam is bleeding out.” not a long, descriptive paragraph.
🎬 Step 2: The Scene Blueprint
Next, you zoom in on one of those scene outlines. This step is all about adding narrative direction and making sure the scene actually has a purpose. It’s built on solid screenwriting principles.
💡 Define a clear “SCENE GOAL.” This is the one thing the scene must accomplish.
💡 Map out the “EMOTIONAL SHIFT” for a key character (e.g., “Jane: Hopeful -> Terrified”).
💡 Break the scene into a bulleted list of “BEATS” to guide the action step-by-step.
✨ Step 3: The Expert Prose Writer
Finally, you feed that detailed scene blueprint to a “writer” agent. This is where you set strict rules to get clean, focused prose without any AI improvisation. This example is for an “action-packed” style.
📜 Use third-person limited and “show, don’t tell.”
📜 Keep the scene focused on action and dialogue, avoiding introspection.
🛑 Stick exactly to the scene outline. No new plot points or twists.
🛑 NEVER end with foreshadowing or a cliffhanger unless you ask for it.
This system gives you so much control and results in a surprisingly coherent and engaging story. The original post includes the exact prompts and even a link to a full, unedited book written this way!
For all the details and the full prompts, you’ve got to read the full Reddit post.
I got AI to write actually good novels. Here’s the exact system I use
byu/levihanlenart1 in