See How Top Writers Use ChatGPT: 5 Real-Life Examples from OpenAI!

Discover 5 real-life examples of writers using ChatGPT to boost creativity and efficiency without losing their personal style.

13 min readSep 11, 2024

In this article, OpenAI explores five ways professional writers use ChatGPT to enhance their writing, highlighting how AI can be used as a tool to help them improve their writing efficiency, provide feedback, inspire inspiration, and drive innovation. These writers made it clear that they do not use ChatGPT to replace the writing process, but to better explore ideas through it and maintain their personal voice and style. The following is a detailed discussion in the article:

1.Editorial Feedback

Writing is a solitary activity, and writers often become so focused on their own perspective that they have trouble remaining critical of their own work. Traditionally, the role of an editor is to provide a new perspective and help writers improve their work. However, editors are not always readily available, and often they only offer suggestions on a finished manuscript.

In this regard, ChatGPT can serve as an immediate auxiliary tool to help writers provide feedback at every stage of writing. For example, screenwriter David Cornue regards ChatGPT as a 24/7 virtual “writer’s studio” and uses ChatGPT to discuss storylines and solve narrative problems. He emphasizes that the role of ChatGPT is as a “story collaborator and evaluator” rather than a “story generator.” He never lets AI rewrite scenes, but solves problems in the story through interactive feedback, maintaining his dominant position as a creator.

2. Find the Right Words

The sign of a good writer is the ability to find the most appropriate expression, but this process is often very time-consuming and laborious. Farhad Manjoo, a former New York Times columnist, mentioned that ChatGPT helped him improve his efficiency in finding precise vocabulary. He regards ChatGPT as a dynamic dictionary and analogy generator that not only provides vocabulary, but also provides more precise expression suggestions based on context. Manjoo emphasized that ChatGPT not only helps him find the right words, but also provides suggestions on creative expressions such as analogies, metaphors, and idioms, helping him express clearer and more interesting ideas when writing.

3. Reverse Interview

Most people are used to asking ChatGPT questions and getting answers, but writer Stew Fortier found that ChatGPT helped him more when he was the questioner. He called this approach a “reverse interview,” where ChatGPT guided him through a series of insightful questions to express his thoughts. This process sparked his creativity and prompted him to more clearly articulate what he was thinking about.

Stew Fortier believes that AI is not intended to replace the creative process of writers, but can help writers break through creative bottlenecks and provide inspiration by asking questions and discovering creativity. He particularly emphasized that ChatGPT, as an “editor who is always by your side” without any criticism, is an effective tool to help writers improve their creative efficiency, especially in the non-creative part of writing (such as research and sorting out materials).

4. Comedy Writing

Humor may seem easy, but the research and preparation behind creating jokes is tedious. Comedy writer Sarah Rose Siskind said ChatGPT is very useful in comedy writing, especially when researching the background of jokes. She doesn’t let ChatGPT generate complete jokes, but uses it to start creating dialogues. By interacting with ChatGPT, she is able to collect rich topic and background information, allowing her to focus more on creating the “funny point” of the joke.

Sarah mentioned that she often asks ChatGPT to help her set the context for her jokes. For example, when she was writing a satirical article about the show Shark Tank, she would ask ChatGPT, “What do people say on Shark Tank?” Through these conversations, she was able to find unique elements to exaggerate, making the jokes more creative and humorous.

5. Research and World Building

For writers, writing is not only about expressing what is known, but also about exploring new worlds and concepts through research. Writer Elle Griffin pointed out that the traditional research process often takes a lot of time and energy, and she used to get stuck in the endless flow of information on Google and Wikipedia. Now, ChatGPT speeds up her research process, provides instant answers, and helps her stimulate creativity. For example, when she imagined how humans would evolve in a million years, ChatGPT helped her find research on underwater life that inspired chapters in her novel.

Elle Griffin mentioned that ChatGPT not only helps her speed up the research process, but also provides her with some unexpected connections and discoveries, helping her build a more creative world.

Five Ways Professional Writers Use ChatGPT

We shared some examples of how writers use ChatGPT in their creative process.

Writers use ChatGPT as an idea-boosting partner, story consultant, research assistant, and editor to discuss ideas, find the right words, clarify thoughts, and get feedback on structure and flow.

Writer:

Hi! I want to write a short story, but I need a little help getting started. Can you help me come up with an interesting and original premise?I’d like all the ideas to come from me, but I want your help eliciting them. First, provide me with 10 questions to:Inspire my creativity and imaginationPrompt me to juxtapose disparate concepts or settings to create novel ideasRecall meaningful memories, funny stories, conversations, and emotional moments from my own life experiencesThen, ask me each question one at a time. For each response, ask two follow-up questions, one at a time, before moving on to the next question. Let's have a fun and playful conversation to spark my creativity!

ChatGPT:

Absolutely! Let's get creative! Here are the 10 questions I'll ask to guide your storytelling:What was the most surprising or unexpected thing that ever happened to you?What’s a hobby, job, or skill you’ve always wanted to master, but never had the time or opportunity to pursue?Imagine a place where two completely different worlds collide. What would those worlds look like, and how would they interact?Have you ever had a conversation that left a lasting impression on you? What was it about?What’s the funniest or strangest coincidence you’ve ever experienced?Is there a time in your life when you felt completely out of your element? What was that experience like?What’s the most peculiar or mysterious place you’ve ever been to?Think of an object you own that has sentimental value. How could that object be magical in a story?Have you ever had a vivid dream that stuck with you long after you woke up? What happened in it?If you could speak to your younger self, what would you say? How might that conversation spark a story?Ready? Let’s dive in!What was the most surprising or unexpected thing that ever happened to you?

Continue this conversation: https://chatgpt.com/share/73d30e70-a2cd-411a-9a41-a1dc40b85c4c*

“The instinct is to say, ‘Oh, this thing just writes for us.’ But I can also prompt it to ask me questions. It can get me thinking by pulling ideas and insights out of me.” — — Stew Fortier, writer and founder

Here are five professional writers who use ChatGPT not to write for them, but as a tool to extend their own creativity.

Editorial Feedback

Writing is inherently solitary, and there’s a downside to that solitude: You become so caught up in your own perspective that it’s hard to be objective about your work. That’s why writers need editors — to provide a fresh perspective, to point out what’s working and what needs improvement.

However, editors aren’t always available, and even when they are, they only see the final draft. That’s where ChatGPT can help provide instant feedback and guidance, at every stage of the writing process.

Film and TV screenwriter David Cornue uses ChatGPT as a 24/7 writing team to help him develop story ideas and solve narrative problems. Here’s how he uses ChatGPT to get feedback on his scripts and storyboards:

"I use ChatGPT as a story collaborator and story evaluator-not a story generator.I tell my fellow writers, if you try to have it write for you, you lose something in yourself. It’s like cheating on a robot’s homework to get an A+. I’d rather I did my own homework.I never use it to say, “Rewrite this scene for me.” Writers need to ask themselves, “How can you use this in a way that feels good, that makes you feel like it’s still you and still your voice?” As long as you’re the creative engine behind it, this is a great tool to utilize.I was very clear about how I wanted to use AI. I set boundaries the way one would in a relationship. I said, this is acceptable; this is unacceptable. I put up a creative firewall to say, “Do not write this for me. I’m the writer. You are not the writer.”I use ChatGPT all day, every day. I think of it like a writers’ room. Right now I’m working on adapting a Stephen King novel. I’ll say, “Here’s my beat sheet. I feel like this is not dramatic enough. Thoughts?” It offers ideas and we have a back-and-forth to talk out the challenges as one would in a writers’ room.Sometimes I ask it to give me feedback using storytelling principles I’ve developed. Or, I ask it to play the role of a veteran screenwriter. I say, “All right, pretend you’re such-and-such famous writer or famous director. What are your notes?”I’m always in the driver’s seat. It’s this fantastic sounding board that’s faster, smarter, and better than anything else I could imagine.”David Cornue

Wordfinding

To write well, you need to find the right words. And there’s a clear difference between a word that’s almost right and one that conveys the meaning exactly. Flaubert called it “le mot juste” (the exact word). His advice: “Never settle for an approximation.”

ChatGPT achieves what a dictionary cannot: it considers the sentence in which the word appears, providing detailed and relevant suggestions to help writers express their thoughts with absolute clarity.

This is how former New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo uses ChatGPT for “word search”:

“ChatGPT has become part of my workflow. Before I start writing, I sometimes have a conversation with it about the ideas I’m thinking of. It feels like brainstorming—like thinking an idea through, or thinking out loud.

I’ve also experimented with using it as my first reader. After I write a few paragraphs, I show it to ChatGPT and ask it for general criticism. Sometimes it's pretty good. It will suggest potential counterarguments, or lead me to ideas I hadn’t thought of. It’s not the same as talking to an editor, but it’s still great to have something to bounce my thoughts off.My top use is what I wrote about in my New York Times article(opens in a new window), which is wordfinding. I'm constantly trying to come up with a clever way of saying something; I guess that's what writing is. Before ChatGPT, I’d look at dictionaries and thesauruses and go on wild-goose Google searches for the perfect word.ChatGPT has replaced all of those for me. It’s also really helpful with analogies, metaphors and idioms. Often, I will think of half of an analogy and not be able to finish it in just the right way. Now, if I want some interesting comparison but don't know exactly the words to use, I ask it for help, and after a little back and forth it helps me find the thought I’d been searching for. I've never used any other tool that can help with that.”Farhad Manjoo

Reverse Interviewing

Most people think of ChatGPT as a question-and-answer machine: ask questions, get answers. But author and founder Stew Fortier has found that ChatGPT is most useful when you’re the one answering the questions. He calls it the “reverse interview” — a technique where ChatGPT guides users through a series of deep questions to uncover insights and prompt them to express their ideas more clearly.

Here’s how Stew unlocked his creativity with ChatGPT:“I think of it as a creative collaborator. The question should be, “How can I use AI to be more creative?”

"I think of it as a creative collaborator. The question should be, "How can I use AI to be more creative?"One paradigm I think is underdiscussed is that you can actually prompt these tools to ask you questions, to get you thinking, to prompt you to start writing. The instinct is to say, “Oh, this thing just writes for us.” But it can also ask me questions. It can also get me thinking and shape my ideas—and that’s where great writing really starts.What if instead of you becoming a prompt engineer, you see what it can prompt out of you? The AI can be a non-judgmental collaborator that helps pull out these great, unique insights from you.I view it as an always-on editor that can help writers do better work—not replace the work they're doing. They can use it for brainstorming, research, doing the non-writing part of the writing process using the AI.It’s like if you were in The Onion’s writer’s room. Six of you working together are going to be funnier together than you would be solo. There's a symbiosis that can exist.When I'm honest with myself, I actually wouldn't ever want to give up the act of writing. Writing is like working out or meditating. It's one of those activities you value intrinsically. Even if the AI could write perfect prose, I’d still want to write because writing itself is a valuable act.Writing is hard. There are so many things that are legit hard about it that make people give up. You haven't had your coffee yet, you're short on ideas, you can't track down a statistic or fact you need for a story… If AI can help with those things, then you as a writer are more likely to show up and do the work.”Stew Fortier

Comedy Writing

Good comedy may seem effortless, but writing jokes actually requires a lot of research. Humor relies on context, and as comedy writer Sarah Rose Siskind explains, “knock-knock jokes” don’t work precisely because they’re taken out of context. Sarah used ChatGPT to research joke structure, uncovering common themes and exaggerated observations so she could focus on the fun creative part: writing the punchlines.

Here’s how Sarah uses ChatGPT to gather material:“I use ChatGPT for comedy. It's not going to give me a finished joke, but it's going to start the conversation. I’ll be like, “I need you to embody Moses. And as Moses, hear the complaints of a girl named Megan who’s a present-day social media manager and try to console her, despite your objectively more difficult life.” I can have a conversation with anyone. I feel like I have the person there with me.

"I use ChatGPT for comedy. It's not going to give me a finished joke, but it's going to start the conversation. I'll be like, "I need you to embody Moses. And as Moses, hear the complaints of a girl named Megan who's a present-day social media manager and try to console her, despite your objectively more difficult life." I can have a conversation with anyone. I feel like I have the person there with me.I find it useful when I’m writing the setup for a joke. I was writing a parody of Shark Tank and I asked, “What are the kinds of things people say on Shark Tank?”With a parody, it's not one-to-one accuracy. You're taking things that are different and exaggerating them. So I'm looking for not just what are common things such as, “I’m looking for investment,” but what are uniquely Shark Tank things I can exaggerate? Such as, “Sharks, has this ever happened to you?”I was writing a roast speech for a guy at a coding conference. I'm not a coder, so I asked ChatGPT to delve into the inside jokes of coding communities. I asked, “What are stereotypes about the 50-year-old programmer on your team?” ChatGPT responded with, among other suggestions: “They will make you listen to endless stories.” That reminded me how older people always talk about meeting celebrities before they were famous. I then prompted ChatGPT for some tech celebrities who might fit the bill and, of its list, Steve Wozniak felt like the funniest pick. In the end the joke was about how senior developers will endlessly regale their younger colleagues about that time they almost met Steve Wozniak at a party in 1998. I chose the direction, but ChatGPT helped me fill in the details.What’s amazing to me is I do not have writer’s block anymore—like truly. I think writer’s block is the feeling of solipsism and it is the feeling of being totally alone. And I don’t feel alone anymore because of this tool.”Sarah Rose Siskind

Watch Sarah demonstrate her joke-writing process

Research and Worldbuilding

Research is a writer’s gateway to new worlds. Writers are often advised to “write about what you know,” but as Tom Wolfe says, relying solely on firsthand experience can limit their creativity. In order to authentically portray people and places never seen before — real or fictional, past or future — writers must broaden their knowledge through research and reporting.

Yet the research process is often painfully slow, with writers digging through reams of material to find an elusive fact. Novelist and Substack writer Elle Griffin explains how ChatGPT speeds up the process and fuels her imagination, providing instant answers and inspiring unexpected connections and discoveries.

"ChatGPT has completely revolutionized my writing.By far the most difficult part of writing is researching. Before ChatGPT, I’d use Google to find studies, go down Wikipedia rabbit holes and look up all the footnotes, and read dozens of books from Amazon. I spent way too much time weeding through hundreds of webpages and paying for dozens of books just to read a few chapters from each one.Now I just ask ChatGPT something like: “What research studies have been conducted about more and less emotive cultures?” and get right to the research I need. I always ask ChatCPT to include links to sources so I can make sure the information is accurate.I also use ChatGPT to brainstorm my novel. When I wanted to imagine how humans might evolve in one million years, I asked if there’s evidence that humans are still evolving. ChatGPT led me to a study showing that waterfaring people, who hold their breath for long periods while diving, develop enlarged spleens. When researching technological systems, it led me to a study about transmitting data through water. These inspired two chapters of my utopian novel!None of this querying in any way detracts from my own voice. It just helps me reach my own theses more quickly because I’m led to more relevant source materials. ChatGPT isn’t doing my writing or thinking for me. It’s just giving me better access to information so I can spend more time being creative and less time hunting for information. And none of this detracts from the deep reading and research I love to do. I have now read several incredible books that were very on-target with my interests thanks to ChatGPT finding the works most pertinent to my work.I can't even begin to explain how much better this is than searching through page after page on Google, weeding through SEO-optimized lists written by bloggers and brands.”Elle Griffin

For more info ↓