I Added One Literary Example to the Prompt. Here’s What Changed
A controlled test across 64 AI-fiction turns found that a prose exemplar cut cross-turn repetition by 44%—and made several other style habits worse.
Field notes on interactive prose
Experiments, measured results, and lessons from building Underfiction—written by Stefan Hoschkara.
A controlled test across 64 AI-fiction turns found that a prose exemplar cut cross-turn repetition by 44%—and made several other style habits worse.
How AI roleplay actually works, how to start a scene that doesn't fizzle, and the director moves that separate a flat chat from a story worth rereading.
Why AI characters drift out of character, and the fields that actually prevent it: example dialogue, standing instructions, and lore that loads only when the scene needs it.
AI models resolve tension on sight — confessions by turn six, rescues before the danger lands. Here's why, and the pacing directions that keep a slow burn slow.
Not a list of 25 to copy-paste — the five prompt patterns behind every good one, with what each does to the scene and the mistakes that make prompts fail.
A working migration path: what you can actually take from Character.AI, how to compress a long chat into a seed the next app can use, and how to restart mid-scene.
What a TavernCard actually is, what V2 and V3 mean, which fields matter, and how to carry a character between JanitorAI, SillyTavern, Underfiction, and the rest.
Free, unlimited, uncensored — every AI roleplay app promises at least two. Here's the economics of why no product delivers all three, and what each 'free' actually charges.
Working fixes for Character.AI's three chronic problems — forgotten plots, looping replies, characters going generic — and an honest line on which failures no trick fixes.
A practical guide to writing something longer than a chat log. World-building, scene structure, director notes, and the tricks that make 50-scene stories work.
After about 20 messages, most AI fiction tools have quietly forgotten how your story started. Here's the architecture we built to fix that.
Three thousand words into the best scene I'd ever written, the AI stopped and told me it couldn't continue. That's when we started building.
Where do your AI conversations actually go? A look at server-side storage, training data clauses, and what the alternative looks like.
Two versions of the same scene. One reads like a chat log. The other reads like a novel. Same AI model. The difference is how you ask.
Subscriptions, message meters, credit packs, and BYO keys — the four pricing models of AI roleplay in 2026, with real numbers and the math for your usage pattern.
Six Character.AI alternatives you can use without paying, ranked honestly by what the free tier actually includes — meters, models, and catches stated plainly.
Where Character.AI users actually land in 2026: ten alternatives compared on filters, price, memory, and prose quality — including ours, disclosed up front.
Eight AI roleplay apps sorted into what they actually are — story engines, character chat, companions — with prices, filter policies, and an honest fit for each.
Five NovelAI alternatives for fiction writers in 2026, compared on models, price, and privacy — plus an honest section on when staying with NovelAI is right.
"Uncensored" means three different things in AI fiction — platform filters, model refusals, account moderation. Seven apps compared honestly on all three.
NovelAI earned its reputation: no filter, flat pricing, client-side encryption. Here's an honest look at where it stands in 2026 — and when you'd want each.
AI Dungeon invented the genre. If you're searching for an alternative in 2026, it's usually for one of three reasons: memory, model quality, or working out what a tier actually buys.
Dreamily's English service shut down in April 2026 and user stories were deleted. If your fiction lives only on someone's server, it's a lease. Here's how to own it instead.
Looking for a JanitorAI alternative with no ID or face photo? Underfiction keeps stories on your device, separates identity from inference, and writes literary prose.
Character.AI's filters and under-18 changes broke the scenes you loved. Here's where to go next: literary prose, freedom in direction, and stories that stay yours.
The lobotomy effect is when an AI roleplay model gets quietly swapped or filtered until its prose goes flat. Here's why it happens and the fix.
Your AI loses the plot after twenty turns because the context window truncates old text. Here's why it happens, in plain terms, and how scene-based compression fixes it.
Hosted chatbots break character to lecture you about fiction. Here's why they interrupt mid-scene — and how a story engine that follows your direction doesn't.
Left Character.AI for the filters? Underfiction writes literary romance under your direction — enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, morally-grey love interests. No refusals mid-scene. Private by default.
Slowburn is two indie developers building AI roleplay that refuses to rush, and the pacing pitch is real. What it does well, what it keeps behind sign-in, and when you'd want each.
JanitorAI is free. That's not nothing. Here's what free costs you, and when it's worth paying for something different.
Character.AI has 20 million users and the most aggressive content filter in the industry. Here's what happens when you want to write actual fiction.
SillyTavern is great software. We use it ourselves. Here's an honest breakdown of when you'd want one vs. the other.