Writing and Editing with ChatGPT

Start from notes, not from a blank page

The strongest way to draft with ChatGPT is to start from your own notes: the points you want to make, the facts behind them, and the order you think they belong in. Paste those notes and ask for a first draft that uses only what you gave. The draft will be rough, and that is fine; its job is to give you something to react to, which is far easier than writing from nothing.

Do not ask ChatGPT to invent the content of a piece about your experience, your business, or your opinions. It can shape what you supply, but it cannot know what you have not told it, and a draft built on invented detail will need more fixing than a draft built on your notes.

Draft in sections, and read as you go

Draft one section at a time, and read each section before drafting the next. A section that is wrong will mislead the sections that follow it, so fixing early saves rework later. For each section, give the point it must make, the facts it must use, and the length it should run to, and ask for that section only.

Draft one section of an article, from my notes below.
Section point: Small shops lose repeat customers when replies to enquiries are slow.
Facts to use: [paste the facts for this section only]
Length: about 150 words. Tone: plain and direct.
Rules: Use only the facts given. Do not add statistics or claims I have not supplied.
After the draft, list any fact from my notes that you did not use.

That final instruction, listing unused facts, is useful: it shows you what the draft left out, and whether the omission was wise or an oversight.

Edit for clarity and structure

Editing with ChatGPT works in passes, one concern per pass. First pass: structure. Ask whether the sections are in the right order, whether any section repeats another, and what is missing. Second pass: clarity. Ask for the sentences a busy reader would stumble over, and rewrite those. Third pass: tightening. Ask for cuts, not additions, and keep only what serves the piece's point.

For structure, a useful question is: what does each paragraph do? If a paragraph's job cannot be stated in one sentence, it is probably doing two jobs badly, or none at all. Split it, cut it, or give it a clearer job.

Keep your voice

Voice survives editing when you protect it deliberately. Give ChatGPT a sample of your writing and ask it to match that sample's sentence length, directness, and vocabulary, rather than a generic idea of good writing. Then read the result aloud: if it does not sound like you, change the sentences that sound most generic first, because those are the ones that erase voice fastest.

Keep a short list of phrases you use and phrases you never use, and add it to your editing prompts. Over time, drafts arrive closer to your voice, and editing becomes a matter of small corrections rather than rewrites.

Final check before publishing

Before a piece goes out, run a final check in this order: accuracy of every fact, name, and figure; completeness, meaning every promise in the opening is kept later; repetition, meaning no point made twice without reason; and the ending, meaning the piece closes rather than stopping. Ask ChatGPT to check each item separately, and verify its findings yourself rather than accepting them.

Finally, ask one reader's question: what will a reader do, think, or know after reading this that they did not before? If the answer is unclear, the piece is not ready, however polished its sentences are. Clarity of purpose is the last edit, and the most important one.

Frequently asked questions