and one robotic—type on a laptop computer.” class=”wp-image-62344 lazyload” srcset=”https://www.janefriedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/kalman_chatgpt_coach-blogpost-1000×667.png 1000w, https://www.janefriedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/kalman_chatgpt_coach-blogpost-450×300.png 450w, https://www.janefriedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/kalman_chatgpt_coach-blogpost-768×512.png 768w, https://www.janefriedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/kalman_chatgpt_coach-blogpost.png 1200w” sizes=”(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px”/>
Today’s post is by author Audrey Kalman (@audreykalman).
On April 7, frustrated with my progress on a third full revision and still dancing around my novel’s central story question, I typed the following into my ChatGPT account.
Me: I am struggling with defining the one central thing my novel (currently in draft form) is about. Can you help me figure this out?
In roughly a millisecond, ChatGPT responded:
Of course, I’d be happy to help! Can you provide me with some more information about your novel? What genre is it, what is the general plot, and who are the main characters? This information will help me understand your story better and assist you in defining the central theme or idea.
I provided a short, rough synopsis. Seconds later, ChatGPT returned several paragraphs summarizing what I had provided and offering a possible theme: “The struggle to reconcile tangible and intangible aspects of reality, and the transformative power of belief in the unknown.”
Okay, that’s actually two themes.
Were either of them really what I’m going for? I’m not yet sure. But in a few minutes, ChatGPT had cleared the fog that often results from being too close to your own work and gave me a starting place for refinements. As I write this, a little more than a month after my first interaction with ChatGPT, I have a revised outline, an entire new story line for one of the characters, and a clear direction for my revision.
The Chatbot is in
I’ve checked in regularly with ChatGPT since that first session. I pose writing questions ranging from the general (character development) to the specific (developing a scene about a natural disaster). Occasionally I venture into the more emotional side of the creative process:
Me: I’ve been feeling frustrated at how long my revision is taking. I’m spending so much time planning when I really want to be writing. Do you have any suggestions for tempering my impatience?
ChatGPT: It’s completely understandable to feel frustrated and impatient during the revision process. Here are a few suggestions to help temper your impatience.
The chatbot’s suggestions for dealing with frustration are similar to those I might dispense to coaching clients: embrace the process, set realistic goals, take breaks, and practice self care. Nothing too original, but these interactions advance my work significantly by sparking further ideas.
Using ChatGPT this way feels qualitatively different than my earlier experiments with everything from research, compiling content, and generating comp titles to asking for plot suggestions that better reflect a character’s story arc.
This feels like a coaching relationship.
Having both provided and received coaching, I appreciate the back-and-forth, generative quality of the interactions. That’s what excites me about teaming up with a generative AI system. Talking with ChatGPT the way I might with my long-time writing partner or a writing coach led me somewhere I never would have gotten on my own.
Can a generative AI be an effective writing coach?
ChatGPT possesses what I estimate to be about 70 percent of the skills that make an effective coach, which makes me a little nervous as someone who still offers human coaching. It’s good at:
- listening and reflecting
- making guided suggestions based on stored knowledge
- responding without an agenda—a place I’ve had to work hard to arrive at as a human coach so I can offer nonjudgmental, non-prescriptive support; without its own experiences to share, ChatGPT is objectiveless by definition.
In some cases, a generative AI is better than a human. It doesn’t sleep, take a lunch break, or stifle a yawn in the middle of your rambling explanation of a writing problem.
However, the 30 percent of the competencies that it lacks represent the real juice of human-to-human coaching relationships, making a strong case for engaging a human coach, either exclusively or in addition to an AI-based one. That 30 percent includes the following skills.
1. Intuition
Often, human coaches can intuit what writers should focus on, regardless of the issues they bring to the coaching session, and gently guide them in a different direction. ChatGPT may not tell the hard truths about your situation, such as: “At this stage, worrying about story continuity might not serve you. Maybe you should focus instead on how readers will form an emotional connection with the characters.”
2. Reading between the lines
The ability to read between the lines, to interpret subtle language cues (especially body language in face-to-face interaction), and to build on the foundation of an ongoing relationship remain—for now—in the human realm. A human listener can respond based on information that goes beyond the specifics of a prompt.
3. Human pacing and cadence
Humans have been talking to one another for hundreds of thousands of years. As frustrating as our communication can be, there is comfort in its human-paced rhythm. ChatGPT, by contrast, can respond within seconds or even fractions of a second, a rate our conscious minds can’t match. Human/AI conversations tend to be lopsided as the human pauses to absorb an answer and formulate a reply.
Of course, future enhancements could make ChatGPT’s response cadence more human. think, for example, what might happen when ChatGPT gains a human-like voice. Will it mimic human communication tics such as formulating an answer before you have finished speaking, or cut you off mid-sentence?
4. Experiential empathy
Many writers enjoy writing in the company of others or gathering to commiserate about writerly dilemmas. We take pleasure in these activities largely because of the feeling that we share common challenges. ChatGPT’s empathy is a form of mimicry based solely on gathered data.
This, too may evolve. Although I remain aware for now that the empathy is artificial, the human tendency to anthropomorphize technology has been around for a long time. There’s a body of research about emotional attachment to artificial intelligences, and no reason to think this won’t apply to chatbots like ChatGPT.
5. Handcrafting and physicality
The introduction of digital music was anticipated to doom the vinyl record album. But interest in vinyl has surged because interacting with music through a physical medium is a qualitatively different experience than interacting digitally. Similarly, literary artists and their appreciators are offering their creative talents in physical form in ways that a generative AI cannot reproduce.
6. Embodiment
We are more than our thoughts. Since humans first began philosophizing, we have embraced the idea of mind/body/spirit. ChatGPT has no body, and by its own admission, no spirit. (When asked directly about the topic, it responds, “As an AI language model, I don’t have feelings or opinions.”) AI’s access to facts may be nearly limitless, but its knowledge of the physical and spiritual dimensions come to us filtered through intellect.
Should you explore using ChatGPT as a writing coach?
I believe you’ll be better served to explore ChatGPT’s potential to augment human creativity than to lament what it may take away from writers, but your answer will depend on your willingness to experiment and how comfortable you are with both technology and uncertainty. To benefit, you’ll be well served by an ability to ask the right questions in the right way, perhaps honed by years of search-engine research, so you can craft prompts that will elicit valuable responses.
Your answer also depends on how you feel about the larger issues around generative AI such as what value humans bring to a world in which artificial intelligence is finding its way into more human endeavors.
We’re being called on once again to redefine ourselves as humans, examine our most deeply held beliefs and values, and emerge with an understanding of how technology can work for us rather than the other way around. Who better to do this than a group of people—writers—known for imagination, communication chops, and an ability to dream new worlds into existence?
The art of SEO content writing is a delicate one, like a spider spinning her web with purpose and intention. It requires an understanding of the search engine algorithms combined with creativity and storytelling to capture the attention of the reader. It’s a task that can be difficult for even experienced writers, but necessary if you want to succeed in this digital age. This is why finding the best SEO content writing service is so important.
At its core, SEO content writing is about providing readers with helpful and informative content while also positioning your website or brand on search engine results pages (SERPs). The right service should understand the complexities of SEO while also being able to tell stories that captivate and engage readers. They should also know how to use symbolism and techniques that add sophistication to their words.
Finding such an experienced team can be daunting, but there are some services out there that offer quality SEO content writing solutions for any business or website owner. See our one time service HERE See our monthly writing packages HERE
