Recently the widely beloved AI model that powered the Excellent Prose Mode was discontinued. We were determined to minimize the disruption to your workflow, so we rolled out a replacement modeled closely after it—Sudowrite’s second in-house model, called Ballad. It eased the transition for sure, but you let us know exactly where there was still room for improvement.

We took your feedback, and today we’re introducing Ballad 1.1, a brilliant new model that preserves everything you loved about Excellent while dramatically improving its voice and instruction-following capacity.

Our early testers have confirmed our own results with Ballad 1.1, sharing detailed feedback on the improvements they noticed.

• It actually follows your Extra Instructions - Those specific notes you leave to try and tune your prose results (yes, even “no em dashes”) are way more likely to be incorporated in your results now.

• Capacity for unflinching intimacy - If you write romance or anything steamy, you may have noticed Ballad getting shy in the heat of the moment. Ballad 1.1 understands the importance of those scenes, and doesn’t cut away. (By our estimates it’s also about 40% more willing to use the vulgar terminology you want, when asked.)

• Improved POV and Tense adherence - You shared instances where Ballad’s prose would drift from your defined POV or Tense, sometimes mid-chapter. With Ballad 1.1 we’ve fixed that, and it now sticks to the POV and Tense you’re writing in rather than using its own.

• Significantly reduced repetition - Many of you encountered “echoes” with the original Ballad, where scenes or phrasing might replay within a chapter. We’ve eliminated that phenomenon with Ballad 1.1.

• Less robotic all around - In the same vein, it was possible for Ballad to parrot your own wording back word-for-word. It’s now more original, transforming your scenes into something that reads naturally—something fresh, and ready for the page.

• …a certain je ne sais quoi - Creating a voice that sounds just the way you want is more art than science. Our testers have confirmed that Ballad 1.1 has “it,” even though “it” may sound different from author to author.

One final note: We took Ballad 1.1 away from our testers briefly to address their final feedback, and they were super eager to get it back. As JD said in Discord, “Going back to [the old] Excellent… feels like a painful downgrade after some of my Ballad [1.1] results.”

Well, good news for our testers and you: The Excellent Prose Mode is now officially powered by Ballad 1.1. Just select Excellent in either the Write or Draft tool, and you’re writing with Ballad. We can’t wait to hear what you think.