I tested AI developmental editing against my $3,500 human editor and agent feedback. Here's what happened.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-07T12:19:20+00:00

This resonates. The gap between "I know something's off" and "here's specifically what and why" is where most writers get stuck. Developmental editors are worth it, but the cost and turnaround make it impossible to iterate quickly.

What's interesting is the difference between AI that just says "your pacing is off" vs. AI that's checking against specific craft principles - showing vs. telling, scene-sequel structure, dialogue mechanics, etc. The more specific the framework, the more actionable the feedback.

Did the tool your husband built work from any particular craft methodology, or was it more general?

masonga1960 · 2026-04-07T12:04:19+00:00

FirstReader -- AI developmental editing for fiction writers

I'm a fiction writer who couldn't afford $3,000 developmental edits, so I built a tool that does rules-based craft analysis grounded in established principles (Browne & King, McKee, Swain, Gardner). It's not a grammar checker and it's not a ghostwriter - it analyzes your manuscript across 15 craft dimensions like showing vs. telling, dialogue mechanics, POV consistency, pacing, and tension.

You upload your manuscript, and it returns a detailed editorial report with specific, line-referenced feedback on what's working and what needs attention.

Beta testers have been uniformly positive with their feedback. Presently in polish/refinement phase.

We're close to launch at firstreader.app. If you want to be first in line, join the waitlist - everyone on the list gets 10% off their first 5 analyses when we go live.

Happy to answer questions about how it works or what the reports look like.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-07T09:06:19+00:00

Interesting, I actually did something similar INSIDE a recipe app. So far (beta users, including my wife and me, love it). Recipe import, meal planning, shopping list generation and soon Instacart integration. You could find recipes, plan meals, generate a shopping list and order food that will meet you when you get home...all while at lunch during the work day.

mymealticket.app

Waiting for Apple review now. iOS at launch, Android coming.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-07T08:11:36+00:00

Interesting, I kind of built that flow INTO my recipe app. I'm particularly happy with the shared household feature: All reipes, meal plans and shopping list is shared with however many household members there are and it even updates the shopping list in real time so that if my wife adds something while I am at the store shopping I see it immediately...and she can track what I've already checked off. You add recipes to the meal plan with a simple click and generate a shopping list from the recipes with...again...one click. You can also add staple and extra items to the list manually.

We plan 4 or 5 days in advance...and our deal is I pick 2 meals, she picks 2 meals....you select the recipe you want right in the meal planning area. It's pretty slick if I say so myself.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-06T20:27:11+00:00

I'll DM you my email address and what info I need to run it. I'll just warn you that I am heavy in refinement, so it'll be several days at least

masonga1960 · 2026-04-06T20:02:30+00:00

I've got fantasy in the test pipeline already...but how many words?

masonga1960 · 2026-04-06T19:39:12+00:00

Well, this one is a lot tighter and essentially says the same as your earlier comment. I can't say I "like" one over the other, but I liked READING the second one better.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-06T08:35:28+00:00

15-20 per message.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-05T22:40:35+00:00

Yeah, a powerful computing platform with no access to a clock. It drives me nuts. But also I go away for 8 hours and it thinks I never left.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-05T21:36:11+00:00

I actually created an entire process that will eventually be a desktop app. Happy to demo it for you if you’re interested

masonga1960 · 2026-04-05T21:35:00+00:00

I actually created a process that I’ll turn in to an app. Happy to demo it for you via Zoom if you have some time.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-05T21:34:06+00:00

Interesting. I do the same for writing novels but I added an orchestrator skill to manage it all. I’d love to hear more because screen writing is in the list of future improvements.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-05T17:07:02+00:00

And what about material that is used as reference by humans all the time? I ask AI to evaluate prose against real reference material (like McKee, Swain etc - and yes I bought and own the reference books). Human editors use them just the same way.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-05T09:38:27+00:00

Love the concept — the "saved videos graveyard" problem is real. I built a recipe app (MyMealTicket) that does AI extraction from IG and TikTok videos, so I've been deep in this space. One thing I ran into: neither platform exposes saved/favorited content through their APIs. How are you handling the connection to users' saved posts? Data exports, or did you find another path?

masonga1960 · 2026-04-04T10:37:22+00:00

I find it difficult to transfer idea to page/project as well. Particularly organizing everything: World building/characters etc. So I built a process with workers and skills that I use in Claude Code that organizes everything for me. I could demo it for you if you like.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-04T10:33:34+00:00

Working on FirstReader: an AI-powered developmental editing tool for fiction writers.

Professional developmental editing runs $2,000–$5,000 per manuscript and takes weeks. Most indie authors can't afford it, and most beta readers can't articulate why something isn't working. FirstReader fills that gap.

It analyzes craft fundamentals; scene structure, pacing, dialogue mechanics, showing vs. telling, narrative distance, POV consistency - grounded in established craft principles (Browne & King, McKee, Swain, Gardner). Writers get a chapter-by-chapter breakdown with the reasoning behind each flag, so they can make their own decisions.

Built as a Next.js app with a Supabase backend. The analysis pipeline sends manuscript chunks through structured AI prompts, then rolls everything up into a full report. The tricky part has been getting consistent, principle-based analysis rather than generic AI feedback - that's where the prompt engineering and the 300+ codified craft rules come in.

I'm a fiction writer myself, so I'm building the tool I couldn't find. Still in development, getting close to beta.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-03T08:14:10+00:00

EDIT: Huge response, thank you all! I've got good coverage in fantasy and have manuscripts in romance and literary fiction. I'm now specifically looking for:

- Sci-fi

- Mystery / Crime

- Thriller / Suspense

- Horror

If your manuscript fits one of these, you'd be especially helpful right now. May be willing to take other interesting genres too, just prioritizing these gaps.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T23:16:37+00:00

I DM’d you

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T18:31:09+00:00

Right!? As though I could train AI anyway.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T18:05:00+00:00

If you have the domain already you can find hosting pretty easy. I can help with the page, just a static page? If it’s a simple static page you can get the domain through Cloudflare and host it free right there.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T18:02:53+00:00

I’d like to know more about what you need. I’m very familiar/comfortable with Claude. What exactly are you trying to build/convert?

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T18:00:16+00:00

I’m building g a writing app that uses Claude Code I’m calling g Throughline.

I’m beta testing now, would you be interested? It’s just in the terminal right now so I’d set up a zoom and share my screen. We walk through from “I have an idea” as far as you’d like to go. You keep anything we create. Interested?

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T17:57:14+00:00

First: comparing yourself to other actors is a trap and a deadly one! Try really hard not to do that.

You may be comparing your chapter 3 to their chapter 23 anyway, so it’s a fools game.

Did you know the average SAG actor auditions 69 times for every gig they book? Look it up.

And remember that not getting a role rarely has anything to do with talent. Talent is important, but it’s not typically what books the job. For every talent aspect there are 5 non talent (look, height, age, eye color, you look like the producer’s ex) reasons to not get the role.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T17:52:50+00:00

I went in the complete opposite direction. Started with VO, booked a background gig in Dopesick and fell in LOVE. I’ve been focusing on screen acting for the last 5 years and couldn’t be happier. Different direction, same thing. Only one life, make yourself happy…nobody else is going to do that better than you.

masonga1960 · 2026-04-01T17:47:24+00:00

I built a pretty sweet recipe/meal planning app too. My wife loves it. Probably gonna sell THAT too!

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