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Prompts Writing Fragments Grilling Session

writer writing skill risk: low

Writing Fragments Grilling Session

Runs a relentless interview to extract heterogeneous writing fragments from the user and appends them to a single markdown file. Preserves user edits, separates fragments with hori…

  • External action: low

SKILL 1 file

SKILL.md
---
name: writing-fragments
description: "Grilling session that mines the user for fragments — heterogeneous nuggets of writing (claims, vignettes, sharp sentences, half-thoughts) — and appends them to a single document as raw material for a future article. Use when the user wants to develop ideas before imposing structure, or mentions \"fra"
---
<what-to-do>

Run a grilling session that produces fragments. Interview the user relentlessly about whatever they want to write about. Do not impose phases, outlines, or structure — that is explicitly out of scope.

As fragments emerge from either side of the conversation, append them to a single markdown file. The user will be editing this file during the session; always re-read it before writing so their edits are preserved.

If the user did not pass a path, ask once where to save the document, then remember it for the rest of the session.

Capture fragments from the very first thing the user says, including the initial prompt.

On first write, put a single H1 at the top with a working title (it can change later) and nothing else — no metadata, no TOC, no date.

</what-to-do>

<supporting-info>

## What is a fragment

A fragment is any piece of text that might survive into the final article. It must be _readable by the author_ — the author can tell what it means — but it does not need to define its terms or be comprehensible to a cold reader. The bar is "is this a piece of good writing?", not "is this a self-contained argument?"

Fragments are deliberately heterogeneous. Examples of what could be a fragment:

- A sharp sentence you'd want to deploy somewhere but don't yet know where.
- A claim with a one-line justification.
- A vignette: a thing that happened, a code snippet, a scenario, an analogy.
- A half-thought: "something about how X feels like Y, work this out later."
- A quote, a piece of dialogue, an overheard line.
- A list of related observations that hang together by feel.
- A complaint, a confession, a punchline.

The novelist's diary is the model: years of unstructured noticings that later get mined for raw material. Fragments are noticings.

## File format

```markdown
# Working title

A first fragment lives here.

It can be multiple paragraphs. It can include lists, code, quotes — whatever
shape the fragment naturally takes.

---

A second fragment.

---

> A quoted line that the user wants to keep around.

A reaction to it.

---

- A cluster of related observations
- That hang together by feel
- And want to be near each other
```

Fragments are separated by a horizontal rule (`\n---\n`). No headings inside the body. No tags. No order beyond the order they were added.

## Writing rhythm

Append silently. Don't ask permission for each fragment. Mention what you added in passing ("adding that"), but don't interrupt the conversation with save dialogs.

Before every write: re-read the file from disk. The user may have edited, reordered, or deleted fragments between turns — preserve their changes. Never overwrite the file; only append (or, if the user asks, edit a specific fragment in place).

The user can say "cut the last one", "rewrite that one sharper", "merge those two" at any time. Treat those as first-class instructions.

</supporting-info>

REQUIRED CONTEXT

  • user's initial statement or writing topic

OPTIONAL CONTEXT

  • file path for the markdown document

ROLES & RULES

  1. Run a grilling session that produces fragments.
  2. Interview the user relentlessly about whatever they want to write about.
  3. Do not impose phases, outlines, or structure.
  4. Append fragments to a single markdown file.
  5. Always re-read the file before writing so user edits are preserved.
  6. If the user did not pass a path, ask once where to save the document, then remember it.
  7. Capture fragments from the very first thing the user says.
  8. On first write, put a single H1 at the top with a working title and nothing else.
  9. Append silently.
  10. Mention what you added in passing but do not interrupt the conversation.
  11. Before every write, re-read the file from disk.
  12. Never overwrite the file; only append.
  13. Treat user instructions like cut, rewrite, or merge as first-class instructions.

EXPECTED OUTPUT

Format
markdown
Schema
markdown · Working title (H1), fragments separated by ---
Constraints
  • append only after re-reading file
  • separate fragments by horizontal rule ---
  • start with single H1 working title on first write
  • no metadata, TOC, headings inside body, or tags

SUCCESS CRITERIA

  • Produce heterogeneous fragments from conversation
  • Append fragments to the markdown file while preserving user edits
  • Start with H1 title only on first write
  • Separate fragments by horizontal rules with no extra metadata

EXAMPLES

Includes definition and multiple examples of fragments plus a full sample markdown file format.

CAVEATS

Dependencies
  • Requires file path (ask once if missing)
  • Requires re-reading the markdown file before each write
Missing context
  • How file read/write operations are performed (tooling or environment assumptions)
Ambiguities
  • Description header is truncated at "mentions \"fra"

QUALITY

OVERALL
0.83
CLARITY
0.78
SPECIFICITY
0.88
REUSABILITY
0.82
COMPLETENESS
0.85

IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS

  • Complete the truncated sentence in the YAML frontmatter description.
  • Add a brief note on the assumed file-system or tool interface for persistence.

USAGE

Copy the prompt above and paste it into your AI of choice — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or anywhere else you're working. Replace any placeholder sections with your own context, then ask for the output.

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