Run: 2026-02-17-01KHMMF4R75Y1R6BJJS82FRG0V

Run Details

Model:: Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Test:: Bad Writing Habits
Scenario:: Fantasy: entering an ancient ruin
Duration:: 38.8s
Cost:: $0.049182
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 air shimmered like heat waves rising from summer pavement, but the grove was cool, almost crisp. Aurora's breath caught as she stepped through the ancient oak stones marking the boundary. The Heartstone pendant at her throat pulsed once, warm against her skin, then fell silent.

"Well," she whispered, "no turning back now."

Nyx materialized beside her, their shadowy form more substantial in this between-place. "The Veil is paper-thin here," they said, their voice carrying like dead leaves in an autumn breeze. "Watch your step."

Behind them, Isolde glided forward without a sound, her silver hair catching impossible lights that seemed to dance between the trees. She moved as if in a dream, leaving no marks in the carpet of wildflowers that shouldn't have been blooming in December.

The grove opened before them like the inside of a geode – familiar shapes twisted into something ancient and strange. Moonflowers bloomed alongside sun-seeking daisies. Moss crept up tree trunks in spiral patterns that made Aurora's eyes hurt if she looked too long. The very air felt alive, thick with possibility.

"Time moves differently here," Isolde said, her pale lavender eyes reflecting lights that Aurora couldn't quite see. "What feels like moments might be hours in your world. Or days." She smiled, the expression both beautiful and unsettling. "Or perhaps it will be the other way around."

Aurora's hand drifted to the Fae-forged blade at her hip, drawing comfort from its persistent cold. "You could have mentioned that before we crossed the boundary."

"I could have," Isolde agreed, in that infuriating way that reminded Aurora she couldn't lie but could certainly choose what truths to tell and when.

They pressed deeper into the grove. The trees grew older, their bark taking on a silvery sheen. Roots rose from the ground in arch-like formations, creating natural doorways that seemed to lead nowhere and everywhere at once. Aurora's skin prickled. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched – not maliciously, but with ancient, inhuman curiosity.

Nyx drifted ahead, their form rippling like smoke in a breeze that Aurora couldn't feel. "There are gaps here," they said, reaching out to touch a tree trunk. Their shadowy fingers passed partly through the bark. "Places where the mortal world and the Fae realm bleed together."

A chiming sound drew Aurora's attention. Wind chimes, she thought at first, but there was no wind. The sound came again, like crystal glasses touching, and she realized it was the wildflowers – they were singing to each other, a melody just at the edge of human hearing.

"Don't stray from the path," Isolde warned, though Aurora couldn't see any path beneath the riot of impossible blooms. "The grove remembers those who disrespect its boundaries."

Aurora's foot caught on something solid. She looked down to find a perfect circle of mushrooms, their caps gleaming like mother-of-pearl. Inside the circle, the grass was darker, moving in a way that suggested a deeper space beneath.

"A faerie ring," Nyx observed, drawing closer. "A natural portal to the Courts."

"Not our destination today," Isolde said firmly. She reached out and caught Aurora's wrist, her touch cool and electric. "Though it calls to your blood, doesn't it? The magic here recognizes magic elsewhere." Her eyes fixed on the Heartstone pendant.

Aurora's hand flew to the crimson gem. "What do you mean?"

But Isolde had already moved on, her bare feet somehow finding purchase among the flowers and fungi that parted before her like courtiers before a queen. The air grew thicker as they walked, heavy with the scent of night-blooming jasmine and something else – something older and wilder that made Aurora think of lightning storms and the moment just before dawn.

They came to a clearing where the trees formed a perfect circle. In the center stood a pool of water so still it looked like black glass. Stars reflected on its surface, though when Aurora looked up, she could see nothing but branches interweaved so tightly they formed a living ceiling.

"Here," Isolde said, kneeling at the pool's edge. "This is where we'll see what must be seen."

The Heartstone grew warmer against Aurora's chest. She watched as Nyx's shadowy form seemed to expand, becoming less distinct around the edges, as if the ancient magic of the grove was affecting even their quasi-corporeal form.

"Is this why you brought us here?" Aurora asked, her voice sounding strange in the thick air. "To look into a pool?"

Isolde's smile was sad and knowing. "To look beyond, dear one. The waters here flow from your world to others. To Hel, to the Fae Courts, to places between and beneath and beyond." She gestured to the pool's obsidian surface. "If you wish to find your way through the Veil, first you must learn to see through it."

Aurora knelt beside the ancient seer, aware of Nyx hovering protectively at her shoulder. The pool's surface began to ripple, though nothing had touched it. In its depths, she saw flickers of amber sky and sprawling vineyards – Dymas, she realized with a start. The realm of Gluttony, calling to her through the Heartstone's warmth.

The grove seemed to hold its breath around them, waiting to see what she would choose to see, where she would choose to go. In that moment, surrounded by impossible flowers and ancient magic, Aurora felt the weight of worlds pressing in around her, and knew that whatever she saw in those waters would change everything.

Evaluation details

Result

Evaluator

Details

Meta Data

0.0000%

Adverbs in dialogue tags

Target: ≤10% dialogue tags with adverbs

totalTags

adverbTagCount

adverbTags

0	"they said, their voice carrying like dead leaves in an autumn breeze [like]"
1	"Isolde said, her pale lavender eyes reflecting lights that Aurora couldn't quite see [quite]"
2	"Isolde agreed, in that infuriating way that reminded Aurora she couldn't lie but could certainly choose what truths to tell and when [certainly]"
3	"Isolde said firmly [firmly]"

78.1897%

AI-ism adverb frequency

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

wordCount

917

totalAiIsmAdverbs

found

adverb	"tightly"
count	1

adverb	"very"
count	1

highlights

0	"tightly"
1	"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)

45.4744%

AI-ism word frequency

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

wordCount

917

totalAiIsms

found

word	"shimmered"
count	1

word	"gleaming"
count	1

word	"glided"
count	1

word	"weight"
count	1

word	"dance"
count	1

highlights

0	"shimmered"
1	"gleaming"
2	"glided"
3	"weight"
4	"dance"

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

narrationSentences

matches

"was sad"

100.0000%

Filter word density

Target: ≤12% sentences with filter/hedge words

filterCount

hedgeCount

narrationSentences

filterMatches

"think"

hedgeMatches

0	"seemed to"
1	"began to"

100.0000%

Overuse of "that" (subordinate clause padding)

Target: ≤10% sentences with "that" clauses

thatCount

totalSentences

matches

0	"lights that Aurora"
1	"knew that whatever"

76.7874%

Paragraph length variance

Target: CV ≥0.5 for paragraph word counts

totalParagraphs

mean

38.08

std

15.95

0.419

sampleLengths

0	46
1	7
2	32
3	43
4	51
5	46
6	26
7	25
8	58
9	47
10	48
11	27
12	38
13	13
14	40
15	11
16	61
17	51
18	17
19	36
20	22
21	58
22	55
23	56

100.0000%

Passive voice overuse

Target: ≤5% passive sentences

passiveCount	0
totalSentences	53
matches	(empty)

100.0000%

Past progressive (was/were + -ing) overuse

Target: ≤10% past progressive verbs

pastProgressiveCount

totalVerbs

128

matches

0	"were being"
1	"were singing"
2	"was affecting"

99.4790%

Purple prose (modifier overload)

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

wordCount	739
adjectiveStacks	0
stackExamples	(empty)
adverbCount	30
adverbRatio	0.04059539918809202
lyAdverbCount	6
lyAdverbRatio	0.008119079837618403

100.0000%

Repeated phrase echo

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

totalSentences	63
echoCount	0
echoWords	(empty)

100.0000%

Sentence length variance

Target: CV ≥0.4 for sentence word counts

totalSentences

mean

14.51

std

7.85

0.541

sampleLengths

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

86.7725%

Sentence opener variety

Target: ≥60% unique sentence openers

consecutiveRepeats	2
diversityRatio	0.5396825396825397
totalSentences	63
uniqueOpeners	34

0.0000%

Dialogue tag variety (said vs. fancy)

Target: ≤30% fancy dialogue tags

totalTags

fancyCount

fancyTags

0	"she whispered (whisper)"
1	"they said, their voice carrying like dead leaves in an autumn breeze (say, carry like)"
2	"Isolde said, her pale lavender eyes reflecting lights that Aurora couldn't quite see (say, reflect lights does not quite see)"
3	"Isolde agreed, in that infuriating way that reminded Aurora she couldn't lie but could certainly choose what truths to tell and when (agree, remind does not lie certainly choose tell)"
4	"they said, reaching out to touch a tree trunk (say, reach out touch)"
5	"Isolde warned, though Aurora couldn't see any path beneath the riot of impossible blooms (warn, does not see)"
6	"Nyx observed, drawing closer (observe, draw)"
7	"Isolde said firmly (say firmly)"
8	"Isolde said, kneeling at the pool's edge (say, kneel)"

81.5708%