# 12. One Thing to Never Ask

Old prompt packs are full of "explain your reasoning step by step" and "show your thinking". On Fable 5 these backfire.

**When to use:** This is a warning, not a prompt. Check your saved prompts and delete these instructions before reusing them with Fable 5.

## The rule

Avoid instructions like: "show your thinking", "explain your reasoning step by step", "transcribe your internal reasoning", "think out loud before answering". Fable 5 declines these and the request can fall back to a lesser model, so you pay Fable prices for Opus answers. If you want to follow along, ask for progress updates or a summary of the approach instead. The reasoning already happens on its own; you don't need to ask for it.

**Why it works:** Fable 5 protects its internal reasoning by design. Asking for it triggers a refusal instead of a better answer.

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Adapted from Anthropic's official Claude Fable 5 prompting guide.
Full guide with all 12 prompts: https://www.waboom.ai/resources/claude-fable-5