I got wiped out by illness last week, but a large number of you wanted another post on ChatGPT, specifically on the ‘idea winnowing’ I mentioned in my last post. (And if you missed the first post, explaining what ChatGPT is and how it works, click this shiny and well-crafted link.)
Just to recap: you’ll see a lot of people referencing ChatGPT as a tool for idea generation. That’s using it the wrong way. Ideas are a dime a dozen. You already have too many of them buzzing around your head; that’s why you feel like you can’t come up with anything, because nothing is standing out. Instead, ChatGPT can be used to winnow that mess down to something manageable.
We do this just as we would without ChatGPT: by focusing on some sort of starting point. That can be something generic, or even starting by rejecting something specific — or both. Try phrasing something as “I want X, but not Y.” For example, “I want a genius scientist character, but I don’t want someone socially inept.” If you were bouncing that off of a friend, he or she might say, “Like Tony Stark?” which then gives you an opportunity to narrow it down, such as by saying “Yes, but not arrogant. Charming, but not full of himself” or maybe “No, more like someone Robin Williams might have played. A joker who doesn’t seem to take things seriously, but actually does.” That’s how idea winnowing works. Like putting together a puzzle, you start with an edge and then explore around to find pieces that can fit.
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Novel Ninja 
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