Everyone knows and loves the little blue/green squiggles in word processors — they indicate you have a bum sentence; right-click it and you get a few options to fix it.
What happens when your computer can put a squiggly line under your whole story. Not because you have bum prose, but because you have a flat character, a boring plotline, a fizzling conflict?
What should be in the popup menu? Not so clear. The problems are deep and structural; the solutions require coordinated decisions.
Quick example — in a novel, of course.
The AI extracts characters, chapters, plots, settings, etc, and comes up with 500 notes for 'things that seem off'. You could pin them as sticky notes, but that's not how to fix a story. The best developmental editors connect the dots and surface deeper insights, like:
- Underdeveloped Secondary Character Arcs Dilute Emotional Stakes
- The Antagonist's Arc Needs Stronger Foreshadowing
- Rushed Emotional Beats Undercut the Climax
Opportunities to step back from the ocean of feedback and make bigger pivots.
An author might agree or disagree. But if they pick one — say 'Underdeveloped Secondary...' — what do they do? Right-click and... the novel rewrites itself? No author signs up for that. Naming a problem (...err, opportunity...) is just the start. Next: 'ok, so what should I do with this?'
To make secondary characters feel more alive they might:
- Seed their Concrete Life Contexts
- Reveal their Personal Tradeoffs at Key Decision Points
- Personalize their Signature Rituals
All viable. But which is right for this work? Which balances the fix's value against the cost of adding words? Which reveals the story the author wants to tell without burying it?
Pick one — say 'Personalize their Signature...' Now there's a diagnosis and an approach and still... the task is ill-defined. So many relevant passages, so many techniques.
So an author might go through the novel and select some paragraphs:
- Chapter 7 — reveal Felix's data obsession root
- Chapter 30 — deepen Bridget's window ritual
- Chapter 52 — hint at Detective Conroy's sarcastic exhaustion
NOW we're on to something.
When the author is editing chapter 52 and gets to Detective Conroy, they might see a 'Story Squiggle'. They right-click and see:
Because we agreed some secondary characters are underdeveloped, AND you decided to approach this through signature rituals... you might rewrite this paragraph like so.
That clear blue squiggle with 3 options has turned into a hierarchy of choices, all leading to a meeting of the minds before anything changes.
Better? Heck yeah. But also much more complex, and no users have any idea what to expect — no training on the interaction patterns.
We have this amazing new capability. And so many friction points for humans who aren't drinking all the AI kool-aid they can find. What an amazing time to be alive.
What do you think? Will people get used to the complexity? Or will tools evolve another way?