Prompts that produce a usable first draft
A four-line prompt — job, reader, constraint, and the raw material — beats a paragraph of personality. Here is the pattern and three copies you can paste.
Hristo Stefanov · Wildwood, New Jersey · Sep 16, 2026 · 1 min · AI Tools
Why long prompts still miss
A prompt that says “be professional and engaging” gives the model nothing to obey. A usable draft names the job, the reader, a hard constraint, and the facts you already have. Leave out the facts and the model will invent them. That is the draft you cannot send.
The four lines
Keep this order. Fill the blanks. Paste your notes under it.
- Job: “Write a reply / a checklist / a 150-word summary.”
- Reader: who it is for, and what they already know.
- Constraint: length, tone, or a sentence that must appear. One constraint, not five.
- Material: your bullets, the quote, the numbers. End with “Use only this. If something is missing, write [need] instead of guessing.”
Three you can paste today
Email: “Write a reply. Reader is my manager, who asked for a status. Constraint: under 120 words, ask in the first sentence. Material: shipped the draft, blocked on legal review, need a decision by Thursday. Use only this.”
Meeting notes: “Turn this transcript into decisions, owners, and dates. Reader is the team, who was in the room. Constraint: no recap of small talk. If no owner is named, write [need owner]. Material:” then paste the transcript.
Research skim: “Summarize this in eight bullets a busy person can scan. Reader has not read the source. Constraint: each bullet starts with the claim, and you do not add claims that are not in the text. Material:” then paste the passage.
The edit that makes it yours
Read the draft out loud once. Cut the sentence you would never say. Check every number and name against your notes. If the model wrote [need], that is a success — it did not invent. Fill the gap yourself, then send.
