Prose

How to write a book with AI

Can AI write your book? Not alone — and it shouldn't. What it can do is get you from idea to finished manuscript dramatically faster, if the AI works inside your book instead of in a chat window you copy-paste from. That is what Prose, Pinery's AI co-author, is built for. Here is the whole workflow.

The principle: co-author, not ghostwriter

Everything Prose produces arrives as a pending draft or a reviewable diff — you see exactly what would change, and nothing lands in your manuscript until you accept it. You keep the voice, the judgment, and the byline; Prose keeps the momentum going.

1. Start the book and shape an outline

  1. Create a project (⇧⌘N) — from a template or Empty.
  2. Brainstorm the shape of the book with the bundled skill: type /brainstorm in the Prose panel and describe your premise.
  3. Create chapters in the Files sidebar as your outline settles.

2. Draft chapters in your voice

Ask in plain language:

Write a new chapter titled "The Harbor at Dawn" in a lyrical tone. About 800 words.

Prose reads your book first and matches your tone and pacing. The draft stays pending while you iterate ("make it 20% shorter"), and you pick where the chapter slots in when you accept. Beating a blank page is one prompt away — see Write a chapter.

3. Rewrite with control

Select any passage and ask: tighter, lighter, more formal, present tense. Each rewrite is a diff — before and after, side by side — so "let the AI touch my text" never means "trust it blindly."

4. Proofread as reviewable diffs

When a chapter stabilizes, run a pass:

Proofread this chapter for grammar and clarity. Don't change my voice.

Every fix comes back labeled (grammar, word choice, formatting) and you accept or reject them one by one or in bulk — see Proofread. For a deeper pass, try the bundled skills /line-edit or /developmental-edit, or ask /beta-reader for an honest reader's reaction.

5. Keep the whole book consistent

Prose can search your manuscript in plain language ("Where did I mention Eliza's childhood?") and remembers facts you tell it ("the dog is named Fig"), so late chapters stay consistent with early ones.

6. Illustrate, design, and publish

  • Ask for artwork and Prose reads the scene before drawing — saved straight to your Assets.
  • Typeset in Design: fonts, spacing, chapter openers, one stylesheet for the whole book.
  • Export ePub 3 for Amazon KDP and Apple Books, a polished PDF, or an HTML site — see Export.

Prose requires an active Pinery subscription and network access. Your manuscript stays in plain Markdown files you own — with or without the app.