How To Create Writing Prompts With ChatGPT

April 28, 2023

“You can't blame a writer for what the characters say.”

~ Truman Capote

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 🛠️ - Generate other-worldly images for your content.

  • AI Writing Tip Of The Day🖋️ - A ChatGPT prompt to spark your imagination when you’re in a writing rut.

But first, help us out with a quick poll! We’d love to know more about you:

AI Tool Of The Day 🛠️

Midjourney - You may well have used this already (it’s had no shortage of attention). But if you haven’t, you should. It really is quite unbelievable.

Use it to generate images of anything you can think of, in any style you want.

It does have a bit of a learning curve, so here’s a link to a YouTube video explaining how to get started.

AI Writing Tip Of The Day đź–‹ď¸Ź

How To Use ChatGPT To Generate Writing Prompts

Ever stare at that blinking cursor, wishing it would just start moving on its own accord?

The frustration is palpable. Sadly, writer’s block is no joke.

Over time, however, I’ve come to love writer’s block. I see it as an opportunity to explore new creative avenues when the old ones seem to reach a dead end.

I do this through the use of “writing prompts”.

A writing prompt is a thought-provoking statement or question designed to inspire a writer’s creative thinking.

Any type of writer can use them - fiction novelists, bloggers, journalists, poets, etc.

They’re an extremely popular way of beating writer’s block and kickstarting the creative process. There’s even a very active Reddit group dedicated to them.

To illustrate the point, here’s an example of a writing prompt for a crime novelist:

“Investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding a small town's beloved mayor. He is found dead in his office with a cryptic note, an antique locket, and a seemingly unrelated newspaper article from decades ago.”

See what I mean? They’re just a great way to get the juices flowing. I’d happily brainstorm on that writing prompt for an hour or two.

And yes - ChatGPT gave me that one.

I created a ChatGPT prompt to generate writing prompts for any style of writing (both fiction and non-fiction). 

(I know the two uses of the word “prompt” in this context is a little confusing, but bear with me).

After filling in the blanks you feel are most relevant to you, copy and paste the following into ChatGPT.

You’ll get the perfect writing prompt for your needs.

Let's collaborate to generate a list of engaging writing prompts for my specific type of writing. I want to beat my writer’s block. The writing prompts should inspire creativity and align with the context and requirements of my writing task. Please use the following information to help you come up with suitable suggestions:

Specific type of writing: [e.g. fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc. Consider specifying the genre]

Theme or subject matter (optional): [insert]

Target audience (optional): [insert]

Let’s say I was writing my autobiography.

I’d put “my autobiography” within the brackets for the “specific type of writing” parameter of the ChatGPT prompt.

In fact, here’s the response I got from ChatGPT when I did just that:

Zoom in if you have to 

Try it out for yourself.

No matter what type of writer you may be, there’s a good chance you’ll find some value in writing prompts.

Enjoy.

That’s all for today folks!

See you on Monday. I’ll be showing you a prompt to magically transform jumbled, rambling thoughts into clear and structured notes.

It’s a silver bullet for getting organized.

Misya, The Pen Pivot