Hook rewrite: a boring opener in, 5 stronger versions out, each with the reason
A prompt that diagnoses why an opener is weak (generic, unprovable, needs sound, buried number) and rewrites it five ways, each labelled with the archetype and the fault it fixed.
Here is the opening line of a short video about {topic}: "{boring opener}". The video then shows {what the video actually shows in the first 20 s}. First, diagnose the opener in one line each against four faults: GENERIC (could open a video on any topic), UNPROVABLE (an opinion or a feeling instead of a thing the video shows), SOUND-DEPENDENT (does not work as text on a still), BURIED (the strongest fact is in the second sentence or not in the line at all). Name which faults apply. Then write 5 stronger versions. Each one: max 12 words, present tense, uses a different archetype (pick from question, bold claim, pain point, curiosity gap, stop doing X, number, contrarian, result-first), keeps every fact from the original, adds no fact the video does not show. Under each, one line: the archetype, and which fault it fixed. Banned in the rewrites: 'ever wondered', 'what if I told you', 'you won't believe', 'secret', 'hack', 'ultimate', 'game-changer', 'let me show you', 'in this video'. Return: the diagnosis, then the 5 rewrites with their notes, then the one you would shoot and the frame 1 that goes with it.
In Claude Code, paste the prompt as a message, or run /humanize which does this end to end.
Example
Opener: “In this video I’m going to show you how I edit my product photos with this app and why I love it.” Video shows: a mug on a cluttered counter becoming a mug on white in two taps, then three more photos done the same way in under a minute.
Diagnosis: GENERIC (yes, any app), UNPROVABLE (‘why I love it’), SOUND-DEPENDENT (yes, nothing on the still), BURIED (two taps and under a minute are not in the line).
- ‘Listing photo. Two taps. On the phone.’ Result-first; fixes BURIED and SOUND-DEPENDENT.
- ‘Stop editing product photos on a laptop.’ Stop doing X; fixes GENERIC.
- ‘Four listing photos in under a minute, from the kitchen counter.’ Number; fixes BURIED and UNPROVABLE.
- ‘Why do your product photos look like the kitchen?’ Question; fixes GENERIC.
- ‘It’s 11 pm, forty photos to list, and the laptop is at work.’ Pain point; fixes GENERIC and SOUND-DEPENDENT.
Shoot: 1. Frame 1: the finished mug on white, full screen, ‘2 TAPS’ in the upper third, thumb entering at 0.4 s.
Tips
- Keep every fact and add none. A rewrite that adds a claim the video does not show is a stronger hook for a different video.
- Run the five through the rubric entry if you want a score; run the two best through the A/B entry if you want the truth.
| works with | Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result. · Claude: Paste into claude.ai or the Claude app. · ChatGPT: Paste into ChatGPT; works with any GPT model. · Any LLM: Model-agnostic: Gemini, Mistral, a local model. |
| skill | npx skills add fortunto2/solo-factory/humanize · source |
| cost | Free. No API, no key. |
| status | Unverified: written from the technique, not yet run end to end by us. |
| license | CC BY 4.0 for the text here; skills are MIT. |
| updated | 2026-11-01 |
| for agents | hook-rewrite-five-stronger-versions.md |
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Template for the hook that reverses what the audience has been told, with the two rules that separate it from rage bait: quote the standard advice fairly, and name the case where it still holds.
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