Ten prompts that edit your draft instead of replacing it

The most useful thing an AI writing tool does for an experienced writer is not writing. It is reading — fast, tirelessly, and without being polite about it. A draft you wrote yourself, run through the right questions, comes out better and still yours.

These are the prompts our editors actually use. Each one is followed by what it is for and what to watch out for. Paste your draft after the prompt; every tool we test handles this fine.

A rule that applies to all of them: ask for the list, not the fix. “Show me where” keeps the decisions with you. “Fix it” hands them over, and the fixes pull toward the average.

1. The argument check

State the main argument of this piece in one sentence. Then list every paragraph that does not advance that argument.

For: finding the sections you kept because you liked them, not because they were needed. Watch for: the tool’s one-sentence version may be sharper than your actual argument, in which case steal it.

2. The reader’s questions

You are [the reader from your brief]. List the questions you would have at the end of each section that the text did not answer.

For: gaps. Especially good on explainers and anything with a “how” in the title. Watch for: it will invent a very curious reader. Cut the questions a real one would not ask.

3. Weakest sentence per paragraph

For each paragraph, quote the weakest sentence and say why in under ten words.

For: a fast line-edit pass. Almost always surfaces the summary sentences and throat-clearing. Watch for: it favours cutting long sentences. Sometimes the long one is the point.

4. Where it drags

Mark the point in this piece where a busy reader would stop reading, and explain what happened in the two paragraphs before it.

For: pacing. This one is uncomfortably accurate. Watch for: nothing; just fix what it finds.

5. Claims without support

List every factual claim in this piece. For each one, say whether the text provides a source, an example, or nothing.

For: pre-publication discipline, particularly for anything with numbers. Watch for: it may count opinions as claims. That is fine; it makes you check whether your opinion is doing work.

6. The repetition report

List words and phrases that appear more than three times, excluding common function words. Then list any ideas that are stated more than once.

For: the tics you cannot hear. Watch for: some repetition is deliberate. The report shows you; you decide.

7. The jargon strip

List every term a smart reader outside this field would not know. For each one, give a plain-language alternative or say it needs a definition.

For: anything that is going to a wider audience than the one you usually write for. Watch for: it will flag terms your specific readers do know. Keep those.

8. The counter-argument

Write the strongest one-paragraph objection to this piece from someone who disagrees with it.

For: finding out whether your piece has already answered its critics. If the objection is good and unanswered, you have a new section. Watch for: it may generate a weak objection so it can be polite. Ask for a stronger one.

9. The title test

Give five alternative titles: one that is a plain description, one that names the reader, one that names the outcome, one that is a question, one that is a specific number or fact from the piece.

For: seeing your title next to its alternatives. Do not ask it to pick; the point is the comparison. Watch for: the question and the number will usually be the clickiest. That does not make them the best.

10. The cut to length

This needs to lose 20%. List what you would cut, in order of least loss to most loss, with the word count of each. Do not rewrite anything.

For: hitting a word count without a flattening rewrite. Watch for: it will propose cutting your examples first, because examples are “extra”. Examples are usually what people remember. Cut explanation before you cut example.

Using these together

You do not need all ten on every piece. A working order for something important:

1. Argument check (1) — before you do anything else
2. Where it drags (4) and weakest sentence (3) — the line edit
3. Claims without support (5) — before it goes anywhere public
4. Title test (9) — last

For a quick piece, 3 and 4 alone take five minutes and catch most of what matters.

None of these prompts write a word of your draft. That is deliberate. The more of the reading you delegate, the more of the writing stays yours — and the more it reads like you wrote it, which readers notice, whether or not they can say why.