ChatGPT Can’t Predict the Next Story, but It Can Generate One Based on Previous Stories

How do we know what we write next if we haven’t planned to do it yet?

Here our creativity comes in.

But what if we hit a wall called “Writer’s Block” or “I don’t feel like writing about this and that”?

Unless we have been doing a 30-day challenge or something similar, following a series of prompts, it would be hard to tap into our next article right away sometimes if we just stood helplessly in front of such a wall.

There are tons of good prompts around on this platform. You can search for them and look around for what is the best fit for you.

If you haven’t written for any publication or haven’t become a Medium member yet, you might find the non-member restriction has become a wall to prevent you from reading more.

I made an app with many writing prompts and tips to share and help others writers like me kick-start their writing journey. Try the free “Easy” one and see how it goes.

Also, use my referral link here to become a Medium member. A portion of your membership fee ($5 monthly or $50 annually) goes to support me. And your reading time will also help other writers. You will break the wall restricting you from reading just a few articles — you can enjoy reading as many as you want on this platform.

Getting into a routine was hard because I didn’t have a set of things like now to write about when I started writing here.

I grabbed everything:

• my interests,
• my feelings,
• my day-to-day experience, and
• past experiences in many areas, in addition to being creative and learning new stuff using a few software.

Since I was a new writer here back then, no one knew me, and I was trying to write more as one of my strategies to let others know me, and I was trying to get into a habit of publishing articles constantly.

Even if you have a routine of what to write, having merely the topics doesn’t mean those would guarantee you an instant 500+ words.

So, I tried. I challenged myself to write more and publish as often as possible in my way. I also read other writers’ writing. Then I got to see these as a part of the results:

• Finding out “the format” in writing eased my writing process
• Finding out which ones are more likely to stick with me — writing niches
• Finding out my uniqueness
• Finding out what others like about my writing.

Those led my articles to obtain a bit of an increase in views and reads, which ignited my motivation to write.

I wouldn’t know them if I didn’t continue to write. I wouldn’t know them if I didn’t try to write many things.

What helped me? Writing prompts and challenges really helped me through.

So I’m going to emphasize this again.

If you are thinking about writing on this platform, try writing about something based on prompts and see how it goes if you feel your ideas have drained.

Now I have serial fiction stories and other types of stories to write about every month. I have to think about the content, of course. It is enjoyable to take the time to think about and search for ideas. Seeing the completed story always brings me joy. I can’t finish one in 10 minutes, but that’s the process. Sometimes it’s a fast process, and other times aren’t. My usual process in writing is: to think, draft, rewrite, edit, edit, and probably edit again before completing one piece.

One thing that hasn’t changed throughout my journey here is that following formats definitely helps me draft ideas, refine them, and finalize them; that is, using 1) Intro, 2) main points, and 3) summing up the points in the end. I can feel it fasten the whole process when I use the format in responding to writing prompts.

But a downside is I can’t use it for everything.

I also experiment with other writing methods to see how different writing styles work with my stories.

Writing fiction stories, for example, doesn’t really fit into the format of 1) the Intro, 2) Main Points 1, 2, and 3, and 3) Conclusion.

There are several methods I can use in creating my serial fiction stories. One thing I can try to use in my serial stories is to have a good ending for each one where it would intrigue readers to read more. Second, I keep it short. Three, I can let my readers imagine, so I keep each story short, but I use several images to entertain my readers.

But still, everything comes down to the content — the story I want to tell.

It all depends on the writer, and how he or she wants to create the story. My serial stories have come to #21. It’s all up to me to decide what’s next in the story Fish & Buddy #22.

It would be interesting to look at our unwritten stories somehow.

How can I see my next fiction story?

I asked ChatGPT.

I asked it to predict my next story. But it couldn’t. Instead, it responded to me it could generate a story but not predict one.

I used my last two stories with some details about the characters to examine what ChatGPT would give me based on that. As you see below, by pasting the link only, it can read my story.

My Request:

Based on the first story (https://kmitsui2018.medium.com/the-best-place-to-stay-fish-buddy-dca22a77e3f5), and the second story (https://readmedium.com/movie-night-c658a5d8f116), generate a 400 word story using the four characters’ name Robo (female), Buddy (gender neutral, use Buddy said, for example), Fish (gender neutral, use Fish said, for example), Shakutori (male). Include some conversations among them. The story needs a tint of humorous essence and they were ready to go downstairs after watching the great movie. But a tiny chameleon who is a dragon’s messenger, came to visit and talked about Robo’s dragon friend. They all know Robo hasn’t met her dragon friend for years.

I tried several times with added and modified requests.

And this is the one I gave the thumbs up.

ChatGPT’s Response:

Robo, Buddy, Fish, and Shakutori had just finished watching an action-packed movie. “Wow, that was intense,” said Shakutori, rubbing his eyes. “I need a break from all this excitement.”

“I agree,” said Fish, stretching their arms. “Let’s go downstairs and grab a snack.”

As they made their way down the stairs, a tiny chameleon appeared out of nowhere. “Greetings, friends,” said the chameleon. “I am a messenger from the dragon realm. I have a message for Robo.”

Robo’s eyes widened in surprise. “For me? What kind of message?”

The chameleon cleared its throat and spoke in a booming voice. “Your dragon friend wishes to meet with you. It has been too long since you last saw each other.”

The group looked at Robo in shock. “You have a dragon friend?” asked Buddy.

Robo blushed. “Yes, I met her years ago when I was on a quest. We’ve kept in touch ever since, but I haven’t seen her in person for a long time.”

Shakutori looked thoughtful. “This could be a great opportunity for you, Robo. You should definitely go and see your friend.”

“But how will I get there?” asked Robo. “The dragon realm is not easy to access.”

The chameleon smiled. “That’s where I come in. I can take you to the dragon realm safely and quickly.”

The group looked at each other in amazement. “This is incredible,” said Fish. “We have to make this happen.”

Buddy grinned. “We can even make a movie out of it. ‘Robo’s Dragon Adventure’.”

Everyone laughed, but Robo was still hesitant. “I don’t know if I’m ready for an adventure like this. What if something goes wrong?”

Shakutori put a hand on Robo’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be here to support you. And who knows? This could be the adventure of a lifetime.”

Robo smiled. “Okay, let’s do it. Let’s go see my dragon friend.”

And with that, the group set off on their next adventure, with the tiny chameleon leading the way.

I gave the thumbs up because I liked the details, the storyline was close to how I might write, and how it ended.

I also asked for five possible titles for it.

My Request:

Generate 5 possible titles (about 7 word-long) for this story: (pasted the generated story above here)

ChatGPT’s Response:

1. A Dragon Message: Robo’s Adventure Begins 2. Chameleon’s Call: A Dragon Realm Reunion 3. The Quest for Robo’s Dragon Friend 4. Robo’s Dragon Adventure: A Journey of Friendship 5. Messenger from the Dragon Realm

2nd Trial with the Same Request

1. The Dragon Realm Adventure: Robo’s Return 2. Friends Embark on a Dragon Quest 3. Reuniting with an Old Dragon Friend 4. A Journey to the Mysterious Dragon Realm 5. Robo and Friends’ Epic Dragon Adventure

The titles were concise, and I thought they were good, but I could also change them.

My thought on my experiment with ChatGPT this time:

• I learned how to make a better request.
• I felt fantastic when I read the generated story, which got the behaviors and dialogues of the characters that fit my storyline.
• In the other two generated stories, which didn’t make it here, I found some expressions and illustrations of how one character interacted with another very interesting.
• I haven’t admitted ChatGPT as my BFF yet. But I like how I can use it. I can see how I may write and expand the story.

Overall, I think it is a great assistant to writing a story.

Guess what? I realized it while typing in the box. Requesting ChatGPT is already a process of brainstorming ideas for my next story.

It is like talking to my friend about my story and ideas and getting responses over coffee or tea. It is like coming up with a funny, scary, sci-fi story with a few friends over one or two glasses of beer.

Note: I asked ChatGPT to generate a story and five possible titles twice using the exact requests yesterday, and it provided me with different results. This article may or may not help you decide whether you want to try ChatGPT to see how it can help you write.

Conclusion

ChatGPT can’t predict what I will write, but it can generate stories based on my previous stories with some of my requests.

ChatGPT helps me brainstorm and learn how I want to write.

It is a great assistant to writing a story.

If you like this article, you may like my other article about my experience using ChatGPT.

Thank you for reading and listening!