Full transcript
0:00Welcome to another automation that I'm
0:02showing off. This is the most recent
0:05part in a series of advanced novel
0:07writing workflows that I've been
0:08developing. And this is the one where it
0:10starts to get really fun, where we take
0:12everything we've done in the last couple
0:14of steps and apply it to the outline.
0:16How do we get a good outline out of
0:18this? So, let's dive in. All right, just
0:21like all of my other automations, this
0:24one tends to Well, it was designed to
0:27work with my story hacks uh my genre
0:30templates that I put together. If we go
0:33here to in my course, there's a
0:37uh list of all of these. You can also
0:38buy these books on Amazon.
0:40Um but you get them at no extra charge
0:42if you join my story hacker membership.
0:44Just a quick plug there. Um shameless, I
0:47know.
0:48Uh but I've got a bunch of these. I've
0:49got 30 that are written and um
0:52uh
0:53the goal is to get at least 100 of these
0:55out very soon.
0:57Uh so that's, you know, they sell for $5
0:59on Amazon. So, if I make 100 of them,
1:01that'd be $500 to be able to get them
1:04all.
1:05Um but you can get them no extra charge
1:06here in the inside of the group. Anyway,
1:08so um in these genre guides, we have
1:10like tropes, plots, style, characters,
1:13world building, themes. All of these are
1:14templates
1:16that we use inside of these automations.
1:18Uh
1:19and we don't use all of them in all
1:21automations,
1:22>> [sighs]
1:22>> just the ones that are uh relevant.
1:25So, in this case, I pull in the tropes
1:27template, the themes template, just
1:29because I think it's always just good to
1:31have the themes in mind, as well as the
1:33plot template. And the plot template is
1:36a fun one because it essentially just
1:38shows you chapter by chapter what kind
1:40of thing should be in that chapter,
1:42based on a very in-depth analysis that I
1:44did of actual books in this genre.
1:48And so, the plot template allows you to
1:50have a really solid idea of the kinds of
1:52events that happen. You can modify it,
1:54change it, of course, make it your own,
1:57but it's a really great starting place.
1:59Okay, so I pull in those three
2:00templates, and then we pull in three
2:03documents that were created in previous
2:05steps.
2:06And these are the story dossier, the
2:09character sheet, and the world-building
2:10sheet. I have entire videos going
2:12through those automations and how I
2:13created those, but essentially by the
2:15end of those automations, you will have
2:17a document with information about the
2:21story dossier is like just a quick
2:22checklist of everything you need for the
2:24story.
2:25The character sheet is exactly what it
2:28sounds like. It's got a list of all of
2:29your characters on it, and same for the
2:31world-building sheet. So, those are
2:33things you got in all of the automations
2:35previously.
2:36And then the next step is we need to
2:38create a document that is blank,
2:42and you put it here.
2:44Uh you you go ahead and grab the ID
2:45number from that Google Doc and place it
2:48in here, so that the automations the
2:51text from the automations has a place to
2:54go, if that makes sense.
2:55So, we put that there. You can see I've
2:57got a folder here with all of these
2:59different documents in here for this
3:01example project that I'm using here. So,
3:04I have like the brain dump, which is
3:05where I just put everything. Here's the
3:06dossier. Here's the character sheet.
3:10Here's the world-building sheet. And now
3:13we're getting into you This one isn't
3:15blank at the moment because I've already
3:17gone through this process, but you would
3:18essentially create this one that says
3:20like title of your book and outline.
3:23And then you would just grab the ID from
3:25that and stick it into this automation.
3:27Okay? Hope that makes sense. So, the
3:29first thing we do here is I like to
3:31condense the tropes templates. This is
3:33more just a way of saving on tokens than
3:35anything else, cuz the tropes template
3:37that I have is massive. It's several
3:39thousand words long, and I don't
3:41necessarily want that
3:43template to overpower everything else
3:46that I want to include in these prompts.
3:48It also increases costs and all of that.
3:50So, I have this really quick step to
3:52condense those into just a bulleted list
3:55of all the tropes so that we know what
3:57the tropes are, but because the tropes
3:59are not a huge part of this process,
4:04it's okay in my mind to make sure that
4:07they're that they're referenced, but
4:09they don't have to be as in-depth for
4:11this stage. I do use the full tropes
4:13template in a previous automation for
4:15the story dossier, but this is
4:16different, all right? So, that's all
4:19that this one does to save on tokens and
4:22make our prompts a little bit more
4:24condensed and succinct
4:26so that we're not watering down the
4:27prompt.
4:28And then we move on to this one. This is
4:30the big one for this entire process.
4:33It's the the main one that we use here.
4:36This is where it will write the outline.
4:38So, we pull in all of that context info
4:40that we talked about. We pull in that
4:42condensed list of tropes. We pull in the
4:44themes. We pull in that plot template. I
4:46do not condense the plot template
4:48because even though it's kind of a long
4:49one, this is the part where we need it
4:52most here for this outline. Then I pull
4:54in the dossier, the characters, the
4:56world building, and any author notes
4:58that you make, you can include those
5:00when you launch this automation and
5:02it'll pull up a window and if there's
5:04anything that you want, you can put it
5:05in the author notes, but you also can
5:07leave it blank, in which case this will
5:09be blank. And real quick, if you want
5:11the exact long-form prompts I used to
5:12write books with AI, hit the Story
5:14Hacker link below. The group's
5:16wait-listed right now, but when you
5:17join, I'll email you my full prompt pack
5:19for free. Pop in your email and I'll
5:21send it over. And then we have our
5:23instructions, where it says, "Using the
5:25above world building, characters,
5:26dossier, plot template, themes, and
5:28tropes, generate a simple outline for
5:30this book. Make sure to use the plot
5:32template to inform you of the kind of
5:33things that should happen in the
5:34chapters you are outlining.
5:36The summary for each chapter should be
5:38only two to three sentences per chapter.
5:40The goal is not to flesh out every
5:42detail, but to get a general blueprint
5:44for the story as a whole. The outline
5:45should have the same number of chapters
5:47found in the plot template.
5:49All right, so it's relying on that plot
5:50template a lot to know what happens.
5:53For each chapter, mention who is the
5:54viewpoint character, mention who the
5:56viewpoint character is for the chapter.
5:58Keep that in mind for some genres,
6:00especially first-person genres,
6:02that all of the characters will have the
6:03same viewpoint character. Do not mention
6:04whether this chapter is first person,
6:06third person, or what the tense is, aka
6:08past, present, or etc. Just name the
6:10viewpoint character.
6:12Additionally, for each chapter, include
6:14a bulleted list of the spice level,
6:16violence level, and swearing level found
6:17in the plot template. This is something
6:19that is unique to my plot templates. For
6:22each chapter,
6:23have the AI give me a number from 1 to
6:2710 on how spicy is the book, how violent
6:30is the
6:31or not the book, the chapter. How spicy
6:33is the chapter, how spicy is the
6:34violence, or how bad is the violence, uh
6:37how bad is the swearing, all of that.
6:40Just uh make sure that we're staying
6:41consistent with the genre here. This
6:43should match exactly what you find in
6:44the plot template for each chapter. Make
6:46sure that the two to three sentence
6:47description of each chapter is
6:48consistent with these ratings. For
6:50example, if a violence level is at a
6:51one, don't have a huge epic battle in
6:52this chapter, just as an example there.
6:54All right, and then we have some
6:55information about how I want it to
6:57format each of the chapters, and then uh
7:00I finish it off with only include the
7:02asked for outline details. Do not add
7:03any preamble commentary or anything
7:05other than what I've asked for above.
7:07All right, that is the general gist of
7:09the chapter. Now, because we're only
7:10asking for two to three sentences per
7:12chapter, uh let's say we have 30
7:13chapters, it's not going to be a uh huge
7:15document at this stage, which is fine.
7:17We're only looking for the general
7:19overview of the outline here. We're not
7:21looking to flesh out every individual
7:23chapter yet, okay? That comes in the
7:25next automation. But, this is like I
7:27like to have a outline with two to three
7:31sentences per chapter that I can look
7:33over myself later to make sure
7:35everything is okay. And if it's too
7:38expansive for every chapter, I find
7:40myself getting overwhelmed in the review
7:42stage, and often there's more to change
7:44because it got so specific and I didn't
7:46want it to get specific cuz we got to
7:48make sure that the general overview is
7:50in line with our vision first. If that
7:52makes sense. All right. So, the next
7:54step is we run an emotional check. This
7:57is essentially where you you know,
7:59anytime you read a good book or or watch
8:01a good movie, there's usually some kind
8:03of emotional gut punch that really gets
8:05you engaged uh for every genre
8:07essentially.
8:09And you can tell this by just thinking
8:12back to the last movie or book that
8:15really engaged you. There's some like
8:17really deep emotional stuff that's
8:18happening in that whole process. And so,
8:21this check, the its job is to go through
8:24what was written in the previous thing
8:26and make sure like is there enough
8:28emotion here?
8:29Are we are is the audience going to feel
8:31anything or is this just like a string
8:33of events, right? So, that's what the
8:35emotional check does. And once it's done
8:37going through it, it makes a log of
8:40recommended changes, which this step
8:42here, the rewrite, then implements. So,
8:45it takes the original outline, takes the
8:47advice from the emotional check, and it
8:49rewrites it to include that advice. All
8:52right. Then, we This is another big step
8:54where we add sliders. Now, if if you
8:57caught my video about characters, I
9:00introduced this concept that I call
9:02sliders. The folks at Future Fiction
9:03Academy call it narrative physics. I
9:05like sliders because it it feels a
9:08little bit more like uh I don't know,
9:10just like like I'm playing piano almost.
9:13Like I'm just I'm orchestrating this
9:15whole thing. And yeah, that's the best
9:17way I can describe it. I don't know.
9:18But, essentially what this does is there
9:20are certain aspects of the scene, like
9:23tension for example, that sometimes
9:25needs to be dialed up real hard and
9:28sometimes needs to be dialed down. And
9:31generally speaking in a good story,
9:33you're doing a little bit of up and down
9:34all the time, but there's a gradual
9:37upward trend for the whole thing. And
9:40that's the sort of thing that we're
9:41trying to establish in these sliders.
9:43And so, what this step does is it looks
9:45at the whole outline that's been
9:46developed in the previous steps, and it
9:49determines what those slider levels
9:51should be. So, let's actually look at
9:53the prompt for this so you can see what
9:54the sliders are. First, I pull in the
9:56context of the plot template, so it
9:58makes sure that it has that as well as
10:00the outline that we established. And
10:02then here I have some plot sliders uh in
10:05a rubric. So, this says, "Below is a
10:07five-point rubric for each slider map to
10:091 3 5 7 and 10. You can interpolate in
10:12between in between, e.g., four is
10:14between three and five." All right. So,
10:17I so I don't give it the full like one
10:18to 10, but we don't really need to. All
10:20right. So, the first one is tension, as
10:23in present danger, the present tension.
10:26Measures immediate in-the-moment threat,
10:28danger, or conflict. Not what the reader
10:30fears is coming, what is happening or
10:32not what the reader fears is coming,
10:34what is happening right now.
10:36So, number one is complete stillness, no
10:38conflict, no threat, no friction of any
10:39kind. The scene exists purely for
10:41atmosphere, reflection, or
10:43world-building.
10:44A three would be mild friction, a
10:46low-stakes disagreement, a minor
10:47obstacle, a background annoyance that
10:49doesn't demand resolution. Number five
10:51is moderate pressure, something that is
10:52at stake, but the outcomes feel
10:54uncertain rather than urgent. The reader
10:56is engaged, but not gripping anything.
10:57Seven is clear and present danger. The
10:59protagonist is actively threatened, if
11:01physically, emotionally, professionally,
11:02or socially, and the outcome of the
11:04scene is genuinely in doubt. And then of
11:06course, it's number 10, maximum
11:07immediate threat. Life, identity, or
11:09everything the protagonist has worked
11:11toward is on the line right now in this
11:12scene with no guaranteed escape. All
11:15right. So, that's a good example of
11:17tension and what that looks like.
11:20But there's different types of tension,
11:21and I just
11:22to divide some of them out. And one of
11:24them is this feeling of dread, which is
11:27anticipated tension. Uh measures the
11:29reader's sense of what's coming, not
11:31present danger, but the shadow of future
11:33danger. A scene can have low tension and
11:35high dread simultaneously.
11:38So, that's dread. It's another one of
11:39the sliders. Another one is emotional
11:41intimacy. Now, emotional intimacy, we're
11:43not talking about like romantic intimacy
11:46or anything like that. This is just how
11:48much of the main character, the
11:50protagonist are we really seeing in this
11:52scene?
11:53Like, for instance, they could have just
11:54had a really major action scene and a
11:56lot of stuff went down, and then we see
11:59them in the next scene in a bathroom,
12:01like in the shower crying or something
12:03like that. Curled up on the floor or
12:04something. That would be high emotional
12:06intimacy that scene, even though not
12:08much is happening from like an action or
12:10tension standpoint.
12:12It is a really high intensity scene
12:15because of that emotional closeness
12:17between the reader and the character.
12:20So, that's the idea here for this
12:21slider. And then we have
12:24Let's see, the next one is relationship
12:25tension. This isn't going to be
12:27particularly important for romance
12:29authors, I think, but other
12:31relationships of any kind in any type of
12:34genre. It doesn't have to be romantic.
12:36So, this is just like the tension
12:38between characters that are in the
12:39scene, essentially, in their
12:41relationship, but it's particularly
12:42important if you do romance. Right?
12:45Because there's one of the things that
12:46AI is not really good at, traditionally,
12:49is this idea of romantic tension,
12:51especially sexual tension, where
12:53there's this like will they, won't they
12:56kind of situation. Are they going to
12:57kiss? Are they not going to kiss? That's
12:59relationship tension in a nutshell right
13:01there. But this also applies to other
13:03types of relationships. All right, then
13:05we have pacing energy. This one's
13:06important for the the way the scene is
13:10written. Like in the actual prose. If
13:13you have high pacing energy, you're
13:15going to have shorter sentences, shorter
13:17paragraphs, so that the reader feels
13:19like they're flying through the scene.
13:20If it's low pacing energy, we can take a
13:22little bit more time. The sentences can
13:24go on a a bit longer. Same with the
13:26dialogue. Not too much, obviously. We
13:28still want that mix that healthy mix of
13:31sentence cadence, but knowing like is
13:34this going to be a fast-paced scene
13:35versus a not so fast-paced scene is
13:38going to make a difference in how things
13:39are written. So, that's what the pacing
13:41energy focuses on. And then we have
13:43humor.
13:44In some genres, humor is everywhere. In
13:47some, it's included at specific points
13:50where it can help alleviate the tension,
13:54but also it can be wrong to have too
13:57much humor in certain scenes, you know,
13:59like a funeral scene or something like
14:00that. It's just like it wouldn't hit
14:02right. So, this is why it's a slider.
14:04It's something that has to move up or
14:05down depending on the context of the
14:07scene.
14:08So, that's one of the sliders there. And
14:10that's that's it for now. Let me know in
14:12the comments if you can think of any
14:13other type of sliders that you would
14:14include here for the scene. We also have
14:16sliders for individual characters to
14:18show how they react to things, and those
14:20change based on the scene as well.
14:22All right. So, here we now have our
14:24instructions for this step. Your task is
14:26to analyze the outline above as well as
14:29the plot template and determine the
14:30slider levels for each chapter of the
14:32outline. Use the plot sliders rubric
14:34above to determine your numbers, then
14:35reproduce the text of each chapter of
14:37the outline brief verbatim, but add the
14:39sliders between beneath each chapter.
14:42Format each chapter in markdown so it
14:43looks like this. And then I gave it some
14:46formatting information here, and then
14:48wrap it up with my typical remember only
14:50output what I have asked for above. Do
14:52not include any preamble commentary or
14:53anything other than what is asked for
14:54above.
14:55And that's the end of that step. All
14:58right. So, now we've got essentially a
15:00full outline, all of the different
15:02details that I want known in this
15:04outline.
15:05But we're going to do one more thing,
15:07and that is a logic check. Okay? So, the
15:10what the logic check does, we pull in
15:12all this context again.
15:14Uh so, it's looking at the entire big
15:16picture as best as we can. And then I
15:18ask it to flag any issues from the
15:21outline brief above
15:23uh and checking specifically for these
15:25things. So, is it consistent with all of
15:28the different character world-building
15:30info? Is it consistent with the plot
15:32template? Cuz we want it to follow that.
15:35Is the internal logic and consistency of
15:37the outline, does that hold up? Uh is it
15:40plausible? Does it have Does the theme
15:43resonate?
15:45Uh are we jumping the gun at any point?
15:47Like, for instance, revealing the
15:49identity of a murderer in a mystery long
15:52before they should be revealed? That
15:55sort of thing. And then ratings and
15:56slider consistency uh to make sure that
15:59all of those things match up with where
16:02they were assigned. And then I have it
16:03output a list of anything they might
16:05flag and create an improvement plan on
16:06how to improve it.
16:08And then, just like we normally do, we
16:10have a rewrite that it does
16:13incorporating the improvement plan that
16:16was created here.
16:17Once that rewrite is done, this whole
16:19thing is now finished, and it will take
16:21that rewrite and plop it into the
16:22outline doc.
16:24So, let's take a look at what this
16:25actually looks like in practice, and
16:27here we are. Let me just I'm going to
16:30This is all written in markdown. I'm
16:32just going to
16:34quickly
16:35convert it so that it is easier for you
16:38guys to see. All right. So, it looks
16:40like something like this. Uh we have
16:42chapter 1, and here's my character. This
16:44is for a vigilante fantasy.
16:47Core moves along a rain-slicked cable
16:49deep in the Spans, evading a watch
16:51patrol with the unsettling precision of
16:53his Gracebrand before witnessing Nails
16:55and a group of Shadow Syndicate thugs
16:58shaking down a family of Spans
16:59residents. He intervenes with brutal,
17:02efficient hand-to-hand combat,
17:03conserving his dwindling natural nodes.
17:06And in the aftermath, discovers that
17:07Nails was guarding a crate of unmarked
17:09iron glass vials containing an
17:10unfamiliar red-tinted substance, one of
17:12which he pockets before disappearing
17:14into the dark. So, that's the uh
17:16overview of the chapter, okay? And then
17:19here we have
17:21first of all, we have our viewpoint
17:23character, who is Cormac.
17:26We have the spice violence and swearing
17:28levels, which are one for spice because
17:30there's absolutely no romantic content
17:32in the in this chapter. Violence level
17:34is a seven,
17:36which checks out. Swearing level is a
17:38five. I would maybe reduce that. And
17:40this is something you can do at this
17:41point as you're reviewing this. You can
17:43say,
17:43"I think that should actually be lower
17:45or higher or whatever."
17:47And then we have all of the different
17:49sliders we went over and it's got here
17:52eight out of 10. Core is actively
17:54evading a patrol and then steps into the
17:56violent shakedown, meaning immediate
17:58physical threat is present and
17:59escalating throughout the scene. The
18:00dread is a five out of 10. The red vials
18:02are an anomaly the reader can't yet
18:04name, seeding a quiet unease about what
18:07they contain and why they matter without
18:10yet forming a defined threat.
18:12Emotional intimacy is a six out of 10.
18:14The reader gets close gets enough access
18:15to Core's internal calculation, his
18:17rationing of nodes, his reluctance to
18:19shape his reluctance to intervene to
18:22sense the weight of the past he's trying
18:23to outrun without yet knowing its shape.
18:26I don't know. I I feel like we might I
18:28would maybe lower this one myself.
18:30Relationship tension at one out of 10.
18:32There's no significant relationship in
18:34in the present. Yeah, that's true.
18:35Pacing energy is eight out of 10. Yeah,
18:38I'd agree with that. The pacing the
18:39scene moves at combat velocity. Evasion,
18:42observation, intervention, and
18:43disappearance with no room for the
18:44reader to pause or linger. Humor slider
18:46is a two out of 10. There may be a dry
18:48sardonic internal beat or two from Core
18:51as he assesses the situation, but the
18:52scene registers fundamentally serious
18:54and clinical. Yep, so I'd agree with
18:56that. So, we have all of this now for
18:59chapter one. And yeah, there's not a lot
19:02of in the way of details here, but
19:03again, we're not looking for that. We're
19:05looking at how does the whole thing
19:08make sense as a whole?
19:10So, what I would then do is go through
19:12this and make sure that there's nothing
19:14in each of these chapters that is
19:17contradictory to my vision. And then
19:19from there, we can move on to the next
19:21step. So, that's it for this video. Hope
19:23it was useful for you. I'll see you in
19:25the next one where we actually get into
19:26writing the chapters based on this
19:28outline, fleshing them out further, and
19:30all of that. So, I hope this is useful.
19:32I'll see you in the next video.