Skills are basically instruction sets that teach Claude best practices for specific tasks. If you think of it like cooking - sometimes we have that recipe that we know how to throw together. You eyeball the spices and measure with your heart. That's prompting in ai. You put in what you know and each time it comes out a little bit different, but generally the same overall vibe. When you get it just the way you like it, the spices are right the temperature and times are just right, you might write down the recipe. That's what Claude skills is. You can save a prompt set, or a workflow, as a skill and then call on it again the next time you need it to have it do the same thing. For this to work you must be on a paid claude plan (not free version, not using API). This also works in Antigravity (You can make them with antigravity in antigravity). I have skills for: Developmental Edits Line Edits Copy Edits Book Cover Prompts for Ideogram Name Changes Book Blurb Creator Category and Keywords (I have one for english, french, italian, german, and spanish) Etc. Making A Skill: When signed into claude: Go to Settings -> Capabilities, and you'll find the skills area (at the bottom). There you can click the "+Add" button and you'll see a menu with three options: 1) Create with claude (vibe-coding): this is where a claude chat window will open and the skill prompt is written for you and you just type in what you want it to do. You can refine it as you go so don't worry about getting it just right. 2) Write Skill Instructions: if you have something already written up select this and fill in the fields. 3) Upload a skill: if you have a markdown file that you already have you can upload it here. Optional: I name my skills so I can easily call on them. For example I could name my developmental editor skill "DevEdit" (and put that in the skill description "I will request this skill by asking for the "DevEdit" skill") Using the Skill: Let's say I have a full manuscript in md or I have a few chapters drafted. I can type into claude's chat window "Use the DevEdit skill on these chapters" and paste the chapters if claude doesn't already have them and hit enter.

Hey all, Just wondering if anyone has prompts they like to use for beta reading with AI ?

Y’all need to join this one 😉 So @Jessica Waldron has a group “The Invisible Pen” and she was just on the podcast @Danica Favorite & @Stephanie Pajonas Plus since I know she’s about to get me in my own rabbit hole exploring Claude’s Coworker thanks to her texting me last night and making me really want to get up and turn on my system (I didn’t) …… I’m sharing 💗💗💗 We all can’t be experts on everything and I think one of the amazing things about writing with AI as more understand it - more teachers will be needed. Now to go do something else before I get in trouble with Claude and going down a rabbit hole (I have stuff to do!!!) https://www.skool.com/the-invisible-pen/about?ref=b5d128b97f4344d7898e38633ffaaa38

Just sharing this as an FYI. I have been working with Chat for a couple of weeks on a novel. We struggled at first, but finally hit a good stride about halfway through and we have been rolling at about 8-10K a day with Chat writing initial draft and me rewriting it ever since. It was taking more effort than I thought it should, but we were still making excellent progress. Today I rewrote the last chapter, then uploaded it to Chat to get feedback on where there might be issues...as I've been doing all along. It kept locking up and I spent almost an hour, uploading the data several times and chat simply would not respond. I tried refresh and it did nothing, so I logged off and logged back in only to find the entire book had disappeared...everything after Jan 15th. Thank God, I was saving each chapter offline in Word, so I had it, but I lost all of the discussion, suggestions, and any other back and forth...completely gone. This means if I had lost that content earlier, he would have lost all continuity in the story. As it is, it is only one chapter worth of evaluation I lost Not a big deal. But this was all done in project folders. So what are project folders worth if you can lose an entire 54K novel? Be careful if you are writing in Chat...copy and save on another platform is your friend!!!

I think I shared this before - but I actually asked AG to make this into a skill for me and almost forgot to run it on a couple of books. This is the prompt to clean up AI-isms (which I might have shared) but if you are using AG ask it to make it a skill! This morning it picked up a few inconsistencies from book 1 to book 2 and also where it wrote "That's a Book 3 problem" 🙄 Please review the manuscript for AI-generated content artifacts, narrative inconsistencies, and weak or artificial chapter endings. Specifically check for: Direct AI communication – Phrases where an AI addresses the reader directly (e.g., “As an AI, I…” or “I cannot…”). Prompt fragments – Leftover instruction text such as “Write a scene where…” or “Create a character who…”. Meta-commentary – Author explanations or internal analysis that disrupt the immersive narrative flow. POV breaks – Shifts in perspective or character knowledge that aren't consistent with the established point of view. Generic AI phrasing – Overuse of robotic or transitional language like “Additionally,” “Furthermore,” “It’s worth noting that,” or “However, it’s important to remember…”. Unnatural dialogue – Lines that feel stilted, overly formal, or artificial—especially those that sound like an AI mimicking human speech. Overuse of formality – Repeated use of surnames when a more natural or familiar name would fit the tone and context. Dialogue pattern issues – Awkward or overly stylized back-and-forth phrasing, such as repeated use of short exchanges like “Together?” / “Together.” Chapter ending clichés – One-liner or formulaic wrap-ups that feel artificial (e.g., “Little did they know, everything was about to change,” or “And that’s when it all began.”). Flag these and suggest more natural, immersive alternatives that reflect the character’s emotional state, the scene’s tone, or the story’s momentum. Please search the document for these patterns and flag any content that breaks immersion, disrupts character voice, or feels artificially generated. Provide specific examples and suggest natural-sounding alternatives where appropriate.