What exactly do we mean by “voice” in writing? If you’re not a professional writer, the term might sound vague, or something you’d more likely associate with singing. But when it comes to writing, your voice is essential. It’s your tone: is it light-hearted and witty, or serious and sentimental? Are you authoritative or uncertain? Do you pose questions or provide answers? Your voice is also your diction: do you write about your children, your kids, or your kiddos? It’s the rhythm and lyrical sound of your sentences, and so much more.
There are many reasons why you might want to train AI tools like ChatGPT to reflect your voice, without fully handing over your creativity. Maybe you usually delegate first drafts to a junior colleague and need ChatGPT to step in. Maybe you’re looking to scale your content creation significantly. Or perhaps you need brainstorming help that aligns with your usual tone and style. Whatever your reason, training ChatGPT to write in your voice is the first step. Here are 8 prompts to get you started.
Introduce Your (Writer) Self
If you follow AI news, you probably saw recent headlines about the latest trend: asking ChatGPT to tell you something about yourself that you may not already know. The AI tool has an impressive ability to generate insightful responses based on past conversations. If you share a writing sample with ChatGPT, it can generate equally perceptive analysis.
To begin training AI to write in your voice, you can introduce yourself and explain your objectives. Try the following prompt:
“I would like to introduce myself to you as a writer, with an eye toward training you to write like me.”
ChatGPT might reply with something like:
“I’m excited to learn more about your writing style and how I can adapt to match it! Let me know what elements or approaches you’d like me to focus on, and we can begin shaping my responses to align with your voice and techniques.”
Then, you can share samples of your writing based on the content type you’d like ChatGPT to be able to replicate—articles, essays, marketing materials, and so on. Use this prompt to explain what you’re sharing with ChatGPT:
“I will start by sharing [3, 5, 7, etc., depending on the breadth of your content] excerpts of some of my previous work.”
ChatGPT will prompt you to share the excerpts (paste them into the text box, rather than just pasting the hyperlinks). It will instantly provide a brief overview and analysis of each excerpt.
Describe And Mimic Your Voice
Once you’ve submitted your excerpts, ask ChatGPT to provide a comprehensive analysis.
“Based on the excerpts from my writing, I’d like you to describe the characteristics of my voice, focusing on tone, style, and any distinctive traits.”
You’ll want to keep ChatGPT’s descriptions in mind when creating future prompts for writing in your voice. Then, you can ask ChatGPT to generate original content using the following prompt:
“I’d like you to write a new [paragraph, social media caption, newsletter, etc.] in my voice, on the topic of [insert brief description] and using the following information [list any key information to include].”
Feel free to specify as much as you wish, including facts, figures, conclusions, or recommendations.
Write For A Specific Audience
As someone who contributes to various publications, I can attest that writers have to be able to adjust their tone according to different audiences—for example, if you’re writing for sophisticated tech users versus general users.
With the below prompt, you can ask ChatGPT to rewrite something in your voice, tweaking it for the appropriate audience.
“I would like you to rewrite the following content in my voice, but adjust it for [specific audience, e.g., sophisticated tech users, entrepreneurs, millennial professionals, etc.]. Please ensure the tone, terminology, and complexity of the writing are appropriate for this audience while maintaining my overall voice and style.”
If you’d like the tone to match a fairly well-known publication—for example, Forbes readers—ChatGPT can work based on those specifications, too.
Identify And Replicate The Format And Structure
For certain types of writing, format and structure are key. If you’re writing a persuasive argument, for example, the format might be: An introduction of the topic and statement of your position; several points and details supporting the argument; a rebuttal of any possible counterarguments; and the conclusion. To replicate, ChatGPT will need to understand the structure. In cases where structure is crucial, you can prime the AI tool using this prompt.
“I am pasting a piece of content below. Please break down its format and structure, noting key elements such as [the introduction, how arguments are presented, supporting evidence, conclusion, etc.]. Afterward, I would like you to format a new piece of content I provide in the same structure.”
Once ChatGPT analyzes the first piece of content, it will prompt you to share the second and proceed to format it in the same structure.
Format Content For Diverse Platforms
As any marketing professional will tell you, it’s rare to share original content on one platform alone. At Jotform, for example, our team members often republish blog posts on Medium and then share them across all of our social media platforms. ChatGPT can help reformat content for different platforms while consistently maintaining your voice.
Here is a prompt you can try:
“I would like you to generate a [headline, social media caption, blog post, newsletter, etc.] to be shared on [platform]. Please use the content I am pasting below as a reference, and maintain the same voice, tone, and style as the original.”
___
The way I see it, ChatGPT is a tool to enhance my creative output, not replace it, and maximize my impact. Hopefully, using the above prompts, it can help you, too—it might even teach you something you don’t already know about your writing.
Source: www.forbes.com…
