Creative Writing with Claude: Prose, Dialogue & Worldbuilding

Write a [scene/story/chapter] with these constraints:

NARRATIVE CONSTRAINTS:
- Point of view: [first person / third person limited / third person omniscient / second person]
- Tense: [present / past]
- Pacing: [fast (short sentences, action-focused) / moderate / slow (descriptive, interior)]
- Scope: [single moment / scene / chapter-length]

SENSORY CONSTRAINTS:
- Include at least [N] distinct sensory details (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)
- The dominant sensory mode should be [choose one]
- Avoid describing [specific sense — e.g., "no visual descriptions"]

STYLISTIC CONSTRAINTS:
- Sentence rhythm: [varied / predominantly short / predominantly long / specific pattern]
- Vocabulary register: [literary / accessible / sparse / lush]
- Dialogue percentage: [what % of the scene should be dialogue?]
- Metaphor density: [sparse (1-2 per page) / moderate / dense]

EMOTIONAL CONSTRAINTS:
- Dominant emotion: [one primary feeling]
- Emotional arc: [where the character starts emotionally → where they end]
- Show emotion through: [action / interior monologue / dialogue / physical sensation]

CONTENT:
- Character(s): [name, age, relevant background — 1-2 sentences each]
- Setting: [time, place, atmosphere — 1-2 sentences]
- Situation: [what's happening — 1 sentence]
- What's at stake: [why this moment matters — 1 sentence]

Write in the voice of [genre/author/style]. Here's what that means:

TECHNIQUE PRIMER:
[Author] uses:
- [Specific technique 1] — "Example from their work"
- [Specific technique 2] — "Example from their work"
- [Specific technique 3] — "Example from their work"

APPLY THESE TECHNIQUES to [your scene/story]:

1. [Technique 1]: [How to apply it to your content]
2. [Technique 2]: [How to apply it to your content]
3. [Technique 3]: [How to apply it to your content]

The goal is not pastiche — don't copy the author. Internalize these techniques
and apply them to YOUR story with YOUR voice.

Write a dialogue scene between [Character A] and [Character B].

Each character must be distinguishable by their speech alone (no dialogue tags needed).

CHARACTER A:
- Speech pattern: [e.g., "Short sentences. Never uses contractions. Precise vocabulary."]
- Verbal tic: [e.g., "Always qualifies statements with 'It seems to me that...'"]
- What they never say: [e.g., "Never uses slang. Never interrupts."]
- Subtext: [What they REALLY mean but won't say directly]

CHARACTER B:
- Speech pattern: [e.g., "Long, rambling sentences. Lots of 'um' and 'I mean'."]
- Verbal tic: [e.g., "Ends statements as questions? Like they're seeking approval?"]
- What they never say: [e.g., "Never admits being wrong directly"]
- Subtext: [What they REALLY mean but won't say directly]

The scene: [situation].
The tension: [what's unspoken between them].

Build a [fantasy/sci-fi/historical] world. Answer each question in 1-3 sentences.
Be internally consistent — each answer should be compatible with every other answer.

FOUNDATIONS:
1. What is the physical world? (planet, dimension, virtual space?)
2. What are the fundamental laws? (magic system, technology rules, physics differences?)
3. Who lives here? (species, cultures, power structures?)
4. What do they believe? (religion, philosophy, shared myths?)
5. What do they fear? (existential threats, social taboos, personal anxieties?)

EVERYDAY LIFE:
6. What does a normal day look like for an average person?
7. What do they eat, and how do they get it?
8. How do they travel and communicate?
9. What do they do for leisure?
10. How are children raised and educated?

CONFLICT:
11. What are the major power struggles? (political, economic, ideological?)
12. Who benefits from the current order? Who suffers?
13. What historical event still shapes the present?
14. What's the most dangerous idea in this world?
15. What's changing RIGHT NOW that threatens the status quo?

CONSISTENCY CHECK: Review all 15 answers. Flag any contradictions. For example:
"If magic requires rare crystals (Q2) but everyone uses magic daily (Q6),
where do the crystals come from?"

Reveal this world through a scene, not exposition. The world's rules should
be VISIBLE in the character's experience — don't explain them.

WORLD FACTS TO CONVEY (do NOT state these directly):
- [Fact 1: e.g., "Magic is illegal but widely practiced in secret"]
- [Fact 2: e.g., "The city is built on the bones of a dead god"]
- [Fact 3: e.g., "Memory can be bought and sold as a commodity"]

SCENE: [Character] is doing [everyday activity] when [something goes wrong].

The reader should understand all three facts by the end of the scene,
but they should never be stated outright. Show them through:
- What the character notices (and what they deliberately ignore)
- How other characters react
- Physical details of the environment
- What's considered 'normal' vs 'notable'

Act as a developmental editor. Review this [chapter/story/scene] and address:

1. STRUCTURE: Does the scene earn its beats?
   - Opening: Does it hook? If not, what's missing?
   - Middle: Does tension rise? Where does it sag?
   - Ending: Does it land? Is the resolution earned or convenient?

2. CHARACTER: Are they driving the plot or being driven?
   - Does the protagonist make at least one meaningful choice?
   - Do we understand what each character wants in this scene?
   - Are character reactions proportional and believable?

3. PACING: Where does the reader's attention drift?
   - Mark any paragraph where the scene loses momentum
   - Identify passages that can be tightened by 50% without losing meaning

4. PROSE: Line-level issues
   - Clichés: flag them, suggest fresh alternatives
   - Filtering: "She noticed that..." → just describe what she noticed
   - Telling instead of showing: "He was angry" → show us the anger

For each issue, provide:
- The specific passage (quote it)
- Why it's not working
- A suggested revision (rewrite it)

Prioritize: structural issues before prose issues. A beautifully written scene
that doesn't earn its emotional beats still doesn't work.

Rewrite this scene at [50%/25%] of its current length.

RULES:
- Preserve every story beat (nothing important can be cut)
- Preserve the emotional arc
- Preserve the most distinctive piece of description
- Preserve the best line of dialogue

TECHNIQUES TO USE:
- Combine sentences: "The door creaked open. She stepped inside. The room was dark."
  → "She stepped through the creaking door into darkness."
- Cut filter words: "She saw that the room was empty" → "The room was empty"
- Imply, don't describe: Trust the reader to fill gaps
- One perfect detail > three adequate ones

Show the original word count and the compressed word count.