ChatGPT is an awful writer, but a brilliant muse

👉 here's how to use it to boost your creativity

Hi - Ian here.

If I read one more post about how ChatGPT changes everything or another Twitter thread beginning “97% of people don’t know how to use ChatGPT” I think I’ll implode.

But just because a lot of overhyped waffle is being written about ChatGPT doesn’t mean it’s not important. Or useful.

So far I’ve not seen much written by ChatGPT that I’d want to lay claim to.

It’s solid. But boring. Even when you ask it to spice things up or write in a certain style it still seems, well…off.

The best I’ve seen is from reword.co which analyses the articles on your website to train itself to write in your style. But even then it’s not quite there.

AI writing (at the moment) is the kind of writing that is absolutely fine for the run-of-the-mill content that agencies churn out for clients day in, day out. Or seemingly for SEO (though I believe it’s success there may be short-lived).

But if you want to use your writing to stand out, to build a relationship with your readers, to build a following, then it doesn’t quite cut the mustard yet.

I may not be the world’s best writer. But I sound like me. ChatGPT doesn’t yet.

But what it is rather good at is helping me come up with ideas.

It’s an extension of the kind of provocations and thinking tools Edward de Bono was rather fond of. Or Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies. Or using a random word from the dictionary to stimulate ideas by breaking you out of your current patterns.

Now normally ChatGPT is a boring old so-and-so. It works by suggesting text that typically follows the words you've got already. So it basically ends up with sensible, vanilla content.

But with the right prompts, you can force it to be a bit more creative.

Using ChatGPT to come up with interesting email topics

One simple way to get started if you’re stuck looking for something interesting to write about is to ask ChatGPT to suggest unusual or weird or innovative topics for articles on your subject area.

For example, I asked it to "suggest weird analogies as topics for an article on email marketing" and it rattled through a bunch, including suggesting I write about how crafting email marketing campaigns is like making first contact with alien life.

That intrigued me. And if it intrigued me, it might intrigue my audience.

So I asked it to tell me more and it suggested I could talk about how trying to understand the preferences and behaviours of a target audience is like trying to decode an alien language.

Or that trying to reach your audience through a crowded inbox on a whole bunch of different devices is like trying to reach extraterrestrials through the depths of space and across vastly different technologies.

Or that establishing trust would be crucial to beginning to communicate with alien races, as it is with email subscribers.

And I thought...actually, there might be something in this.

Don't get me wrong. ChatGPT hasn't invented a bunch of new ideas about email marketing. But it has come up with an interesting way of explaining some key concepts that might even raise a smile or two.

In practice, I'd probably use one or two of its better suggestions and brainstorm a few of my own.

But the reality is that before typing in my prompt I had none of those ideas.

Sure, I could have sweated a bit and come up with something just as good from scratch myself. But I got there faster and easier via ChatGPT.

Using ChatGPT to come up with interesting ways to illustrate an email topic

One of my favourite types of email that I mention in Email Persuasion is the "weird links"one.

This is where you draw an analogy between the topic you're talking about and something or someone that wouldn't normally be associated with that topic.

"George Clooney's guide to leadership", for example. Or "What Homer Simpson taught me about diplomacy".

Because the idea of lessons on diplomacy from a dysfunctional cartoon character is inherently intriguing, you'll get more people opening and reading than you would with a plan vanilla email about the topic.

You have to use these types of email sparingly, of course. And the email still needs to have useful ideas and tips in it.

But they do provide a nice bit of variety for your readers and they're fun to write for you.

And it turns out that ChatGPT can help a lot when it comes to finding these topics - if you're careful.

For reasons which will become clear later, I'd advise looking for links in an area you're already knowledgeable about.

So if you like films, look there. If you like cricket, look there.

The area doesn't have to be one your audience knows about. In fact, it makes it more interesting to them if it's on the edge of their experience base and they have no preconceived ideas about it.

So I might write about magic or darts. Or comedy or football - though those latter two are maybe a bit too mainstream.

Then you ask ChatGPT to find unusual, interesting, surprising or weird connections to your topic. For example, "suggest interesting topics for articles based on weird links between darts players and leadership".

You can play around with the prompt to see which gives you the most interesting topics.

But be careful - and this is where your knowledge of the area is vital.

In the case of the darts prompt, ChatGPT suggested titles like "Hitting the Bullseye: How Darts Players and Great Leaders Master Precision Decision-Making" and "The Power of Visualization: How Darts Players and Leaders Harness Mental Imagery for Success".

Both of those would make interesting and useful articles I think.

Darts is one of those sports where you don't have time to ponder decisions so the best players already know what they're going to do in different scenarios so they can act instantly in the moment. And there was a fascinating experiment done with novice darts players that showed visualisation improved their play more than actual practice.

But some of the titles wouldn't work. "Teamwork on the Oche: Lessons in Collaborative Leadership from Professional Darts Players" just doesn't make sense. Teamwork isn't really a factor in darts.

And that’s why I advise picking areas where you already have decent knowledge - otherwise you might get led astray.

The important thing is you're using ChatGPT to stimulate your thinking, not do it for you.

Left to my own devices and 3 or 4 strong coffees I'd probably have come up with about half the ideas that ChatGPT did myself. But once I saw them it immediately triggered thoughts of what I could write about (or in a few cases, that the topics just didn't make sense).

Play around with it yourself. Ask it for ideas in different ways and use different words like unusual, surprising, weird and unexpected to make the outputs more interesting.

One tip to make the end result more engaging for your readers - get it to suggest topics about specific people.

An email about "George Clooney's leadership tips" is more intriguing than the generic "leadership tips from movie stars". We're just more interested in people, especially ones we know a little about.

Asking ChatGPT to "rework those topics but use examples of specific darts players" suggested Michael van Gerwen as an example for decision making (a bit boring as he's been the top player in the world for years) and Simon Whitlock for visualisation (much more fertile ground for investigation as he's an interesting character).

I suspect ChatGPT just randomly threw player names together with topics there, but it doesn't matter. Much like stimulating brainstorming with random words from the dictionary, as long as it kicks your brain out of a rut and gets it coming up with ideas it's all good.

- Ian