The AI Learning Hub Journal

Drafts You Can Edit

Editable beats finished — ask for the seamsthe same content can arrive as a blob you must rewrite or as pieces you can cut, keep and reorderTHE BLOB — EXPENSIVE TO EDITsmooth, evenly weighted, every sentenceentangled with its neighbours — changing onepart means re-reading the whole thingpolish hides the weak partsSEAMS — CHEAP TO EDITOPENINGkeepBACKGROUNDcut wholeOPTIONSreorderTHE ASKkeep"labelled sections I can cut and reorder" — say it"leave gaps marked [TBC] rather than inventing detail" is a useful standing instruction for anything you will editOPTIONS BEFORE COMMITMENT — WHEN YOU DO NOT YET KNOW WHAT YOU WANTA — leads with the problemB — leads with a storyC — leads with the numberpick 1two lines each, "clearly different" — then ask for depth on the one you chose; anchoring to a single draft is the trapREFINE IN PASSES — ONE DIMENSION PER ROUNDpass 1 — outline only, no prosepass 2 — fill the approved sectionspass 3 — tone and cutsfixing the shape costs one line at outline stage — and a full regeneration after 900 words have been written around itASK FOR EDITABLE, NOT FINISHED — SEAMS, THEN OPTIONS, THEN PASSESthe expensive mistake is polishing the wrong thing, not writing the right thing slowly
Ask for a draft with visible seams — labelled sections, short options, one pass per dimension — instead of a finished-sounding blob.

Aim for Editable, Not Finished

There is a difference between output you can work with and output you have to rewrite. A blob — one long, smooth, evenly-weighted piece of prose — is expensive to edit, because changing any part means re-reading the whole thing and every sentence is entangled with its neighbours. A draft with visible seams is cheap to edit: sections you can cut whole, bullets you can reorder, paragraphs that stand alone. Asking for the second is a choice you make in the prompt. "Give me this in labelled sections I can cut and reorder" produces a different artefact from "write me a report", even when the underlying content is identical.

  • Ask for labelled sections you can cut, keep or reorder independently
  • Blobs hide their weak parts; segmented drafts make them obvious
  • For anything you will edit, coverage matters more than polish — say so
  • "Leave gaps marked [TBC] rather than inventing detail" is a useful standing instruction

Options Before Commitment

When you do not yet know what you want, do not ask for one answer — you will end up anchored to it and spend the next twenty minutes nudging a direction you never chose. Ask for several genuinely different options instead. "Give me three openings that take clearly different approaches: one that leads with the problem, one that leads with a story, one that leads with the number. Two lines each." Short options, real variety, no commitment. You pick a direction, then ask for depth on that one. This costs one extra round and routinely saves several, because the expensive mistake is polishing the wrong thing rather than writing the right thing slowly.

  • Weak: "Write an opening for this article"
  • Strong: "Three openings taking clearly different approaches, two lines each" — then expand one
  • Say "clearly different", or you will get three versions of the same idea
  • Keep exploratory options short; length is for the direction you have chosen

Refine in Passes

Trying to get structure, content, tone and length right in a single request is how you end up with an answer that is nearly right in four ways at once. Passes work better. Pass one: the outline only, no prose — is the shape right? Pass two: fill in the sections you approved. Pass three: tone and cuts. Fixing the structure while it is still an outline takes one line; fixing it after 900 words have been written around it means regenerating everything. This is exactly how experienced writers work anyway, and it maps onto prompting without modification. It also makes each round easy to judge, because each round is about one thing.

  • Pass 1: outline only, no prose — cheapest possible place to fix the shape
  • Pass 2: draft the approved sections, coverage over polish
  • Pass 3: tone, cuts, and the specific bits you flagged
  • Judging one dimension at a time is far easier than judging four at once

Prefer slides, quizzes, and saved progress? Read this lesson in the library — free, no sign-up.