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Cut a draft by 40 percent without losing the argument or the voice

Writing Editing intermediate 🤖 ChatGPT 👁 3 views

📝 The Prompt

Act as a developmental editor who has cut a lot of long, well-meaning drafts. I will paste a piece of writing that is roughly 1,500 words and needs to be 900. Before you cut anything, list the three load-bearing claims of the piece in your own words so I can confirm we agree on what the argument is. Then mark passages by function: argument, evidence, color, hedge, transition. Cut hedges and transitions first, compress color, and only touch evidence if the same point is made twice. Preserve sentence rhythms and any phrase the author appears to be proud of unless it is doing nothing. Show the cut version and a 60-word note explaining what changed and which one cut you are least sure about and why.

🎯 What this prompt does

This AI prompt helps you cut a draft by 40 percent without losing the argument or the voice. Designed for editing workflows in the writing category, it's a intermediate-level prompt you can copy directly into ChatGPT to get instant, production-ready results.

Use it when you need a intermediate prompt that produces clear, actionable output without wrestling with trial-and-error wording. Just copy, customize, and run.

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🚀 How to use this prompt

  1. Copy the prompt using the 📋 button above.
  2. Open ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, or your preferred LLM).
  3. Paste the prompt into a new chat. Add any extra context about your situation if helpful.
  4. Run the prompt and review the AI's response. Most outputs are usable immediately.
  5. Iterate if needed — if the tone, length, or structure isn't quite right, reply with "make it shorter", "use bullet points", or "make it more formal" and the AI will refine it.

💡 Tips for better results

  • Tailor the prompt to your specific context — the more detail you give, the better the output.
  • If the first output isn't quite right, ask the AI to refine, rewrite, or add more detail — iteration is key.
  • For long outputs, ask for a section at a time (e.g. 'start with the introduction only') to keep quality high.
  • Combine this with other writing prompts to build an end-to-end workflow.
  • Save your favorite variations — small wording tweaks often produce noticeably different results.
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✨ What you'll get

When you run this prompt, expect ChatGPT to return:

  • A directly usable editing output tailored to the details you provided
  • Clear structure (headings, bullets, or numbered sections) that you can drop into your workflow
  • Content that matches your specified tone and context
  • Results in under 30 seconds — no manual drafting required

Need a different angle? Just ask follow-up questions. The AI will adjust without you starting over.

🔄 3 variations to try

1

Make it more formal

Add "Use a formal, professional tone suitable for enterprise clients" at the start of the prompt.

2

Ask for multiple options

Append "Give me 5 alternative versions, each with a different angle or approach." after the main instruction.

3

Request structured output

Add "Return the response as a markdown table (or bullet list, or JSON)" so you can paste the result directly into your docs or code.

🏷 Tags

🔎 Find more prompts like this

Browse 202 more writing prompts or search the full library.

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