How to Get ChatGPT to Write Like You
“Can you get ChatGPT to write like you?” This is probably one of the most common questions I’ve encountered in my webinars, and it’s a valid one. It’s more than a curiosity; it’s about harnessing an extraordinary AI tool to reflect your unique voice and style in writing. The short answer? Yes, you can sculpt an AI that approximates your way of writing, achieving around 80% to 90% similarity. However, it’s not an instant affair. You’ll need to guide and prompt ChatGPT to induce this imitation. Ready to dive in? Here’s how you can master this process and get ChatGPT to mimic your writing.
1. Feed It Your Writing
The very first step to encourage ChatGPT to write like you is to provide it some of your previous writing samples. This could be an article from your blog, a work email, some random notes, or even a lengthy essay you crafted in college. The more you feed it, the better it understands your nuances. You can relay this information in a single chat window, as ChatGPT won’t recall what you’ve said from past chats. That can be a bit of a bummer, but it’s manageable!
Here’s an example of how to prompt ChatGPT: “I’m going to paste some samples of my writing here. I want you to analyze this and emulate my style. Do you understand? Here’s the text: [Insert your writing here].” By letting it analyze how you word things, the types of sentences you create, and your overall rhythm, you’re setting it up for success.
Don’t worry about being overwhelming; platforms like ChatGPT can handle substantial texts. By sharing your previous work, you’re allowing the AI to spot the threads that stitch together your unique writing tapestry. It will start picking up on specific phrases, your tone, and even your favorite idioms. Keep feeding it! The feedback loop you create will lead you to the desired results.
2. Give It a Style Guide
Just like major corporations have style guides that dictate the language and tone of their communication, you should have one too! Craft a personal style guide that highlights your preferences when it comes to tone, phrasing, and punctuation. Do you prefer short and punchy sentences, or are you a fan of longer, more elaborate prose? What particular words resonate with you? Do you have writing quirks, idiosyncrasies, or favorite sign-offs?
Using your personalized guide, instruct ChatGPT on how you want it to correspond with you. For example, start your prompt with this: “I’m going to give you a style guide. Whenever you respond to me, you must follow this. Do you understand? Here’s my style guide: [Insert your custom style guide].” With this instruction, you’re providing a robust framework that helps ChatGPT align its outputs with your voice more accurately.
By creating this style guide, you broaden the AI’s understanding of your written essence. The AI will have a foundation to build upon, making its responses more authentically « you. » It allows for direct adjustments tailored to your language preferences, guiding ChatGPT to sharper mimicry.
3. Take Advantage of ‘Custom Instructions’
ChatGPT operates a bit like that forgetful friend who sometimes can’t recall your name, let alone your past conversation. When each session concludes, it wipes the slate clean. It’s annoying, isn’t it? Fortunately, the new ‘Custom instructions’ feature has come to rescue you. This functionality allows you to input information that can persist across chat sessions.
To utilize it effectively, navigate over to the bottom left corner of your screen and invoke this feature. It presents two questions: “What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?” and “How would you like ChatGPT to respond?” Take advantage of this precious opportunity. Let ChatGPT understand who you are, who your audience is, and what you want to achieve with your writing. Paste your style guide in here so it can retain it and call upon it in future sessions. This drastically enhances continuity.
Thus, even if you’ve previously said something, it won’t be lost. Communicate all your aims and desires once, and ChatGPT will remember them, making interactions smoother and more productive every time you return to write. With this feature, your AI partner is as informed about you as a trusty sidekick should be.
4. Keep Giving Feedback
Engagement is central to mastering ChatGPT. While the AI is adept, expect mistakes initially. Patience is truly a virtue here! It might not nail your phrasing on the first try, but this doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel. Instead, take the opportunity to offer constructive criticism.
If ChatGPT’s output is slightly off the mark, tell it why. The more specifics you provide regarding what missed the target, the better armed it becomes for its next attempt. If it comes close but isn’t quite there, highlight what resonated with you and what needs revising.
You could say, “I’m going to rewrite the sentence you just gave me in my style and paste it back here. Can you tell me the differences? Can you apply these differences to all your future responses? Here’s your sentence: [“insert ChatGPT’s sentence”]; and here’s mine: [“insert your sentence”].” Offer this feedback regularly, refining the AI’s learning and improving its ability to craft content that mirrors your style.
5. Be Specific
Remember the golden rule from my law practice days? Never ask open-ended questions. This rule holds value when employing ChatGPT. Open-ended prompting can lead to vague responses, which is far from what you might want.
Instead of saying, “Write responses as if you were me,” dive into more detail. Share specifics about your sentence structure or the subjects you’re passionate about. Ask it to mirror your tone, whether it’s energetic, humorous, formal, or conversational.
Your prompt could read: “When explaining this, use short, energetic sentences and references to pop culture, specifically music, film, and television from the 1980s and 1990s, just like I do.” Operate with precision, telling ChatGPT everything it needs to know to match your voice closely.
6. Give It Context
Before diving into the nitty-gritty, ensure that ChatGPT is properly educated about the context of your writing. The AI responds significantly better when it grasps the broader picture of what you’re aiming for.
Provide any background information necessary—this might relate to the subject you’re tackling, the target audience you’re addressing, or the emotional tone you’re trying to achieve.
For instance, saying something like, “I’m writing an article about the benefits of renewable energy. I want readers to understand that a renewable future is not only inevitable but will happen sooner than they think. Although my subject matter might seem dry, I like to include low-culture references. I maintain a playful yet informed tone. Can you help me with an engaging introduction that aligns with my style?” This approach shapes ChatGPT’s understanding, allowing for targeted outputs that resonate with your unique way of communicating.
7. Be Realistic
Finally, let’s keep our expectations grounded. ChatGPT is a remarkable writing assistant, but it’s no magician. Just like human writers, it won’t perfectly replicate a style each time.
Understand that effective content often goes through layers of editing and refinement before it gets presented as final. Expect to roll up your sleeves and do some fine-tuning on your end as well. By adopting a constructive mindset and maintaining patience, you’ll guide ChatGPT to achieve a reasonably close approximation of your voice and create the polished content you desire.
Take time to interact, critique, and iterate. The iterative feedback process should be seen as a collaborative journey with your AI tool. With consistent efforts, patience, and clear direction, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how closely ChatGPT can write in your unique voice. In the end, it’s a matter of nurturing this partnership until both you and ChatGPT strike the perfect balance for your writing needs.
Upliftingly, the marriage between human ingenuity and AI can lead to exceptional writing experiences. by investing effort into coaching your AI buddy to mirror your distinctive voice, you unlock opportunities for greater productivity and creativity—an endeavor well worth the investment!