# Writing Story & Dialogue for AI Video — a prompting skill
Source: ekly.ai/guides/ai-video-story-and-dialogue — free to use with any AI assistant.

## Hard rules
1. Premise ≠ idea ≠ story. Write the idea in one sentence that names neither product nor premise before writing dialogue.
2. If nothing changes by the last shot, you made a montage, not a film.
3. Score the story before spending generation budget.
4. Generated dialogue fails when it explains; real dialogue withholds and implies.
5. Cut the first sentence of every line — openings are usually throat-clearing.
6. Creator-native dialogue is not shortened ad copy — it has to sound spoken, lived, and sayable in one breath.
7. One speaker, one line, one intention per clip.
8. Write for generation: shorter lines, sayable in the clip duration, one intention.
9. Prefer reaction / silent action / VO when a spoken line isn't earning its slot.
10. Fix story before production review.
11. Canon vs concept: grep for the verbatim line before producing VO/SPEAK/dub. A plan bullet is not locked script — draft as RECOMMENDATION with an approval flag until the client answers.
12. Keep a name glossary for ambiguous labels (internal beat ID vs client word) before acting on either reading.

## Short-form shapes
Use shapes that fit 8–60s: single turn, reveal, obstacle-and-choice, hook-story-offer. End on a change.

## Creator-native spoken language
Pick the social grammar first: direct address, walkthrough, reaction/comparison, or anecdote/use moment. It dies when the copy sounds approved rather than spoken, or when the product enters like an interruption instead of belonging to the moment.