Prompt library · AI · 6 prompts
Prompts from the guide
Text to an exact character count
6 prompts from this guide. Fill in whatever sits in [square brackets] — your own context, the document text or the name of your tool. That context is exactly what separates a generic answer from a usable one.
Prompt: cutting to a hard limit
Cut the following text to a maximum of 3,000 characters including spaces. The limit is hard, not approximate. Order in which you may cut: 1. modifiers and adverbs that carry no information 2. context repeated from the teaser 3. subordinate clauses restating the main point 4. a second or further example of the same thing 5. descriptive framing around quotes NEVER cut: who is making the claim (attribution), hedges like “allegedly,” “according to,” “pending appeal,” names, numbers that carry the point, and the other side's response. Do not add any information that isn't in the original text. Return, in this order: 1. the cut text 2. a line “Character count including spaces: N” 3. a log: an itemized list of what you removed 4. a list titled CAVEATS: what you had to trim right up to the edge of clarity Text: [paste the text here]
Prompt: cutting to a hard limit
The text is 3,180 characters, the limit is 3,000. Cut another 180 characters following the same rules. Don't cut a whole paragraph — trim words and subordinate clauses so the structure of the piece doesn't change. List what came out again.
Prompt: one text in three lengths
Make four versions of the same message from the following text. For each, keep to the limit including spaces and note the actual character count: A) headline, max 60 characters — no colon, no question mark, a verb in the main clause, no promise the piece doesn't deliver on B) teaser, max 300 characters — first sentence says what happened, second says who it matters to C) web blurb, max 800 characters — the teaser plus one more concrete detail D) section summary, max 1,200 characters Keep the same facts and the same attributions across all versions. Add nothing. For each version, note which detail from the text you left out because of the limit.
Prompt: one text in three lengths
Suggest 8 headlines for this text, each under 60 characters including spaces, with the character count noted for each. Rules: a concrete subject, an active verb, no questions, no superlatives, no detail that isn't in the text. For each headline, note which sentence in the text it's based on.
When the text falls short: add, don't pad
This text is 2,200 characters, the target length is 3,000. You may not add any information that isn't in the attached source material. Instead of writing new text, do this: 1. List 10 concrete details from the source material that aren't in the article and would fill it out (a number, a name, a date, a quote). 2. For each, note where in the text it belongs and why. 3. Only then propose the expanded text, and mark every new sentence in it with an asterisk. If the source material doesn't have enough for 3,000 characters, say so directly and don't pad it out with filler. Source material: [paste your notes and transcripts here]
Checking what got lost along the way
Compare the original and the cut text. I'm not asking about style. Return a three-column table: - claim in the original text - how it reads in the cut text - shift: UNCHANGED / WEAKENED / STRENGTHENED / DROPPED / NEW List separately every case where attribution or a hedge got lost (“according to police, apparently” became “police confirmed”). Don't fix anything, just report it.