Vibe Writing

Your task as Producer is to conduct a strict casting and put soul into your actors before shooting begins. You don’t need a crowd of extras. You need the “Magnificent Five” and a clear understanding of how these people will change by the end of the book.

Let’s break this down to atoms.

CASTING (ARCHETYPES)

In dramaturgy, there are five basic figures. You can add a sixth or seventh, but without this five, the structure will collapse. It’s like chess: you can have pawns, but the King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, and Knight must be on the board.

Let’s break them down using examples from “Star Wars,” “Shrek,” and “Harry Potter”.

1. PROTAGONIST (MAIN HERO)

The reader’s eyes. The one who must change the most.

This isn’t necessarily the strongest or smartest person in the room. This is the person with the biggest problem. AI often makes the Protagonist a “Superman” who succeeds at everything. This is a mistake. At the beginning of the book, the Protagonist must be “incomplete.” He must have:

• The Wound: An event in the past that caused pain.

• The Lie: A false belief about the world that protects him from this pain (more on this in the second part of the chapter).

2. ANTAGONIST (THE SHADOW)

The engine of progress. The one who kicks the hero forward.

Remember the golden rule: The Antagonist is the hero of their own story. In bad books, the villain is bad because he’s evil. He wants to conquer the world and laugh evilly. This is boring. In good books (and in correct prompts for neural networks), the Antagonist has a Noble Goal achieved by monstrous methods.

• Example: Darth Vader doesn’t consider himself evil. He believes he’s bringing Order to a chaotic Galaxy.

• Example: Agent Smith in “The Matrix” considers people a virus and himself the cure. He wants to clean the system.

The Shadow’s Function: The Antagonist is often a mirror reflection of the Hero. He shows who the Hero would become if he made the wrong choice. Harry Potter and Voldemort are both orphans, both powerful wizards, but one chose Love, the other – Power.

3. LOVE INTEREST / ANCHOR

What’s worth living (and dying) for.

The name “love” is conditional. This can be a wife, child, brother, or best friend. This character’s function is Humanization. A hero who just chops monsters is a machine. A hero who chops monsters to protect someone weak is a human. The “Anchor” ties the hero to the ground when he gets carried away. The “Anchor” becomes the Antagonist’s main target in the second half of the book (to hurt the Hero).

• Example (“The Hunger Games”): First Prim (sister). Katniss goes to her death for her. Then – Peeta.

• Example (“WALL-E”): EVE. A robot collecting trash gains a soul when it falls in love.

4. SIDEKICK / ALLY

“Mr. Watson” and a way to convey the hero’s thoughts.

The main technical task of the Sidekick is to give the Hero the opportunity to voice their thoughts in dialogues. After all, it would be strange if the hero talked to themselves. We need a way to convey the main hero’s thoughts to the reader.

The Sidekick is the one with whom the Hero can discuss plans, share doubts, and explain their decisions. When Sherlock Holmes says to Watson: “Elementary, Watson! The killer is the gardener because…", he’s not just answering a question. He’s voicing his thoughts, and the reader gets access to the hero’s inner world.

Additional functions of the Sidekick (which AI easily implements if prompted):

• Contrast: If the Hero is serious and gloomy – the Sidekick can be a cheerful chatterbox (Shrek and Donkey). If the Hero is physically weak – the Sidekick can be the muscle (Harry Potter and Ron/Hagrid, Frodo and Sam).

• Exposition: The Sidekick asks questions the reader is interested in: “Why did you decide the killer is the gardener?” Thanks to this, the reader understands what’s happening.

5. MENTOR

The key giver.

Usually, this is a father/mother figure or an old master. The Mentor’s task: explain to the Hero (and us) how this new dangerous world works, and hand over the “Sword” (or Magic Wand, or Kung-Fu knowledge). The cruel truth of dramaturgy: The Mentor must die or leave around 75% of the book (All Is Lost). Why? Because while the Mentor is nearby, the Hero remains a child under protection. The Mentor’s death forces the Hero to grow up and face the Villain alone.

• Examples: Obi-Wan Kenobi (dies), Dumbledore (dies), Morpheus (gets captured).

CHAPTER 3. THE HERO’S ARC (PSYCHOLOGY OF CHANGE)

And now – the most important thing. What turns text into Literature. CHARACTER ARC.

Neural networks are terrible at holding arcs. If you don’t write the path of change in the prompt, your hero in the first chapter will be the same as in the last. This happens in life. In books, it’s a failure.

Plot (explosions, chases, intrigues) is just a hammer. With this hammer, the Universe hits the Hero to change his form.

The arc is built on the conflict between The Lie and The Truth.

Stage 1. The Lie the Hero Believes (Beginning: 0–25%)

At the beginning of the book, your hero is missing something. But it’s not about a magic sword. It’s about an internal flaw. He lives by a false principle. This is his Lie. It helps him survive in the ordinary world, but makes him unhappy or incomplete.

• Example (“Shrek”):

• The Lie: “I’m a monster. The world hates me. The best way to live is alone and scare everyone. That way no one can hurt me.”

• Behavior: He’s rude, cynical, lives in a swamp, pushes Donkey away.

• Example (“Spider-Man,” 2002):

• The Lie: “I’m a little person everyone wipes their feet on. If I get power, I’ll use it to make money, buy a car, and impress a girl. My problems are only mine.”

Prompt for AI: “At the beginning of the story, the Hero believes that [The Lie]. Describe a scene where he acts based on this belief, and it ruins his life, but he doesn’t understand it.”

Stage 2. Doubt and Trial (Middle: 25–75%)

The hero gets into an adventure. Old methods (The Lie) stop working. Life hits him on the head. He gets friends who need protection. He starts seeing glimpses of The Truth. But he’s afraid to give up the old protection. He’s torn.

• Example (“Shrek”): Shrek goes to save the Princess. He sees Donkey reaching out to him. Fiona shows interest in him.

• Doubt: “Maybe not everyone hates ogres? Maybe someone likes me?”

• Conflict: He starts opening up (the scene with toad and snake balls), but still fears admitting who he is (hides feelings).

Stage 3. The Collapse of the Lie (All Is Lost: 75%)

A catastrophe happens. The Lie no longer protects. The hero understands: “I’ve been living wrong.” To defeat the Antagonist, he must kill the old personality in himself. It’s painful.

• Example (“Shrek”): Shrek overhears Fiona’s conversation, thinks she called him ugly.

• Collapse: He thinks his Lie was true (“Everyone really does hate me!”). He gets offended, hands Fiona over to Lord Farquaad, and returns to the swamp.

• Realization: He sits on his swamp. He got what he wanted (loneliness). But he’s unhappy. He understands The Truth: “Loneliness isn’t protection. Loneliness is a prison. I love her.”

• Example (“Spider-Man”): Uncle Ben is killed because of Peter’s inaction.

• The Truth: “With great power comes great responsibility.” You can’t live only for yourself.

Stage 4. Acceptance of Truth and New World (Finale: 90–100%)

The hero accepts the new paradigm. Now he has the strength to defeat the Antagonist. External victory becomes the result of internal victory.

• Example (“Shrek”): Shrek bursts into the wedding. He does what he feared most: he becomes vulnerable. He confesses his love before a crowd of people with pitchforks.

• Result: He accepts himself. Fiona accepts him. The world changes (at the wedding, people and fairy-tale creatures dance).

WORKSHOP: Generating Living People, Not Mannequins

You are the Producer. AI is your casting director. You must give it a clear task to create a Psychological Portrait.

Copy this Super-Prompt into your chat with the neural network:

“Act as a professional writer-psychologist and screenwriter. We’re developing characters for a novel in the genre [Your genre, for example: Cyberpunk] about [Brief essence: hackers stealing memories].

Create a “Character Bible” for me. I need 5 archetypes:

• Protagonist

• Antagonist

• Love Interest (or Anchor)

• Sidekick

• Mentor

For EACH character, write the following points. Be creative, avoid clichés:

• Name and Nickname:

• Visual Image: (3 bright, memorable details: scars, tattoos, clothing style, object in hand).

• Main Character Trait: (For example: Paranoid optimist).

• THE GHOST (Past Trauma): What event broke this person?

• THE LIE: What false belief prevents them from living at the beginning of the book?

• THE TRUTH: What must they understand by the end to change (Hero’s Arc)?

• Unique Voice: How do they speak? (Slang, stuttering, bureaucratese, sarcasm).

• Secret: What are they hiding from everyone?”

Result Analysis: When AI gives you the result, turn on “cynic mode.”

• If the hero’s Lie is “I’m too kind,” demand a rewrite. This isn’t a Lie, it’s coquetry. The Lie must be painful: “I don’t trust anyone,” “I’m a coward,” “Money is more important than people.”

• If all characters have the same speech style – ask AI: “Make the Sidekick’s speech simpler and rougher, use street slang. And make the Antagonist’s speech insinuating and intellectual.”

With this dossier, your neural network will never write that the hero acted illogically. You can always remind it: “Look at point 5. Our hero believes no one can be trusted. Why is he suddenly hugging the first person he meets? Rewrite!”

Now we have a Map (Plot) and a Team (Heroes with Arcs). In the next chapter, we’ll stop planning and start the Marathon. How to force yourself and AI to write 50,000 words and not die of boredom? This is about Chris Baty’s method and Fractal Writing.

PART 2. PRODUCTION

CHAPTER 4. The Neural Network Zoo: How to Choose Your Perfect Co-Author

Before we rush into battle, we need to solve a technical question. Where will we write?

The world of artificial intelligence is changing at a crazy speed. If yesterday a neural network could only link two words, today flagship models write sonnets and pass medical school exams. I’ll be honest: at the time of writing this book, almost all “top” models produce excellent results. The difference between them is in nuances, like the difference between BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. Everything goes fast, the question is in character.