Your AI Writing Project Needs Rules, Not Just Prompts
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AI Writing Assistance · Editing & Judgment · Public Lesson 30
This block is about using AI without outsourcing editorial judgment: diagnose the problem first, make the decision visible, then edit.
Prompts tell AI what to do now. Project rules tell it what must remain true across the whole body of work.
The Jack Righteous approach
Create stable rules for facts, voice, sources, terminology and decision-making so each new prompt starts from a reliable foundation.
Use this workflow
- Define the authoritative source material.
- Record fixed terminology, names and naming rules.
- State what AI must never invent or silently infer.
- Set voice and audience defaults.
- Define how uncertainty, contradictions and missing information should be handled.
Why this matters
AI can make a draft look finished before the underlying problem is solved. If the issue is meaning, structure or evidence, a smoother sentence may actually make the problem harder to see. Diagnose first. Then choose the lightest intervention that fixes the real issue.
A prompt you can actually use
Copy and adapt:
Help me create project rules from these approved materials. Separate source-of-truth rules, voice rules, terminology, prohibited assumptions and escalation questions. Keep temporary task instructions out of the permanent rules.
What a useful AI response should do
A useful response should make the editorial decision more visible. It should tell you what changed, what is uncertain, what needs evidence and what still requires judgment. The goal is not a prettier draft at any cost. The goal is a better-controlled draft.
Your five-minute exercise
My source of truth is: ______________________________
A rule that should never drift is: ______________________________
AI must ask before: ______________________________
An uncertainty rule I need is: ______________________________
What the human still decides
AI can identify patterns, gaps, possible objections and revision options. You still decide what is true, what is fair, what is strong enough to publish, what deserves qualification, and which version actually represents your position.
Continue from here
If you are reading publicly: continue through the AI Writing & Story Development Library for more free writing, editing, manuscript and story workflows.
If Find Your Voice training is included in your access: continue with Voice Foundation Template | Find Your Voice Tool. That link enters the deeper practice layer and may require you to log in.
If you are unsure where to go next, use How to Use Jack Righteous and start with one project, one blocker and one useful next action.
Jack Righteous principle: Better AI writing does not come from surrendering judgment. It comes from making the right decisions easier to see.
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