Writing style

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Last night I decided to try and teach ChatGPT (v4) my writing style, and followed this guide. I’ll summarise it below, with examples of my instructions.

  • I’m going to keep trying out different aspects of use for ChatGPT and, where I can, blog about it. Follow along using the Blog Category ‘AI’. Not all of what I do with ChatGPT I can blog about, it may contain ongoing work or stuff I just don’t want public as I’m making a right mess of it.

To begin with I needed to feed ChatGPT with some examples of my writing and blog posts. First I set ChatGPT going with an instruction:

ChatGPT Prompt - I'd like your help in creating articles for education, universities, learning design, learning technology, and leadership. Your first task will be to understand my writing style based on examples that I give you. After that, we'll create some content. To start, please say GO AHEAD and I will paste examples of my writing. Keep saying GO AHEAD and I will paste new examples. When I am done I will say FINISHED. At this stage, please do not do anything except confirm that you have saved the writing style.

After each content I cut and pasted into the prompt box ChatGPT would summarise the content with a comment about it and its progress. Here’s an example of one such response from ChatGPT:

ChatGPT Response - Thank you for providing this example of your writing. It's clear that you focus on leadership and management topics with a personal and approachable tone. You emphasize the importance of people, communication, and understanding your team's individual needs and goals. I've saved this writing style for reference, and I'm ready to assist you further when you're ready to create content or discuss related topics. Just say GO AHEAD when you're ready to continue.

After pasting six or more blog posts, posts I consider to be indicative of my writing style and content, I typed FINISHED. From here I asked it to save my writing style (presumably only I have access to this?).

ChatGPT Prompt - Great. Let's call this

Now comes the nice (maybe?) part, a summary of my writing style. Here’s what ChatGPT thinks of me:

Certainly, based on the provided writing samples, here’s a summary of the “HopkinsDavid Writing Style”:

  • Conversational Tone: Your writing adopts a conversational tone that makes complex ideas accessible and relatable to readers.
  • Personal Reflection: You often share personal experiences and observations, allowing readers to connect with your perspective.
  • Thoughtful Insights: Your writing is thought-provoking and often delves into deeper concepts, encouraging readers to consider various angles of a topic.
  • Clarity and Accessibility: You prioritize clarity in your writing, making it easy for readers to follow your thoughts and ideas.
  • Anecdotal Approach: You use anecdotes and real-life examples to illustrate your points, adding a relatable and engaging element to your writing.
  • Empathetic Voice: Your writing exhibits empathy, acknowledging the challenges and complexities of various situations or topics.
  • Encouragement and Motivation: You often conclude your pieces with positive notes, encouraging readers to take action or reflect on the subject matter.

Overall, the “HopkinsDavid Writing Style” is characterized by a balance of personal reflection, informative content, and an engaging, approachable tone.

Well, to be honest, that’s the approach I’ve always tried to achieve, even if I didn’t know it in such detail. A “balance of personal reflection, informative content, and an engaging, approachable tone” is pretty much me.

And, if it’s not too much trouble, the header image used on this blog post was also created using ChatGPT DALL-E image generator. Not sure I agree this is really indicative of me … (I have no idea what is written on the board, it’s all rubbish and made up – if it’s even readable!!). I also hadn’t realised I was quite traditional in how my desk and office setup may seem to those who can’t see it – I can assure you, it doesn’t look like a 19th century headmaster’s office.