Hey!
I’ve been writing with AI for about two years now, currently running long-form projects on Tale Companion. I’ve shared guides here on Reddit before on character voice, prose style, and emotional scenes. This time I want to talk about a more subtle problem: pacing.
Specifically: AI wants to resolve everything. Immediately. In the same scene it was introduced.
Your character discovers a betrayal. By the end of the same scene, they’ve confronted the betrayer, had the emotional conversation, and moved on. Three sessions of story compressed into fifteen lines.
If you’ve ever felt like your AI stories are sprinting through moments that should breathe, this is why.
Main Problem: AI Writes Stories and not Resolutions
AI is trained to be helpful. Helpful means solving problems. So when you introduce a conflict, the AI’s instinct is to solve it as fast as possible.
The result is a story that technically has events but no momentum. No build. No slow burn. Just a series of introductions and resolutions stacked on top of each other.
Fix 1: Tell AI What’s NOT Supposed to Resolve Yet
This is the simplest and most effective thing I’ve done.
Before a scene or session, explicitly tell the AI which conflicts should remain unresolved: – “The tension between Mira and Kael is NOT resolved in this scene. They’re still circling around the issue.” – “The mystery of the missing letters should deepen, not get answered.” – “This scene is about suspicion growing, not confrontation happening.”
If you don’t tell AI to leave threads open, it will tie them all up.
Think of it like a to-do list for what should stay messy. AI respects these guardrails surprisingly well — it just needs them stated explicitly.
Fix 2: Complicate, Don’t Resolve
This is a principle from screenwriting that transfers perfectly to AI writing.
Every scene should either make things worse or make them different. Not better. Not resolved. Worse or different.
The question isn’t “how does this get fixed?” It’s “how does this get more complicated?”
Try telling the AI: – “When a problem arises, add a complication rather than a solution.” – “If my character tries to fix something, it should partially work but create a new issue.” – “Success always comes with a cost or a catch.”
This single instruction changed my sessions dramatically. Suddenly stories had momentum because problems didn’t evaporate — they evolved.
Fix 3: The “Yes, But / No, And” Framework
Borrowed from improv and tabletop RPGs. Gold for AI writing.
When your character attempts something: – Yes, but: It works, but something goes wrong or something new surfaces. – No, and: It doesn’t work, and something else gets worse too.
These two responses generate story. “Yes” and “No” on their own are dead ends.
Include this in your prompting: – “When my character takes action, respond with ‘yes, but’ or ‘no, and’ consequences. Pure success or failure should be rare.”
Now every action has consequences that feed the next scene. The story pulls itself forward instead of stalling after each beat.
Fix 4: Think in Arcs, Not Scenes
This is where most AI writing falls apart at the macro level.
AI has no concept of story structure. It doesn’t know you’re in Act 1 or Act 3. It doesn’t know that tension should escalate before it peaks. Every scene starts from the same emotional baseline.
You have to be the architect. AI is a great builder but a terrible planner.
What works for me: outline your story in rough phases and tell the AI where you are.
- “We’re in the early phase. Conflicts are emerging but not confronted yet. Keep things simmering.”
- “We’re approaching the midpoint. Tensions should start surfacing. Alliances get tested.”
- “We’re building toward the climax. Everything should feel like it’s converging.”
On Tale Companion, I keep this as a persistent note that I update as the story progresses. But even a line at the top of your chat telling the AI “we’re in the slow build phase” does wonders.
The AI doesn’t need a detailed outline. It needs to know the temperature of the story right now.
Fix 5: Plant Seeds, Don’t Deliver Payoffs
Great writers set things up long before they pay off. AI almost never does this unprompted.
A seed is a detail that means nothing now but will mean everything later.
Tell the AI to include small, seemingly unimportant details: – “Include a minor detail in this scene that could become significant later.” – “Have a character mention something offhand that connects to the larger plot.” – “Describe something in the environment that feels slightly out of place.”
Then, chapters later, when you want that payoff, remind the AI of the seed: – “Remember the broken clock in the tower from the first chapter? It matters now.”
This creates the feeling of a story that was planned all along, even when it wasn’t. Readers — even when the reader is also the writer — love feeling like everything is connected.
Fix 6: Vary the Tempo
Pacing isn’t just about speed. It’s about variation.
Fast-fast-fast is exhausting. Slow-slow-slow is boring. The magic is in the shift between them.
Think of pacing like breathing. Tension is the inhale. Release is the exhale. You need both.
Tell the AI when to shift gears: – “This scene is a breath. Slow, character-focused, no plot advancement.” – “Now things speed up. Short sentences, quick cuts between locations.” – “This conversation should feel long and uncomfortable. Don’t rush to the point.”
After a high-tension action sequence, I deliberately ask for a quiet scene. After calm, I let things ramp. The contrast is what makes both halves work.
Putting It Together
For stories that actually build: 1. Protect unresolved threads explicitly 2. Complicate instead of resolving 3. Use “yes, but / no, and” for action outcomes 4. Tell AI which story phase you’re in 5. Plant seeds early, pay off late 6. Vary the tempo — alternate tension and release
None of these require special tools or setups. They work in any interface, with any model. They’re writing principles, not technical tricks. You’re translating the instincts a human writer develops over time into instructions an AI can follow.
A Quick Test
Look at your last few AI-written scenes. How many conflicts were introduced AND resolved within the same scene?
If the answer is most of them, your story is sprinting when it should be jogging. Try protecting just one thread from resolution next session. Let it sit. Let it spread. Let your characters carry it with them into the next scene without talking about it.
The moment you stop letting AI tie up every loose end, your stories start feeling like actual stories. With build. With payoff. With something worth waiting for.
What’s your experience with AI pacing? Does anyone else fight the “everything resolves immediately” problem, or is it just me?
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