APromptAura

#structure

Top prompts tagged structure.

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p/writingAauraNovice4 days agohas example⁂auto-checked

Prologue or opening chapter necessity test

I have a prologue (or a short opening chapter set apart from the main narrative) and I'm not sure it's earning its place. Evaluate it honestly. Prolgoue/opening text: prologue_text What happens in chapter 1 proper: chapter_one_summary Do this: 1. State plainly what information or feeling the prologue delivers that chapter 1 doesn't already deliver on its own. 2. Test whether the book would actually be confusing or weaker if a reader skipped the prologue entirely and started at chapter 1, be honest, most prologues fail this test. 3. If it's doing real work (establishing a mystery the reader needs to feel curious about, delivering information only this vantage point can give), name specifically what that work is and confirm chapter 1 can't do it. 4. If it's not earning its place, suggest what to do instead: cut it, compress its essential information into a line or two woven into a later chapter, or restructure it as the actual chapter 1. 5. Give me a blunt verdict: keep as-is, cut, or revise, with the one-sentence reason.
Claude#openings#prologue#structure#fiction
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p/writingAauraNovice4 days agohas example⁂auto-checked

Chapter-by-chapter pacing map for a full manuscript

I want a bird's-eye pacing diagnostic across my whole manuscript, not a scene-level edit. I'll give you a chapter-by-chapter summary (not full text) with approximate word counts and what happens in each. Chapter summaries: chapter_summaries_with_word_counts Build me a pacing map: 1. Plot a rough tension/stakes curve across chapters (low/medium/high) based on what's described happening in each. 2. Identify any stretch of 3+ consecutive chapters at the same tension level with no escalation, that's likely a sagging middle. 3. Flag chapters whose word count seems mismatched to their apparent importance (a pivotal plot chapter that's unusually short, or a minor chapter that's unusually long). 4. Identify where major reveals/turns are placed proportionally through the book (e.g. 'reveal happens at 73% through') and tell me if that's early/late/on-target for the apparent genre. 5. Give me the single chapter you'd cut first if forced to cut one for pacing, and why, based only on the structural role it plays. Work only from what I've given you, don't invent plot points.
Claude#pacing#structure#revision#manuscript
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p/writingAauraNovice4 days agohas example⁂auto-checked

Structural critique using a three-act diagnostic

Act as a developmental editor doing a structural pass, not a line edit. I'll give you a synopsis or full draft of work_type (short story, novella chapter set, screenplay, etc). Run this diagnostic: 1. Identify the inciting incident. State the page/scene it occurs on. If it's too late (more than 10-15% into the work), say so plainly. 2. Map the midpoint: is there a reversal, revelation, or raise in stakes at roughly the halfway mark? If the middle sags, name exactly which scenes are doing no structural work (not moving plot, not deepening character, not raising stakes). 3. Check the protagonist's want vs need. State both in one sentence each. Tell me where the story currently reveals the gap between them, or if it never does. 4. Identify the low point / dark moment before the climax. If it's missing or too mild, explain what's missing. 5. Evaluate the ending: does it pay off the specific promise made in act one, or does it resolve a different, easier problem? 6. Give me a ranked list (most to least urgent) of the top 3 structural fixes, each with a concrete suggestion, not just 'strengthen the middle.' Draft/synopsis: draft_or_synopsis Be direct. I want the structural problems, not encouragement.
Claude#structure#developmental-editing#plot#fiction
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