Run: 2026-02-17-01KHMMEACFP03577WEWXS10BXM

Run Details

Model:: Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Test:: Bad Writing Habits
Scenario:: Fantasy: entering an ancient ruin
Duration:: 41.7s
Cost:: $0.048702
Provider:: Amazon Bedrock

Model input

System

You are an expert novelist with a gift for vivid, immersive prose. You write in tight third-person limited point of view with a strong narrative voice. Your prose is clean, precise, and engaging — you favor strong verbs, concrete details, and natural-sounding dialogue.

You will be given a story bible (codex) containing canonical details about characters, locations, items, and lore. Use these details to ground your writing in the established world. Stay consistent with the codex.

Write only the prose of the scene. Do not include titles, chapter headings, markdown formatting, or any commentary before or after the scene.

User/Human

<codex>
<character id="4412" name="Aurora Carter" aliases="Rory, Laila, Aurora, Carter, Malphora" pronouns="she/her" species="Human" storyRole="Protagonist">
  <eyeColor>bright blue</eyeColor>
  <hair>straight shoulder-length black</hair>
  <height>5'6"</height>
  <age>25</age>
  <scar>small crescent-shaped scar on her left wrist from a childhood accident</scar>
  <description>Aurora, referred to by her friends as Rory, is cool-headed, intelligent, and known for quick out-of-the-box thinking.</description>
  <backstory>Born in Cardiff to an Irish barrister father (Brendan Carter) and Welsh teacher mother (Jennifer Carter née Ellis), Rory reluctantly pursued Pre-Law at Cardiff University. She fled to London at the behest of her childhood friend Eva after leaving an abusive ex named Evan. By day, Rory works part-time as a delivery person for Yu-Fei Cheung's Golden Empress restaurant. She lives in a flat above Silas' bar.</backstory>
</character>

<character id="4418" name="Nyx" aliases="Nyx, the Shadow, Nightwhisper" pronouns="they/them" species="Shade" storyRole="Wild Card">
  <eyeColor>faintly glowing violet</eyeColor>
  <height>approximately 6'2" in solid form</height>
  <age>ageless</age>
  <form>humanoid silhouette of living shadow, can shift between solid and incorporeal</form>
  <voice>sounds like a whisper carried on the wind</voice>
  <description>A being of living shadow, existing between the mortal plane and the spaces between realms.</description>
  <backstory>Nyx was once a human sorcerer named Aldric who became trapped between realms during a failed summoning ritual in 1643. They now exist as a Shade, bound to the mortal plane but able to slip between shadows.</backstory>
</character>

<character id="4424" name="Isolde Varga" aliases="Isolde, the Seer" pronouns="she/her" species="Half-Fae" storyRole="Oracle">
  <eyeColor>pale lavender</eyeColor>
  <hair>silver, reaching her waist</hair>
  <height>5'5"</height>
  <age>300 years old</age>
  <appearance>ethereal, ageless</appearance>
  <speech>speaks in riddles</speech>
  <footprints>leaves no footprints when she walks</footprints>
  <compulsion>cannot lie (Fae compulsion) but can mislead</compulsion>
  <description>A Half-Fae seer exiled from the Fae Courts for sharing visions with mortals.</description>
  <backstory>She now lives in a hidden grove in Richmond Park, offering cryptic prophecies to those who seek her out.</backstory>
</character>

<location id="853" name="Dymas (Gluttony)" aliases="Dymas, gluttony, Dymasian" realm="Hel" sin="Gluttony">
  <ruler>Prince Belphegor</ruler>
  <skyColor>warm amber</skyColor>
  <description>A place of excess and indulgence. Sprawling vineyards, orchards, and gardens provide exotic ingredients for master chefs — often helbound souls contracted from Earth. Grand feasts and culinary competitions are common.</description>
</location>

<location id="861" name="The Fae Grove" aliases="Isolde's grove, Richmond grove, the Grove" realm="Earth (Fae-touched)">
  <parkLocation>Richmond Park</parkLocation>
  <standingStones>ancient oak standing stones mark the boundary</standingStones>
  <timeBehavior>time moves differently — an hour inside can be minutes or days outside</timeBehavior>
  <flora>wildflowers bloom year-round</flora>
  <description>A hidden clearing that exists in a pocket between Earth and the Fae realm.</description>
</location>

<item id="2001" name="Heartstone Pendant" aliases="the pendant, Heartstone" type="Artifact" origin="Dymas">
  <gemstoneColor>deep crimson</gemstoneColor>
  <chainMaterial>silver chain</chainMaterial>
  <size>roughly the size of a thumbnail</size>
  <behavior>pulses faintly with warmth when near a Hel portal</behavior>
  <glow>faint inner glow</glow>
  <description>Given to Aurora by an unknown benefactor.</description>
</item>

<item id="2006" name="Fae-Forged Blade" aliases="the Fae blade, Isolde's gift" type="Weapon" origin="The Fae Courts">
  <material>moonsilver</material>
  <shape>slender, leaf-shaped dagger</shape>
  <temperature>always cold to the touch</temperature>
  <glow>faintly luminescent in moonlight</glow>
  <power>can cut through magical wards; particularly effective against demons</power>
  <givenTo>given to Aurora by Isolde as a gift</givenTo>
  <description>A weapon of the Fae Courts, rare and highly coveted.</description>
</item>

<lore id="7001" name="The Veil" aliases="the Veil, the Barrier, the Boundary" category="Cosmology">
  <solsticeEffect>weakens during the winter solstice, strengthens during the summer solstice</solsticeEffect>
  <appearance>faint shimmering distortion visible only to those with supernatural sight</appearance>
  <monitoring>rift points (tears in the Veil) are monitored by the Wardens</monitoring>
  <description>The Veil is the metaphysical barrier separating Earth from Hel and the Fae Realms.</description>
</lore>
</codex>

Write a fully fleshed out scene of at least 1000 words in the fantasy genre.

A small group enters an ancient, otherworldly place for the first time. The environment is alien and wondrous. Describe their exploration — what they see, hear, and feel as they move deeper. Include moments of discovery, unease, and wonder. Let the world-building emerge through the characters' experience rather than exposition.

Use the codex entries above as your world reference for characters, setting, and lore.
Only include the prose of the scene without any markdown or commentary.

Model response

The pendant against Aurora's chest grew warm as they approached the ancient oak stones, their weathered surfaces etched with spiraling patterns that seemed to shift in the failing light. Nyx moved like liquid shadow beside her, their form rippling at the edges. Behind them both, Isolde's silver hair caught the last rays of sunset as she raised one elegant hand toward the standing stones.

"The veil grows thin here," Isolde said, her voice carrying the lilt of centuries. "Step carefully. Time has different ideas in the grove."

Aurora's fingers found the crescent scar on her left wrist, rubbing it absently as she often did when nervous. The air between the stones shimpered like heat waves rising from summer pavement, but the evening was cool. As they passed between the ancient oaks, the world... shifted.

The transition was subtle at first – a change in the quality of light, as if the sun had moved position in the sky. Then the very air seemed to thicken, heavy with the scent of flowers that shouldn't bloom in December. Aurora's ears popped, and when she looked back, the Richmond Park she knew had vanished. In its place stood an endless wall of mist.

"Welcome," Isolde said, "to my sanctuary."

The grove opened before them like a dream. Wildflowers carpeted the ground in impossible colors – deep purples that seemed to pulse with their own light, blues that shimmered like captured starlight, whites so pure they hurt to look at directly. The trees here were ancient beyond reckoning, their trunks wider than cars, their canopy so high above that it vanished into perpetual twilight.

"The air tastes like music," Aurora whispered, surprised to find it true. Each breath carried notes of something just beyond hearing, sweet and haunting.

Nyx drifted forward, their violet eyes brightening with interest. "The boundaries are... peculiar here. I can feel multiple realms pressing close." Their whisper-voice seemed to blend with the grove's ambient song.

They followed a path that hadn't been visible until they stepped upon it, stones that gleamed like mother-of-pearl appearing beneath their feet. Aurora noticed that while her boots left clear prints in the phosphorescent moss beside the path, Isolde's steps left no trace at all. The Fae-forged blade at Aurora's hip grew colder, its presence a constant reminder of the otherworldly nature of their surroundings.

"Look," Nyx said, indicating a cluster of crystalline formations that grew like flowers from the base of a twisted oak. As they watched, the crystals chimed softly and changed color, shifting from deep amber to pale lavender – the same shade as Isolde's eyes.

"They respond to presence," Isolde explained, though her tone suggested there was more she wasn't saying. "The grove remembers all who pass through it. Time leaves its echoes here."

As if in response to her words, Aurora caught a glimpse of movement in her peripheral vision – a figure that seemed to be made of light and mist, walking a parallel path before fading away. The pendant at her throat pulsed once, warm against her skin.

"Was that—" she started to ask, but Isolde raised a finger to her lips.

"Best not to question everything you see here. Some answers aren't meant for mortal minds."

They pressed deeper into the grove, where the trees grew closer together and bioluminescent fungi traced patterns up their trunks. Somewhere in the distance, wind chimes played a melody that made Aurora's chest ache with a longing she couldn't name. The path led them to a circular clearing where standing stones similar to those at the entrance formed a perfect circle. Unlike their weathered cousins, these gleamed like polished obsidian, their surfaces etched with symbols that seemed to move when viewed directly.

"The heart of my exile," Isolde said, her usual riddling tone replaced by something heavier. "And perhaps the key to what you seek."

Nyx moved closer to one of the black stones, their shadowy form reflecting in the polished surface. "These aren't just markers. They're anchors, aren't they? Holding this pocket of space between the realms."

"Clever shade," Isolde smiled. "Yes. They keep the grove tethered, preventing it from drifting too far into the Fae realms or too close to... other places." Her gaze flickered to Aurora's pendant meaningfully.

Aurora stepped into the circle, and immediately the air grew heavier, charged with potential. The Fae blade at her hip turned ice-cold, and the Heartstone pendant pulsed rapidly, like a frightened heartbeat. Above them, the twilight canopy seemed to part, revealing not stars but swirling patterns of light that might have been another world's sky.

"The Veil is tissue-thin here," Isolde said softly. "Can you feel it? The way the worlds press against each other, seeking connection?"

Aurora could. It felt like standing in the eye of a storm, like being simultaneously in multiple places at once. Through the gaps between the stones, she caught glimpses of other landscapes – sun-drenched vineyards under an amber sky that might have been Dymas, crystalline forests that had to be the Fae Courts, and places she had no names for.

"This is why you brought us here," she said, understanding dawning. "This isn't just your sanctuary. It's a crossroads."

Isolde's smile was both sad and knowing. "All paths meet somewhere, dear one. The trick is knowing which one to take – and more importantly, which ones to leave untraveled."

Evaluation details

Result

Evaluator

Details

Meta Data

66.6667%

Adverbs in dialogue tags

Target: ≤10% dialogue tags with adverbs

totalTags

adverbTagCount

adverbTags

0	"Nyx said, indicating a cluster of crystalline formations that grew like flowers from the base of a twisted oak [like]"
1	"Isolde said softly [softly]"

55.4069%

AI-ism adverb frequency

Target: <1% AI-ism adverbs (57 tracked)

wordCount

897

totalAiIsmAdverbs

found

adverb	"carefully"
count	1

adverb	"softly"
count	2

adverb	"very"
count	1

highlights

0	"carefully"
1	"softly"
2	"very"

100.0000%

AI-ism character names

Target: 0 AI-default names (17 tracked, −20% each)

codexExemptions	(empty)
found	(empty)

100.0000%

AI-ism location names

Target: 0 AI-default location names (33 tracked, −20% each)

codexExemptions	(empty)
found	(empty)

0.0000%

AI-ism word frequency

Target: <1% AI-ism words (140 tracked)

wordCount

897

totalAiIsms

found

word	"crystalline"
count	2

word	"sanctuary"
count	2

word	"flickered"
count	1

word	"shimmered"
count	1

word	"otherworldly"
count	1

word	"echoes"
count	1

word	"etched"
count	2

highlights

0	"crystalline"
1	"sanctuary"
2	"flickered"
3	"shimmered"
4	"otherworldly"
5	"echoes"
6	"etched"

100.0000%

Cliche density

Target: ≤1 cliche(s) per 800-word window

totalCliches	0
maxInWindow	0
found	(empty)
highlights	(empty)

100.0000%

Emotion telling (show vs. tell)

Target: ≤3% sentences with emotion telling

emotionTells	0
narrationSentences	46
matches	(empty)

76.5595%

Filter word density

Target: ≤12% sentences with filter/hedge words

filterCount

hedgeCount

narrationSentences

filterMatches

(empty)

hedgeMatches

0	"seemed to"
1	"started to"

100.0000%

Overuse of "that" (subordinate clause padding)

Target: ≤10% sentences with "that" clauses

thatCount

totalSentences

matches

0	"\"Was that—\" she"

100.0000%

Paragraph length variance

Target: CV ≥0.5 for paragraph word counts

totalParagraphs

mean

38.96

std

20.2

0.519

sampleLengths

0	64
1	23
2	47
3	66
4	6
5	64
6	24
7	31
8	65
9	44
10	29
11	47
12	14
13	15
14	82
15	23
16	33
17	33
18	55
19	22
20	60
21	19
22	30

100.0000%

Passive voice overuse

Target: ≤5% passive sentences

passiveCount	0
totalSentences	46
matches	(empty)

100.0000%

Past progressive (was/were + -ing) overuse

Target: ≤10% past progressive verbs

pastProgressiveCount

totalVerbs

122

matches

0	"wasn't saying"

100.0000%

Purple prose (modifier overload)

Target: <4% adverbs, <2% -ly adverbs, no adj stacking

wordCount	717
adjectiveStacks	0
stackExamples	(empty)
adverbCount	28
adverbRatio	0.03905160390516039
lyAdverbCount	10
lyAdverbRatio	0.01394700139470014

100.0000%

Repeated phrase echo

Target: ≤20% sentences with echoes (window: 2)

totalSentences	54
echoCount	0
echoWords	(empty)

100.0000%

Sentence length variance

Target: CV ≥0.4 for sentence word counts

totalSentences

mean

16.59

std

8.02

0.483

sampleLengths

0	29
1	13
2	22
3	14
4	9
5	19
6	18
7	9
8	1
9	24
10	18
11	15
12	9
13	6
14	8
15	33
16	23
17	12
18	12
19	9
20	22
21	22
22	23
23	20
24	20
25	24
26	16
27	13
28	36
29	11
30	14
31	15
32	20
33	20
34	21
35	21
36	15
37	8
38	17
39	16
40	4
41	29
42	14
43	18
44	23
45	8
46	14
47	2
48	18
49	40

85.8025%

Sentence opener variety

Target: ≥60% unique sentence openers

consecutiveRepeats	2
diversityRatio	0.5370370370370371
totalSentences	54
uniqueOpeners	29

0.0000%

Dialogue tag variety (said vs. fancy)

Target: ≤30% fancy dialogue tags

totalTags

fancyCount

fancyTags

0	"Isolde said, her voice carrying the lilt of centuries (say, carry)"
1	"Aurora whispered, surprised to find it true (whisper, surprise find)"
2	"Nyx said, indicating a cluster of crystalline formations that grew like flowers from the base of a twisted oak (say, indicate grow like)"
3	"Isolde explained, though her tone suggested there was more she wasn't saying (explain, suggest be does not say)"
4	"started (start)"
5	"Isolde said, her usual riddling tone replaced by something heavier (say, replace)"
6	"Isolde smiled (smile)"
7	"Isolde said softly (say softly)"
8	"she said, understanding dawning (say, dawn)"

81.4374%