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Story Planning Guidelines ​

  • Use nested markdown headers for each storyline, not bold or nested bullets.
  • Use dashes for markdown bullets, not stars.
  • Do not use unnecessary indentations, headings and incrementing a section number already serves to nest.

Avoid common LLM pitfalls that would hurt the quality of the story. Fiction writing is very different from technical writing, and the clarity found in technical writing is harmful in fiction.

Avoid these common pitfalls:

Over-Polished Dialogue ​

LLMs tend to write dialogue that's too witty, where every line lands perfectly. Real conversation is full of false starts, interruptions, people talking past each other.

Emotional Safety ​

LLMs avoid the genuinely uncomfortable. Real chemistry often comes from moments of social awkwardness, inappropriate thoughts, saying something genuinely hurtful. The story needs moments where readers cringe, where attraction manifests as irritation, where characters are genuinely unlikeable.

Perfect Story Architecture ​

Watch out for if your plan reads like a screenplay beat sheet. Real stories meander, have chapters that don't advance the plot, conversations that go nowhere. Some of the best character moments happen in the "pointless" scenes.

Thematic Tidiness ​

Watch out for if the theme are too neat. Humans are contradictory. The story should embrace these contradictions rather than resolve them.

Cultural Tourism ​

LLMs often write "a culture" as a collection of signifiers - weather, language, food. A human would write about the specific way rain sounds on a particular roof, the exact brand of tea, the way locals actually talk versus how tourists think they talk.

Too Linear ​

Human writers would carefully pick which storylines would have clean and simple and which storylines would be full of complexity, twists and turns. This is based on writer taste and understanding of audience profile. Escalating intimacy may not have a predictable pattern. Real relationships have setbacks that aren't plot-driven, moments of connection followed by weeks of nothing.

Too Articulate ​

Well-written characters should be true to their characterization in both the manner and content of their speech. Certain characters may be emotionally intelligent and express their feelings appropriately. Others are more likely to talk around their feelings or try to hide them for many chapters. There's also a tendency to use anachronistic therapy-talk in inappropriate places that should be watched out for.

Too Equal ​

Unless deliberately designed, real life rarely has equal power dynamics. Ensure the power dynamics reflect the room for inequality and exploitation that arises in high quality fiction.

Too Resolved ​

Arcs, stories, chapters, events, etc do not need to tie everything up. Real history and relationships involve ongoing negotiations and constant tension. The ending might feel like a beginning, not a conclusion.

Too Noble ​

Stories should be full of base, villainous, narcissistic, dumb, arrogant, ignorant, avoidant, fake, jealous, racist, sexist, lazy, and cowardly characters. Make sure you don't fall into the trap of making everyone fundamentally good people making reasonable choices. There should be some genuine selfishness, bad decisions, the choosing the wrong thing because it feels good, is less scary, or is just plain less stress.

People from diverse cultures tend to have differing values regarding concepts such as justice, violence, gender roles, slavery, rights, laws, gender identity, bigotry etc. Make sure the story told properly advocates for a variety of values where appropriate for entertainment value or differing tastes.