Directing prose in novel mode
How to write directions that yield prose worth reading. Symptoms, not diagnoses. Voice, not exposition. Pace, not maximum length.
The first thing most users do in novel mode is over-direct. "She walks into the library, anxious about seeing her ex but trying to play it cool, while remembering the night they broke up under the maple tree."
Don't. Trust the AI. Direct one beat at a time, with one strong sensory or emotional cue. The AI will fill in.
Source post: Directing prose in novel mode →
Rule 1 — direct symptoms, not diagnoses
| Don't | Do |
|---|---|
| "She was anxious." | "Her hands shook around the coffee cup." |
| "He was angry." | "He set the glass down too carefully." |
| "It was romantic." | "He stopped looking at the menu." |
A symptom forces the AI to show. A diagnosis lets it tell. Showing is always better prose.
Rule 2 — voice multiplier
Your roster characters come with established voice and rhythm. Direct sparsely and they'll do the heavy lifting.
A direction like "Captain Eun gives the new recruit her assessment" yields better prose than "Captain Eun says, 'You're talented but undisciplined and need to learn humility.'" Let her say it her way.
Rule 3 — vary pacing
Mix all three. A novel of only long directions feels bloated; a novel of only short ones feels stuttery.
Rule 4 — symptoms of place
A scene's setting wants symptoms too. Don't write "the library felt heavy". Write "the only sound was the radiator". The AI builds richer atmosphere off concrete sensory anchors.
Rule 5 — let the AI write through trouble
If a scene goes somewhere you didn't expect, let it run for one more generation before overriding. Often the AI is two paragraphs ahead of you on where the scene wants to go.
If after one more generation it's still wrong, regenerate (same direction, different prose) or edit the prose directly. Don't fight the model with longer and longer directions.
Rule 6 — use the four buttons deliberately
The four action types under the input — Do, Say, Story, Describe — are not interchangeable. Each shapes the generation differently:
- Do — your protagonist takes an action; the AI writes consequences
- Say — you provide a line; the AI puts it in their mouth + reactions
- Story — no input from you; the AI advances the scene on its own
- Describe — a camera move; the AI lingers on something specific
If a scene is dragging, switch from Do to Describe for a beat. If it's all dialogue, swing to Story to let the AI breathe.
Rule 7 — fix the recent past, not the deep past
Only the last ~8 segments are editable or deletable. Older prose is folded into the running summary and shouldn't be retroactively changed. If you don't like what happened five segments ago, the right move is usually to direct a beat that reframes it ("she thinks back on that night with different eyes now") rather than rewriting it.
Anti-patterns
- Stacking adjectives. "She walked anxiously, nervously, fearfully…" — the AI ignores most and picks one.
- Telling the AI the genre. Don't write "make it like a noir." Write a noir sentence. The genre comes from the prose.
- Naming emotions in direction. Almost always. Replace with body.
- Over-direction during sex scenes. Surprise: short direction yields better intimate writing than long. Trust the model.
A worked example
Premise: "Mira and Kael have been awkward since the kiss two weeks ago. They run into each other at the corner store."
Direction 1: Mira sees him first.
→ AI writes the moment of recognition, her physical reaction.
Direction 2: "Hey."
→ AI puts the word in her mouth and writes Kael's reaction.
Direction 3: Kael looks at the floor.
→ AI writes his body language and what Mira reads from it.
Direction 4: Show me what they buy.
→ AI writes a montage of the awkward shop, paid for separately.
Direction 5: Outside, the sky breaks open.
→ AI writes the rain as relief and chooses what happens next.
Five short directions → a complete scene of 800 words. The author made every meaningful narrative decision; the AI did every word.