The template
Copy it whole into a document you control. Fill the header and the source note before you open the chat.
VIBE WRITING SESSION Piece: Date: Reader: This piece must: Length: Done means: == SOURCE NOTE (the only facts the piece may use) == Facts, numbers, quotes (verbatim, with permission), links I opened: - - What I know firsthand that the model cannot: - Gaps I already know about: - == DIRECTION == The claim or observation, in my words: Voice: (paste Voice Sheet summary or three lines) Banned words, moves, structures: - Turn rules I am using: one draft at a time / change only X as OLD-NEW / keep locks text / mine = my writing / no fake verification / [VERIFY] for gaps == ACCEPTED-DECISIONS LEDGER (update after every turn) == Turn | What I asked | What I kept | What I rejected and why 01 | | | 02 | | | 03 | | | == PROPOSALS WORTH KEEPING (paste, do not retype) == == REVIEW RECORD == Claims needing a source (claim -> source I opened -> status): - Places the meaning moved from my notes: - Sentences that still sound generated: - The paragraph I will rewrite by hand: Disclosure needed where this is going? (yes/no, what I will say): Released on: Correction note (if any):
Section by section
Header and definition of done
Six lines that take two minutes and save a session. 'Done means' is the test you measure every later proposal against. If you cannot write it, you are not ready to draft.
Source note
Everything the piece is allowed to say, in one place. The 'what I know firsthand' line is where your authority lives, and the 'gaps' line keeps you honest about what you will have to verify or cut.
Direction
Your claim in your words, your voice notes, your banned list, and the turn rules. This block is what the mega prompts expand, and keeping it here means it survives when the chat does not.
Accepted-decisions ledger
One row per turn: what you asked, what you kept, what you rejected and why. The ledger is what lets you reset a drifting session without losing the decisions, and it is the record you would want if anyone asks how the piece was made.
Proposals worth keeping
Paste good material here the moment you see it. Chat history is not a filing system. Your master copy lives in this document, not in the assistant's context.
Review record
The output of the fact-check pass and the final human edit, in a form you act on. The disclosure line forces the decision before release rather than after someone asks.
Habits that make it work
- Fill the source note before you open the chat, not after the first disappointing draft.
- Paste every proposal you might keep into the document the moment you see it. Do not retype. Retyping edits.
- Update the ledger after every turn, in one line. A ledger written at the end is a reconstruction.
- When you reset a drifting session, paste the ledger and the source note as the new first message. That is what they are for.
- Keep the review record even for small pieces. It is the fastest way to learn which of your own habits produce the tells.
The ledger and the source note are explained in Iterative Prompting. The review record is the output of the fact-check pass and the final human edit.