How to Use ChatGPT to Fix a Flat Scene

Some scenes practically write themselves. You sit down, start typing, and everything just… clicks. The dialogue lands, the momentum feels natural, and your characters end up exactly where they need to be without much effort.

And then comes the next scene.

Suddenly every line feels like heavy lifting. The characters are stiff, the pacing drags, and you catch yourself pushing the story forward instead of letting it unfold. Something is missing, but it's hard to name what. (Spoiler: you likely have a flat scene.)

Now, zoom out for a moment.

Across a full manuscript, most stories have a natural rhythm: moments where dialogue and action hum with energy, and moments that are quiet, thoughtful, or restorative. The loud scenes matter, but so do the soft ones. A reflective walk, a private doubt, or a small decision can be some of the most meaningful beats in a book.

So identifying a "flat" scene isn't just about finding slow spots and asking, "Is this dramatic enough?" It's about asking, "Does this scene feel purposeful? Does it earn its place?"

A scene can be calm and still feel alive. It can be introspective and still carry weight. It can be quiet and still move the story or the character forward.

A scene feels flat when:

Nothing changes (emotionally, relationally, or narratively)
The characters feel like they're going through motions
The moment could be removed without needing to change anything else
There's no tension, not even internal tension
You as the writer feel effort rather than flow

In this way, flatness is more about impact than volume.

How to Identify a Flat Scene (Even When It Looks 'Fine')

Here are a few reliable indicators:

1. You can't name what changes in the scene. Not every scene needs big conflict, but every scene should shift something: a belief, a question, a relationship, a piece of information. If nothing changes, that's a red flag.

2. The purpose sounds vague when you describe it. If you try to summarize the scene and end up saying, "Uh… it's just setting things up," that's usually a sign the scene isn't carrying clear narrative or emotional weight.

3. Your instinct is to defend the scene instead of explain it. When you say, "But the reader needs to know this," it often means the information could be delivered more effectively elsewhere or the emotional moment isn't landing.

4. The scene has movement but no momentum. Characters talk, actions happen, but nothing feels consequential. It's activity without impact.

5. You feel effort instead of flow while revising. This is one of the most trustworthy signals. If the writing feels clunky or resistant, it's often because the scene's underlying purpose isn't fully formed on the page yet.

A Helpful Mindset Shift: Flat Doesn't Mean Bad Writing

A flat scene doesn't mean you've done something wrong. It just means the scene isn't communicating the significance you intended — yet.

This is where tools like ChatGPT can help you explore what the scene might be missing, without rewriting the entire chapter or burning hours staring at a blinking cursor.

Ready to evaluate your full manuscript? Our Manuscript Readiness Checklist walks you through five key areas editors look for—the same areas our full report evaluates—so you can begin strengthening your draft with clarity and purpose.

Why Flat Scenes Are Hard to Spot in Your Own Work

Inside your head, every scene feels important. You know what the moment means. You know the backstory, the emotion under the surface, the goal behind every line of dialogue.

But on the page, intention doesn't always translate into impact.

That's why flat scenes can be surprisingly hard to recognize, especially when they're supposed to be quiet or introspective. You feel the significance, but your reader may not. And when you're deep in revision, every scene starts to blur together. It's hard to separate what's truly essential from what just feels essential because you built it.

So how do you spot a scene that needs "something," when you don't yet know what that something is?

How AI Can Help — Without Handing Over Your Whole Chapter

If you're still in early revisions, you might feel tempted to drop your entire scene or chapter into ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity and say, "Fix this."

Please don't.

Large Language Models aren't built to track the emotional or structural arc of your full manuscript (nevermind those pesky word limits). And unless you're extremely skilled at crafting long-form, tightly controlled instructions, pasting huge chunks of text often leads to generic feedback, misunderstood character motivations, or revisions that feel like someone else's voice.

But there is a thoughtful, safe, and effective way to use AI at this stage: Use it as a thinking partner, not a ghostwriter.

When you summarize a scene in your own words, you force yourself to ask:

What did I intend here?
What change is supposed to happen?
What emotion should the reader leave with?
Why does this moment exist?

That articulation, more than any AI output, is where clarity begins.

And once you've described the scene in a few sentences, AI becomes a useful sounding board. It can help you look at the moment from new angles, identify missing emotional beats, or suggest ways to increase tension without rewriting the whole chapter. This is how you get a clearer perspective on what the scene needs to do.

Where to Start: How to Choose Which Flat Scene to Work On

Most writers already have a shortlist of scenes they're unsure about even if they can't articulate why. Maybe it's:

A transition chapter that feels like filler
A conversation that should be emotional, but reads flat
A reflective moment that doesn't quite resonate
A chapter where momentum dips, even though the plot says it shouldn't

You might also notice a cluster of slow chapters, usually in the middle third of the book, where pacing naturally wobbles. That's normal, but it's also where readers are most likely to disengage.

So before you run to AI for help, take a moment to choose one scene you already suspect needs attention.

Once you can name the goal, even roughly, you're ready to bring in AI as a thinking partner — and get targeted feedback without rewriting the entire chapter.

How to Frame the Scene Before You Ask AI Anything

Before you type a single prompt, write a 3–4 sentence summary of the scene in your own words. Something like:

"This is a quiet kitchen scene after the protagonists' argument. They're trying to reconnect, but neither wants to be the first to apologize. Emotionally, the scene is supposed to feel tender but tense, like a soft step toward reconciliation."

This step matters more than you think.

Summarizing forces your brain to separate intention from execution and most of the clarity you're looking for shows up right here, before AI even enters the conversation.

A Quick Lesson on Priming the Conversation (The Oprah Publicist Rule)

Before you dive into prompts, here's a simple way to think about using AI well:

Imagine Oprah lends you her publicist for one day.

You wouldn't hand them an entire chapter and say, "How can I fix this part?" You'd start by giving them context so they understand the situation, your goal, and where you're feeling uncertain.

AI works the same way. A few sentences of focused onboarding will dramatically improve the ideas you get back.

Instead of pasting thousands of words, try starting with something like this before the Revision Prompts below:

"I'm writing a story about [main idea] and I'm revising a quiet scene between two sisters who haven't spoken since their argument. They're cooking breakfast together, but neither wants to address the tension directly. The purpose of the scene is to show they're trying to reconnect while still guarding old hurts. Right now it feels flat. The dialogue is polite but not layered. I'm not sure which emotional beats are missing. After this scene, the story moves on to [subsequent arc]."

That's it. No chapter dump. No long explanation. Just a clear snapshot of:

what the scene is,
what it's for,
and what's not working yet.

This level of clarity sets the stage for AI to act as a collaborative thinker, not a replacement for your voice.

Sample Revision Prompts You Can Use With ChatGPT (Without Sharing Your Whole Chapter)

Once you've summarized your scene in a few sentences, you can use prompts like these to explore what might be missing and finally gain some clarity:

1. To identify missing emotional beats

"Here's a brief summary of a scene. What emotional beats might be missing or underdeveloped, based on what I'm trying to convey?" This helps surface emotional shifts, micro-conflicts, hesitation, or internal tension that didn't make it to the page.

2. To increase tension in a quiet moment

"Given this summary, what are three subtle ways to increase tension or stakes without adding new plot points or dramatic action?" Quiet scenes don't need big conflict but they do need some kind of friction.

3. To deepen character motivation

"Based on this short description, what might each character want in this moment that isn't being clearly expressed?" This primes you to focus on subtext, not surface dialogue.

4. To strengthen pacing

"Here's the core purpose of the scene. What small adjustments could make the pacing feel more intentional or engaging?" This helps you evaluate where the scene is drifting or lingering too long.

5. To check alignment with story goals

"Does this scene description suggest a clear shift, decision, or new understanding? If not, what kind of shift would make this moment more purposeful?" The aim is to help you clarify the transformation you want the scene to deliver.

Sample Output + How to Evaluate ChatGPT Suggestions Thoughtfully

When you give AI that brief scene summary, it might return ideas like:

adding a small hesitation before one sister speaks,
letting a gesture (like over-salting eggs or wiping a counter too hard) reveal emotional undercurrents,
inserting a half-finished sentence that trails off,
or suggesting a moment of eye contact that almost—almost—opens the door to reconciliation.

These suggestions aren't meant to be copied line-for-line. They're possibilities — small creative levers you can test to see what adds dimension or tension.

The key question to ask yourself is: "Does this idea amplify what I'm already trying to do?"

If it does, you've gained clarity. If it doesn't, you've still learned something valuable: what doesn't belong in your scene.

This is where AI is at its best: it helps you see the moment from angles you might not have considered, without taking over your voice.

If you're starting to see how helpful scene-level clarity can be, you might also like this:

How to Get Professional Feedback on Your Manuscript—Without Spending $3,000 or Waiting Six Weeks

This guide walks you through the bigger-picture revision process and shows how AI-assisted developmental editing can help you evaluate your entire manuscript with confidence.

Editorial Insight: What a Professional Editor Looks for in These Moments

When an editor reviews your manuscript, they're not judging scenes by how dramatic or quiet they are. They're evaluating whether the scene earns its place in the emotional and narrative arc of the story.

For quiet or reflective scenes, an editor asks questions like:

Does this moment create a meaningful shift, even a small one?
Is there emotional momentum, or just motion?
What new tension, insight, or question does the reader leave with?
Does the subtext carry the weight the dialogue isn't saying?

This is where deeper developmental insight differs from quick brainstorming.

AI can help you surface possibilities and sharpen your instincts for a single scene. That's valuable. But understanding whether the entire manuscript is pacing well, whether tension builds, softens, and rises again in the right places, requires a holistic view of your book.

That's the kind of clarity most authors struggle to get on their own, simply because you're too close to the work. And it's exactly the level of perspective ManuscriptAnalysis.ai was created to deliver.

Where to Go From Here: Scene-Level Clarity to Story-Level Confidence

If using AI as a thinking partner helps you untangle a single flat scene, imagine how much momentum you could gain with that same clarity applied across your entire manuscript.

That's what ManuscriptAnalysis.ai is built for.

Our system reads your full draft holistically — not just isolated chapters — and highlights:

where tension ebbs and flows,
which scenes are pulling their weight,
where pacing drags,
and what emotional or structural shifts aren't quite landing yet.

All delivered in 48 hours, with professional validation so you know the insights are sound.

If you're still early in revision, a simple place to start is our Manuscript Readiness Checklist. It walks you through five key areas editors look for — the same areas our full report evaluates — so you can begin strengthening your draft with clarity and purpose.

Download the Checklist and see where your manuscript stands.

When you're ready for deeper, story-level feedback, we'll be here.

Use AI for clarity, not copy-paste editing. Human creativity stays in the driver's seat.

How to Use ChatGPT to Fix a Flat Scene Without Rewriting Your Whole Chapter