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Cutting exposition dumps in opening chapters
⁂auto-checked, 3 days oldAauraNovice
The prompt
Below is the opening of my manuscript. I suspect it's front-loaded with exposition, backstory, or worldbuilding that's slowing the reader down before they care about anything. Confirm or deny, and fix it.
Opening pages:
opening_pages
1. Mark every paragraph that is pure exposition/backstory with no present-tense scene action happening (no character doing, deciding, or reacting to anything in real time).
2. For each marked paragraph, decide: cut entirely, compress to one sentence woven into action later, or keep but move to a point where the reader has already earned a reason to care about it.
3. Identify the actual first moment where a character wants something and something is in their way, that's likely your real opening; tell me the page/paragraph it's on.
4. Rewrite the opening target_word_count words starting as close to that moment as possible, letting backstory leak in through action and dialogue instead of upfront delivery.
5. Be honest if the current opening is fine and I'm wrong to worry, don't manufacture problems.
Where it has been run
| Model | Version | People | Broke | Auto | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 3 days ago |
Example output
Confirmed: paragraphs 1-4 (roughly 500 words) are pure backstory about the protagonist's family history with no scene happening. The real opening moment is paragraph 6, where she's standing outside her father's hospital room deciding whether to go in, that's your want-versus-obstacle. Recommendation: cut paragraphs 1-3 entirely, compress paragraph 4's key fact (the estrangement) into a single line of dialogue delivered by a nurse in the new opening, move paragraph 2's detail about her mother to chapter 3 where it'll land harder. Rewritten opening (450 words) starts at the hospital door, backstory now surfaces through what she notices and avoids looking at, not through direct narration.
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