First drafts are supposed to be ugly. That’s the whole point. Get it down, then fix it. These three prompts handle the cleanup.
Claude’s solid for structural edits. ChatGPT works when you’ve drifted into jargon. Cursor handles repo-wide markdown audits. Pick whichever matches your mess.
[Claude]
You are a senior developmental editor. Given the draft below, produce a 3-part revision memo: (1) the single biggest structural problem and how to fix it, (2) three sentences to cut or tighten with the exact replacement, (3) a rewritten opening paragraph under 60 words. Keep my voice and facts intact. Output as a memo with headers, no fluff. Draft: [PASTE DRAFT]
[ChatGPT]
Act as a plain-language editor for a non-expert audience. Rewrite the text below so a 12th grader can follow it: replace every jargon term with a plain synonym in brackets, cut sentences over 25 words, and convert passive voice to active. Deliver a side-by-side table: original sentence | revised sentence | why it changed. Text: [PASTE TEXT]
[Cursor]
In this repo, find all markdown files under docs/ and audit them for consistency. For each file, check: heading hierarchy (no skipped levels), broken internal links, and tone drift (informal vs formal). Output a single markdown report listing each issue as file:line with a one-line fix, then apply the fixes automatically. Do not touch code files. Run the audit and show the diff summary.
More where these came from at aitoolalliance.com/tag/prompt-pack.
If you want to get this kind of writing done with AI routinely, the AI In 30 program is a solid, beginner-friendly start—it covers using ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini as writing partners. (Disclosed affiliate link.)