Editing can be tedious and unfun. If you’re like us who has to edit multiple documents a day (and often the same set of documents repeatedly with minor changes), editing is equivalent to getting sucked into a vortex of suffering. With how powerful ChatGPT is at generating content, people often rely upon it solely for content creation… but did you know that the AI can make for a surprisingly good partner at editing as well? Not only is ChatGPT fast at cranking out edits and suggestions, it provides a handy objective perspective as well – it all depends on how well you curate your prompt. Interested in making more impactful edits while keeping the process streamlined? Then this article is for you!
Choosing the right hook
As Tiktok videos, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Stories have shown, the most viral videos captivate audiences through a strong opener. With hundreds and thousands of other videos being uploaded daily and competing for views, a boring opener is a sure-fire way to lose interest. Writing is very much the same.
Jodie Cook, a senior contributor at Forbes and an expert on ChatGPT prompts, compares an effective article to hit songs that dominate pop culture. “To get someone’s interest and keep it, chart-topping singles change something up every six seconds. A different beat, melody or key,” Cook explains. “Resonate hard and give someone a compelling reason to keep reading. Tease what they’ll achieve by sticking to the end. Boring openers win zero readers, but you want millions.”
Since ChatGPT has access to the majority of the Internet and can quickly identify trends, the AI can provide helpful insights on how top-rated articles set their hooks upon readers. To do so, you simply need a prompt that hits the right notes:
1. The prompt must include a sample of your writing (ideally your current opening)
2. Request ChatGPT to cross-reference effective opening tactics and apply said tactics to your writing
· The AI should also explain its rationale for using this tactic so that we can understand why it’s effective and why we should consider it
3. The more options the better! Don’t hesitate to ask ChatGPT to provide options for you to play around with
· Consider asking the AI when and where each tactic would be most applicable – eg. using shock factors may work great for sensationalist journalism, but they are improper and too tacky for academic articles
Here’s the sample prompt that Cook has cooked up:
“Analyze the opening of my online article. I'll paste the first paragraph below. Rewrite it 3 different ways to make it more compelling and hook the reader instantly. For each rewrite, explain the key changes and how they improve engagement. After presenting the 3 options, give me 5 general tips for crafting attention-grabbing openers that keep readers hooked. Here's my current opening paragraph: [paste your paragraph].”
Bringing up the stats
An argument is only as good as the facts and statistics that you use to back it up, otherwise you are simply offering an opinion. No matter how well you structure it, unsupported arguments will struggle to be convincing – and to readers who are acquainted or experts on the subject, they may even dismiss you for being baseless!
Aside from giving weight to your content, Cook adds that statistics and numbers are essential for making your content memorable. “When you’re trying to make a point, appeal to the logical members of your target audience by including some numbers,” she explains.
To do so, you’ll need to consider several things in your prompt to guide ChatGPT in the right direction. This is Cook’s suggested prompt:
“Help me strengthen my article with compelling data. I'll provide the main points of my piece below. For each point, suggest 2-3 relevant statistics or research findings that support my argument. Include the source for each stat. After we've covered all the main points, summarize the most impactful statistics and explain how I can seamlessly weave them into my writing for maximum effect. Here are my main points: [list your key points].”
Although ChatGPT is very good at finding data, we think it’d be even better if you could provide more directions on the specific kind of data you want integrated into your content.
For example, if you were writing about the latest marketing trends for the post-covid era, you might write about how marketing is dominated by online advertising, digital media and huge influxes of influencer-based content – to give your argument more depth, consider the other side of the coin and ask ChatGPT to provide statistics on the declining health of physical stores, what percentage of malls are becoming ghost towns, the average number of “for rent” store spaces available at a prime retail location etc.
Being too lax with your prompt could result in the AI finding statistics that aren’t always relevant!
Count on conciseness
Good storytelling is always appreciated, but when your story loops around like a pot of spaghetti, readers will lose interest before reaching the important parts – hence the importance of balancing conciseness with clever story structuring.
“If you can say what you want to say in half the words, that’s what you should do,” describes Cook. “Imagine each paragraph was a tweet. Keep cutting and combining until you’re packing more punch with every line.”
Of course, trimming is incredibly hard when we have to take on the role of both author and editor – everything suddenly seems relevant to the point, so how can we determine what should or shouldn’t be cut? Let ChatGPT have a go at it first with Cook’s prompt:
“Sharpen my writing by eliminating unnecessary words. I'll paste a section of my article below. Your job is to cut it down by 30% without losing the core message. Present the condensed version alongside the original, highlighting the key changes. Then, give me 3 rules for identifying and removing fluff in my future writing. Here's the section to condense: [paste your section].”
Since we aren’t sure what to cut, it makes better sense to have the AI help us to decide. Cook’s prompt also includes a handy before and after comparison, which is handy for determining why the AI thought a part was cut. On the off chance it trimmed out an especially important part, there’s a possibility your core message wasn’t too clear – explicitly tell the AI what your core message first if you notice this happening.
Amp up the anecdotes
Aside from statistics and facts, anecdotes and lessons learnt are a great way to add meat to your content (provided they are relevant). Furthermore, personal stories are what makes your content uniquely yours. Unless you’re a leading authority figure on a subject discussing a topic for the first time, there’s no doubt plenty of other articles online covering the same subject. Your insights are a big selling point when it comes to attracting readership!
“Don’t just share a lesson, say how you learned it,” writes Cook. “Teach based on experience.” Since it doesn’t make sense to ask ChatGPT to come up with anecdotes for you, Cook has devised a prompt that gets the AI to refresh helpful memories that would otherwise be collecting cobwebs in our subconscious.
“Help me incorporate personal anecdotes into my writing. I'll share the main topic and lessons of my article. For each key point, ask me probing questions about related experiences in my life. Help me craft these experiences into concise, relevant stories that illustrate my message. After we've developed 5 anecdotes, advise me on how to smoothly integrate them into my piece for maximum impact. My article's main topic and lessons are: [describe your article].”
Solidify your style
In addition to a writer’s personal experiences, a unique writing style is what defines their writing as theirs. “Anyone can take a writing course or follow a template, but the more you copy other people, the less you sound like you,” warns Cook.
Once you write enough, you should develop an idea on what your writing style is like – using the writer of this article as an example, I try to balance an informational tone with occasional puns and light-hearted comments to prevent the narrative becoming too dry and sombre. However, if you aren’t confident in your own writing style or are unsure what it is, Cook notes that ChatGPT can help you identify it by examining your work.
Besides just throwing writing samples at the AI and asking what your writing style is, be sure to ask about the specific elements of your writing style – “those common words, signature sentence structures and unmissable ways you get your message across,” as Cook puts it. Here’s her suggested prompt:
“Analyze my writing style to uncover my unique voice. I'll provide 3 samples of my online writing below. Your task is to identify recurring patterns, signature phrases, and distinctive elements that define my style. After analyzing each sample, summarize my key stylistic traits and suggest how I can amplify these in future pieces to make my writing more recognizably 'me'. Here are my writing samples: [paste your samples].”
Despite having a unique writing style, remember that you shouldn’t swear by it for everything you do – copywriting and marketing can often take you to industries that are outside your scope of expertise. For example, it wouldn’t be very professional if you used a colloquial and casual writing style for an academic institution, nor would a curt academic writing style attract business for a small-town restaurant’s Facebook page.
Furthermore, ChatGPT can also help you emulate the tone and writing style of other writers. – which could be helpful if you need to ghostwrite for someone you don’t know too well or if you aren’t too confident with your personal writing style yet. For example, you can sound like Bill Gates by simply providing the AI with some references (eg. Gates’ personal blog) and adapting Gates’ writing nuances and writing elements to your writing.
Whenever you work with ChatGPT, it’s paramount that you put sufficient thought into the prompt. If you were to just paste your copy and ask the AI to edit it, failing to specify what the AI should edit for or how you want it edited is only going to lead to disappointment. Having the right prompts not only simplifies the editing process, but helps you grow as a writer as well!