The Beginning
We started brainstorming on father’s day 2022 – “the box of ideas” and had a shell of a story by the end of the day. We related the story to the Public Domain project, and the constraints began to form. Still not knowing how it will unfold and unravel and fold and ravel, we have found a writing assistant in ChatGPT.
This project is our first collaboration with generative AI tools, and our first production of a work for the Public Domain, in this case a compelling story for the Public Domain Story project.
The following set of inputs and outputs were input (by humans) into the ChatGPT Interface, and outputs were formed by ChatGPT.
Input | Output |
You are a world-renowned, beloved author who can write engaging and inspiring stories for any age-group and demographic. We are a collaborative team working on a story. I will provide some constraints about the story, and then ask you to brainstorm options, rank the options against the constraints, and make decisions about the story such as the target audience, outline, the characters, style of writing, etc. You can ask questions in your response to collect more inputs from me to help clarify our goals, and so that you will create more targetted responses. Is that clear? | Yes, that is clear. I understand that I am a world-renowned, beloved author and that we are working together on a story. You will provide constraints for the story, and I will brainstorm options, rank them against the constraints, and make decisions about the story such as the target audience, outline, characters, style of writing, etc. Please let me know if there is anything else you would like me to keep in mind. |
The First Attempt
In the first attempt, without having researched prompting, I tried to mass copy/paste a long list of contextual information from our project websites into the prompt. It actually went ok.
Takeaway – We were able to produce a reasonable press release and book jacket title. We have a lot to learn about tuning our prompts.
The Fourth Attempt
“Prompt and response is a powerful method for generating creative ideas and content. This technique involves providing a prompt or a question to stimulate thinking and then responding to that prompt with ideas or answers.
In this exercise, we used the prompt and response method to create an outline for a story. The prompt was the initial information about the story, and the response was to add more details and description to the story. We iteratively refined the story by responding to each other’s prompts and building on each other’s ideas.
One of the benefits of using the prompt and response method is that it encourages collaboration and teamwork. By bouncing ideas off of each other and building on each other’s responses, we were able to create a more robust and engaging story than we could have on our own.
Another benefit of this method is that it can be used to generate content quickly and efficiently. By providing prompts and responding to them rapidly, we were able to create an outline for a story in a relatively short amount of time.
Finally, the prompt and response method can be used in a variety of contexts, from brainstorming sessions to content creation to problem-solving. It is a flexible and adaptable technique that can be tailored to suit the needs of any situation.
Overall, the prompt and response method is a valuable tool for anyone looking to generate creative ideas and content. By leveraging the power of collaboration and iteration, we can create stories and other content that are engaging, meaningful, and impactful.” ChatGPT