Can AI help you write your blurb?

[JohnBertel]

I tried to run my own and some of the blurbs from the site through chat.openai.com. I don't think it necessarily came up with better blurbs, but it is an easy way to get truly new formulations that actually make sense.

You initiate with "Write sales description for" and then your blurb or synopsis.

Once you get a proposal you can ask it to be redone or chat with the AI like:

Make clear that...
Drop...
Reduce to 50 words.

chat.openai.com requires you to have a free account. I had problems with mine and had to contact support.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I tried to run my own and some of the blurbs from the site through chat.openai.com. I don't think it necessarily came up with better blurbs, but it is an easy way to get truly new formulations that actually make sense.

You initiate with "Write sales description for" and then your blurb or synopsis.

Once you get a proposal you can ask it to be redone or chat with the AI like:

Make clear that...
Drop...
Reduce to 50 words.

chat.openai.com requires you to have a free account. I had problems with mine and had to contact support.

Curious. What did it come up with?
Because, for fun, I’m inclined to run mine through Google Translate and back again, just to see what rubbish it chooses.

 

[JohnBertel]

I grabbed this from a thread:

Ten women. One psychiatric ward.
A fragile coexistence.
A nurse vows to hold them together.
One who carries a secret shame.
Who will thrive?
Who will survive?

And got this:

Ten women from different backgrounds and walks of life are brought together in a psychiatric ward, where they must coexist despite their fragile mental states. A nurse is determined to keep them together and help them heal, but one of the women carries a secret shame that threatens to tear them apart. As they face their own inner demons, the question arises: who will thrive and who will survive?

 

[JohnBertel]

This is getting a bit scary!

I entered:
write how a man named John sneaks into a dark house and finds a gun

And this is what I got back:

John crept towards the dark house, his heart pounding in his chest. He listened for any sounds that might indicate that someone was inside, but the house was quiet and still. When he was sure it was safe, he carefully made his way to a window and quietly slipped inside.

Once inside, John took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He crept through the house, moving as quietly as he could. He knew he was looking for something, but he wasn't sure what it was.

After a few minutes of searching, John heard a faint clicking sound coming from one of the rooms upstairs. He made his way towards the sound, his heart pounding in his chest. As he reached the room, he saw a glint of metal in the darkness and realized that it was a gun.

John carefully picked up the gun and examined it. It was heavy and cold in his hands, and he felt a surge of fear and excitement as he realized what he had found. He knew he had to get out of the house before anyone discovered him, so he quickly made his way back to the window and slipped out into the night.

 

[Barbara]

Ten women. One psychiatric ward.
A fragile coexistence.
A nurse vows to hold them together.
One who carries a secret shame.
Who will thrive?
Who will survive?

A good blurb right there. Who needs AI.

 

[Hannah F]

I grabbed this from a thread:

Ten women. One psychiatric ward.
A fragile coexistence.
A nurse vows to hold them together.
One who carries a secret shame.
Who will thrive?
Who will survive?

And got this:

Ten women from different backgrounds and walks of life are brought together in a psychiatric ward, where they must coexist despite their fragile mental states. A nurse is determined to keep them together and help them heal, but one of the women carries a secret shame that threatens to tear them apart. As they face their own inner demons, the question arises: who will thrive and who will survive?

I much prefer the original. It's snappy. Uses just enough words (and the right words) to draw me in. The AI version lacks the dramatic effect. It's just another string of sentences. Unlike the original, it doesn't say, "Stop. Read this."

 

[Hannah F]

This is getting a bit scary!

I entered:
write how a man named John sneaks into a dark house and finds a gun

And this is what I got back:

John crept towards the dark house, his heart pounding in his chest. He listened for any sounds that might indicate that someone was inside, but the house was quiet and still. When he was sure it was safe, he carefully made his way to a window and quietly slipped inside.

Once inside, John took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He crept through the house, moving as quietly as he could. He knew he was looking for something, but he wasn't sure what it was.

After a few minutes of searching, John heard a faint clicking sound coming from one of the rooms upstairs. He made his way towards the sound, his heart pounding in his chest. As he reached the room, he saw a glint of metal in the darkness and realized that it was a gun.

John carefully picked up the gun and examined it. It was heavy and cold in his hands, and he felt a surge of fear and excitement as he realized what he had found. He knew he had to get out of the house before anyone discovered him, so he quickly made his way back to the window and slipped out into the night.

AI evidently likes filler words and adverbs.

"Carefully made his way" = vague. There are better ways of showing his movement.
"quietly slipped inside." The "quietly" is inherent in the word "slipped" and the context.
"Once inside" = unnecessary stage direction.
"moving as quietly as he could." - How many people creep noisily?
"His heart pounding in his chest" x2 "made his way" x3 "slipped" x2.

AI needs a few craft lessons.

 

[Dorm Ant]

This is getting a bit scary!

I entered:
write how a man named John sneaks into a dark house and finds a gun

And this is what I got back:

John crept towards the dark house, his heart pounding in his chest. He listened for any sounds that might indicate that someone was inside, but the house was quiet and still. When he was sure it was safe, he carefully made his way to a window and quietly slipped inside.

Once inside, John took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He crept through the house, moving as quietly as he could. He knew he was looking for something, but he wasn't sure what it was.

After a few minutes of searching, John heard a faint clicking sound coming from one of the rooms upstairs. He made his way towards the sound, his heart pounding in his chest. As he reached the room, he saw a glint of metal in the darkness and realized that it was a gun.

John carefully picked up the gun and examined it. It was heavy and cold in his hands, and he felt a surge of fear and excitement as he realized what he had found. He knew he had to get out of the house before anyone discovered him, so he quickly made his way back to the window and slipped out into the night.

That is cliché after cliché.

 

[JohnBertel]

Right, It's not Stephen King, but what impressed me is the "understanding" of the situation. Like, the AI knows that a gun can click and use that fact to help the character find the gun. Apparently, it does not know that guns don't lie around clicking for no reason I don't think you can ask AI to write your ideas (yet?) but it may be a tool you can use, like a thesaurus or Google.

 

[JamieRae]

Whether you believe writers block is real or not, I think an AI tool could be used for when you get stuck. It might throw out some new inspiration, but as idea exploration rather than a copy and paste. Interesting results John, thanks for sharing. The missing piece from AI writing is always the human connection - but you can't argue that it gives a great foundation if you've been staring at a blank page for 3 days

 

[Hannah F]

Have you read @Barbara and @Jonny 's Green Cows Don't Fly ? Or listened to the podcast of the same name?

 

[Dorm Ant]

I hate the whole concept of AI writing and want to kill it with flaming hammers.

 

[CageSage]

The problem with AI is that it can't come up with fresh or original turns of phrase. That may be fine for advertising and slogans, but not for the unique human factor when it comes to new metaphors, or using words to make the most of their multiple meanings, or even making a new meaning (is it a portmanteau?) from joining words to make a new interpretation.
The only people who need to worry about AI taking over writing are those who want to write the same ol', same ol', or who use common adages and cliches, lazy writing, or sloganish writing to punch a reader in the face with the words (ie advertising, where those things flourish like flies on wriggling black river mud).