Study Guide: Alex for Creative Writers
Your personal reference for using Alex in fiction, narrative, and creative nonfiction. Ready-to-run prompts for plot, character, dialogue, and the editing process.
What This Guide Is Not
This is not a habit formation guide (see Self-Study Guide for that). This is a creative writing toolkit — the specific ways Alex can support your writing process, and the prompts that unlock it.
Core Principle for Creative Writers
Alex doesn’t write your stories. You do. The moment you hand over creative control, you lose the thing that makes your work worth reading — your perspective, your obsessions, your way of seeing the world.
Use Alex to interrogate your ideas, generate options you haven’t considered, stress-test your structure, and get you unstuck. The final voice, the final choices, the final vision — those are yours.
The Seven Use Cases
1. Premise and Concept Development
When to use: You have a spark — a character, an image, a “what if” — but it’s not yet a story.
Prompt pattern:
I have a story idea:
[describe what you have — character, situation, image, question, anything]
Help me develop this into a fuller premise:
1. What's the central conflict that could drive a narrative?
2. Who's the protagonist and what do they want?
3. What's standing in their way?
4. What's at stake if they fail?
5. What's the thematic question this story asks?
Give me 3 different directions this idea could go.
Follow-up prompts:
I like direction #2. What would the opening scene be?
The stakes feel too low. How do I raise them without melodrama?
What genre would this story work best in? What would change if I set it in [different genre]?
2. Character Development
When to use: Your characters feel flat, inconsistent, or like mouthpieces for plot.
Prompt pattern:
Help me develop this character:
Name: [name]
Role in story: [protagonist / antagonist / supporting]
Basic premise: [what the story is about]
What I know about them:
[dump everything you have — background, appearance, quirks, desires]
Help me deepen them:
1. What do they want vs. what do they need?
2. What's their wound — the thing from their past shaping their present?
3. What do they believe that will be challenged by the story?
4. How would they describe themselves vs. how would others describe them?
5. What's their specific voice? (Give me a sample line of dialogue)
Follow-up prompts:
They feel too likable. Give them flaws that create friction.
What would they never do? What would it take to make them do it?
Write a scene from their childhood that explains who they are now.
3. Plot and Structure
When to use: When you’re stuck in the middle, when the story meanders, or when you’re outlining before drafting.
Prompt pattern:
Here's my story:
Premise: [one sentence summary]
Beginning: [where it starts]
End: [where you think it ends — or "I don't know yet"]
Current problem: [where you're stuck or what feels off]
Help me with structure:
1. What are the major turning points this story needs?
2. What's the midpoint — where there's no going back?
3. What's the dark moment before the climax?
4. Where is the reader's interest most at risk of flagging?
5. What's missing from this structure?
Follow-up prompts:
I know the beginning and end but the middle is a mess. Map it out.
The second act sags. What complications would add tension?
This is [X pages]. Is this a novel, novella, short story? How do I scope it right?
4. Dialogue Polish
When to use: When dialogue feels stiff, on-the-nose, or when all characters sound the same.
Prompt pattern:
Here's a dialogue exchange:
[paste the scene]
Character context:
[who they are, what they want in this scene, their relationship]
Help me improve it:
1. Where is it too on-the-nose? Show me subtext versions.
2. Do these characters sound distinct? How would I differentiate them?
3. What's not being said that could add tension?
4. Where can I cut? What's redundant?
5. What's the rhythm? Too uniform? Where should it speed up or slow down?
Follow-up prompts:
Rewrite this scene where one character is lying.
Add interruption, talking past each other, misunderstanding.
[Character A] would never say it directly. How do they communicate this obliquely?
5. Scene-Level Craft
When to use: A scene exists but feels flat, rushed, or overwritten.
Prompt pattern:
Here's a scene:
[paste the scene]
What I want this scene to do:
- Plot function: [what happens]
- Emotional function: [what the reader should feel]
- Character function: [what it reveals about character]
Critique this scene:
1. Where does it drag? What can I cut?
2. Where does it rush? What needs more space?
3. Is the setting doing work or just backdrop?
4. Where am I telling when I should show?
5. Does the ending of the scene make you want to read the next one?
Follow-up prompts:
Rewrite the opening paragraph — make it pull harder.
Where can I add sensory detail without slowing the pace?
This scene is all dialogue. What action should be happening simultaneously?
6. Revision and Self-Editing
When to use: You have a draft and need to identify what’s not working.
Prompt pattern:
I'm revising [a chapter / a story / a manuscript].
Here's the section:
[paste the text]
Read this as a critical editor:
1. What's the biggest structural problem?
2. Where does energy drop?
3. What's the one scene/section that needs the most work?
4. What's working well that I should protect?
5. What questions does this raise that I need to answer?
Follow-up prompts:
Read it now for prose — where is my writing flabby?
Are there words/phrases I'm overusing?
Does the voice stay consistent? Where does it waver?
7. Getting Unstuck
When to use: You’ve stopped. You don’t know what happens next. The story has stalled.
Prompt pattern:
I'm stuck. Here's where I am:
The story so far: [brief summary]
Where I stopped: [what just happened]
Why I'm stuck: [what I don't know / what feels wrong]
Help me move forward:
1. What are 5 things that could happen next?
2. What would make this moment worse for the character?
3. What's the unexpected but inevitable thing?
4. Is the problem here, or did I make a wrong turn earlier?
5. If I skip this scene, what would the next scene be?
Follow-up prompts:
I've written myself into a corner. How do I get out without it feeling like a cheat?
Which character could walk through the door right now and change everything?
Should I be writing a different scene? What's the most interesting thing happening in this story right now?
Practice Progression
Week 1: Take a stalled project through “Getting Unstuck.” See if Alex can shake something loose.
Week 2: Pick your weakest character and run them through Character Development.
Week 3: Take three scenes through Scene-Level Craft. Focus on cutting.
Week 4: Full revision pass using the prompts. Identify the one biggest thing to fix.
What Great Looks Like
After consistent use, you should notice:
- More options when you’re stuck
- Faster identification of what’s not working
- Clearer understanding of your own patterns (good and bad)
- More finished drafts
The goal isn’t for Alex to write your stories — it’s for Alex to help you become a better writer.