Use ChatGPT To Really Understand Your Characters

Welcome to The Pen Pivot!

At 9am (EST) every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we show tech-savvy writers how to use AI and new tech to write better content, faster.

In today’s email:

• AI Tool Of The Day 🛠️ - Personalized book recommendations within seconds.

• AI Writing Tip Of The Day🖋️ - Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, this ChatGPT prompt will make you a more effective storyteller within seconds.

AI Tool Of The Day 🛠️

Next Three Books - A nifty little tool that uses GPT to provide personalized book recommendations tailored to your reading preferences. (link)

(Not sponsored).

AI Writing Tip Of The Day 🖋️

ChatGPT Prompt: “Letter Magic”

Ever had a pen pal?

It’s funny.

People can be intensely emotionally guarded in real life but comfortable revealing their deepest, darkest secrets on paper.

The “epistolary exchange” is a surprisingly effective writing technique.

It just so happens that ChatGPT can be used to supercharge it.

In an epistolary exchange, a narrative is told through a series of letters (or emails) between characters or individuals.

Here are some reasons why it’s so useful for writers:

• Unique perspectives - The exchange allows both fiction and non-fiction writers to explore different viewpoints and voices within their topic or story.

• Character development - In fiction, the letter exchange can reveal the inner thoughts, motivations, and emotions of the characters.

• Plot development - When character motives and inner thoughts are better understood, tension and suspense can be built with ease.

• Authenticity - In non-fiction, a letter exchange between hypothetical people relevant to the topic can lead to a better understanding of different viewpoints. Yep - this leads to better engagement from readers.

Here’s how to use ChatGPT to create an epistolary exchange for you within seconds.

The prompt template to fill in, copy, and paste is in the yellow box below.

I chose to give the technique a 21st-century upgrade by asking for an email exchange instead of a letter exchange.

I usually ask for an exchange of 3 to 5 emails, each one with a maximum of 150-200 words.

N.B - if you don’t have characters yet or you’re writing a non-fiction piece where characters don’t exist, ask ChatGPT to create the characters for you.

Your ChatGPT Prompt Template🤖:

Example:

Let’s say I was writing an article on the benefits/disadvantages of traditional publishing vs. self-publishing.

Here’s the prompt I could use.

Zoom in if you have to.

And here’s the exchange ChatGPT created for me. I haven’t included all of it, but I’m sure you’ll get the gist.

In this case, the exchange is helpful for a few different reasons:

• Research - It’s a fun way to use ChatGPT to conduct in-depth research on my topic before I start writing.

• Audience Empathy - In this exchange, “Alex” represents the ideal reader for my article - someone dealing with the problem I’m trying to solve. Hearing Alex’s problems in the first person and seeing them addressed by someone else is a great way to empathize with the audience.

• Tone - Seeing a letter/email exchange makes it easier for me to write in a conversational tone that’s more likely to engage with readers.

Let me know how it goes. I’d be eager to see how you all make use of this prompt 🙂.

And that’s all for today!

Misya, The Pen Pivot