80 ChatGPT Prompts for Writing (+ How to Generate Your Own)

You don’t need inspiration—you need a nudge. These ChatGPT prompts for writing will shove you straight into the story.

---

---

---

The internet is full of “500 ChatGPT prompts for writers” lists, and most of them are about as useful as a thesaurus in a blackout. Sure, they’ll give you something—but they won’t give you the right thing.

Because the real power of ChatGPT isn’t in stock phrases or pre-written prompts—it’s in knowing how to talk to it. Used well, this tool can help you brainstorm, structure ideas, and even unstick stubborn scenes. Used badly, it’s just another way to waste an afternoon.

Once you understand how to engineer prompts that suit your style, your project, and your goals, you can coax out brilliant ideas, sharper drafts, and faster breakthroughs. Otherwise, you’re just tossing half-baked instructions at an algorithm and hoping it reads your mind.

What is a ChatGPT prompt?

At its core, a ChatGPT prompt is just you telling the AI what to do. But like most things in writing, the difference between okay and excellent comes down to how you say it.

A vague prompt—“Write me a short story”—is the equivalent of telling a chef, “Make me food.” You’ll get something, but probably not what you were craving. A specific prompt—“Write a 600-word short story in the style of Shirley Jackson about a lonely lighthouse keeper who finds a message in a bottle”—gives the AI exactly the ingredients and mood to work with.

That’s where the magic happens. Not in hoarding a list of prompts you found online, but in knowing how to craft your own so they work for your voice, your project, and your audience.

📌 Pro Tip: If you’re vague, OpenAI’s ChatGPT will be vague right back. Give it specifics and you’ll get something worth working with.

The three steps to mastering ChatGPT as a writer

The difference between average results and jaw-dropping ones? It’s not “being good with tech.” It’s knowing exactly how to steer this thing. Most writers skip the foundations—don’t. You’ll only end up frustrated and convinced AI “doesn’t work for you.”

Step 1: Learn the form

Before you can bend ChatGPT to your will, you have to understand what you’re working with.

• What it is (and isn’t): It’s a ridiculously smart natural language processing tool, not a human co-author. It has no lived experience, but it does have the ability to churn through patterns faster than your morning coffee hits.
• Why prompt structures matter: ChatGPT thrives on specificity. Vague in, vague out.
• Prompt engineering basics: Break things down—clear instructions, bullet points, and defined outputs will beat “write me something good” every single time.

Step 2: Train the form

Think of this as onboarding your newest junior hire. You wouldn’t just point them at a desk and say, “Good luck.”

• Give it custom instructions: “Act as an investigative journalist,” “Write like a noir novelist,” “Be a brutally honest line editor.”
• Share audience details and examples of style you like: Are you writing for fantasy romance readers, SaaS founders, or bookish introverts?
• Context is fuel: If your world revolves around e-commerce, programming, small business, or social media, tell it.

Step 3: Use the form

Now you’ve got the tools—and the trained AI—so put it to work. Best use cases for writers:

• Brainstorming blog, newsletter, or YouTube ideas.
• Outlining articles for content creation or SEO (yes, it can even help you please search engines).
• Refining email marketing copy without losing your voice.
• Drafting tweets, LinkedIn posts, or other social content that doesn’t sound like it came from a bot.
• Writing scripts for tutorials, explainers, or even book trailers.

📌 Pro Tip: Treat ChatGPT exactly like a promising but inexperienced assistant. Give it crystal-clear direction, set boundaries, and be generous with feedback. You’ll get far better results than if you just toss it a vague idea and hope for magic.

80 ChatGPT prompts for writers (broken down by category)

Here’s the problem with most “best ChatGPT prompts” lists: they’re basically a bag of random sentences someone pulled from the internet and slapped into bullet points. You might get lucky, but you’re just as likely to get a prompt that produces three paragraphs of bland oatmeal.

We’re not doing that here.

Instead, we’re grouping prompts by what you actually need as a writer—whether that’s banishing the blank page, wrangling a stubborn chapter, or coaxing your book’s middle act into doing literally anything. Each section comes with a note on why these work, so you can adapt them, tweak them, and even create your own.

Because the real magic isn’t having 100 prompts bookmarked—it’s knowing how to make one prompt pull exactly the result you want.

Fiction writing prompts

Why these work: These aren’t “give me a story” requests. They set ChatGPT up with genre rules, a framework, your target audience, and your creative direction — so it can draft something you can refine.

1. “Outline a 5-chapter novella in the style of Naomi Novik, set in a crumbling desert empire. Include chapter summaries, key conflicts, and emotional beats for the protagonist.”
2. “Write a 250-word opening scene in first person present tense. My main character is a cynical witch who’s been blackmailed into saving a cursed prince.”
3. “Expand this bullet-point outline into a 500-word short story outline: [insert bullet points]. Maintain a sarcastic, dry-witted narrative voice.”
4. “Brainstorm 10 high-stakes ‘midpoint twist’ ideas for a romantasy novel about rival mages forced to work together.”
5. “Give me three different endings for this plot summary — one tragic, one bittersweet, one uplifting: [paste summary].”
6. “Generate a 10-step hero’s journey outline for a cozy fantasy about a retired thief who must solve one last heist.”
7. “Take this character description and suggest five plotlines they could anchor in a mystery-fantasy hybrid: [paste character description].”
8. “Write a 400-word ‘meet-cute’ scene between two rivals at an interdimensional book fair. Include banter, one moment of accidental vulnerability, and a hint of foreshadowing.”
9. “Create a list of 12 side characters, each with a quirk, a secret, and a role in the protagonist’s journey.”
10. “Reimagine Pride and Prejudice as a near-future space opera — outline the first three chapters.”

📌 Pro Tip: ChatGPT produces better fiction when it has a skeleton to flesh out. Give it a bullet-point plot, scene beats, or a list of must-use details, and you’ll get a coherent draft instead of random word soup.

Character development prompts

Why these work: We’re building characters that do things in the story. The prompts connect personality, backstory, and plot potential so they’re not just floating bios.

1. “Create a full character dossier for a 45-year-old investigative journalist in New York uncovering a financial conspiracy. Include their flaw, fear, secret, and defining skill.”
2. “Take this protagonist description and write a 500-word scene from their childhood that explains their current worldview: [paste description].”
3. “List 10 ‘tells’ that reveal this character is lying — physical habits, speech patterns, and micro-expressions.”
4. “Write two different versions of this character’s moral compass: one where they value loyalty over truth, and one where truth wins.”
5. “Generate a 5-scene arc showing how this side character slowly becomes the reader’s favorite: [describe side character].”
6. “From the POV of the protagonist’s rival, write a 200-word internal monologue about the hero’s biggest weakness.”
7. “Describe five unique settings where this character could be introduced in a memorable way.”
8. “Create a 12-song playlist for this character, with one sentence explaining why each song matters to them.”
9. “Invent three mentors for this character, each with a different teaching style that would influence the plot.”
10. “Write a fake news profile of this character after the events of the book — positive in tone but subtly revealing their flaws.”

📌 Pro Tip: To make characters feel real, give ChatGPT cause-and-effect prompts — how would X past event shape Y personality trait? It will connect the dots in ways you can use directly in your scenes.

Editing and style refinement prompts

Why these work: We’re not asking ChatGPT to “make it better” — we’re telling it what better means in terms of pace, tone, and focus.

1. “Tighten this scene by 25% for pacing, without removing any plot beats: [paste text].”
2. “Rewrite this paragraph to build suspense using shorter sentences and sensory details: [paste text].”
3. “Change this passage from first person to close third person while keeping the tone sarcastic: [paste text].”
4. “Make this dialogue sound like it’s between two ex-best friends who are pretending to get along: [paste text].”
5. “Rewrite this chapter for an audience of 10-year-olds without losing the core story: [paste text].”
6. “Replace generic descriptions with setting-specific sensory details: [paste text].”
7. “Give me three alternative last lines for this chapter, each one a cliffhanger.”
8. “Rephrase this section so it could be narrated by a charming but unreliable storyteller: [paste text].”
9. “Restructure this scene so it starts in media res and explains context later: [paste text].”
10. “Cut all filler words and weak adverbs from this excerpt, then reprint with changes highlighted: [paste text].”

📌 Pro Tip: Always tell ChatGPT how to change your text (tone, POV, pacing) and by how much (cut by 20%, add 150 words). Without numbers and direction, you’ll get vague, unhelpful edits.

Blogging and content creation prompts

Why these work: These prompts give ChatGPT a clear audience, angle, and structure so you’re not stuck re-editing generic, keyword-stuffed paragraphs.

1. “Write a 120-word blog intro for a post on ‘The Best Freelance Platforms for Writers in 2025’ aimed at experienced freelance journalists. Hook with an anecdote.”
2. “Outline a 1,200-word blog post comparing SEO tools for small business owners. Include H2 and H3 headings, plus bullet points under each.”
3. “Rewrite this blog post section to be more conversational and add two pop culture references relevant to writers: [paste text].”
4. “Suggest five article angles on ‘AI in Publishing’ that would appeal to The New York Times’ book section audience.”
5. “Create a 3-month content calendar for a blog about self-publishing, with one long-form post, one listicle, and one case study per month.”
6. “Expand these bullet points into a 700-word post using short paragraphs, subheads, and reader-friendly language: [paste bullet points].”
7. “Draft a 200-word conclusion for a blog post that encourages readers to sign up for a free newsletter about freelancing.”
8. “Summarize this 2,000-word article into a 200-word LinkedIn post without losing the key insights: [paste text].”
9. “Brainstorm 12 blog post headlines about freelance writing income strategies, each under 60 characters.”
10. “Rewrite this blog post to target the keyword ‘search engine optimization for authors’ while keeping the tone warm and friendly: [paste text].”

📌 Pro Tip: For blogging, tell ChatGPT the word count, audience, and format before you start. And always ask for outlines first — it’s easier to tweak a structure before committing to full drafts.

Social media and marketing prompts

Why these work: Social posts thrive when they’re platform-specific, audience-aware, and built around a single, shareable idea.

1. “Write five Instagram captions for behind-the-scenes photos of an author’s writing process, each ending with a question to encourage comments.”
2. “Draft a 10-tweet Twitter thread explaining how freelance writers can double their income using SEO.”
3. “Create three TikTok script outlines (30 seconds each) for promoting a new self-published fantasy novel.”
4. “Rewrite this promotional post so it feels like a personal story instead of an ad: [paste text].”
5. “Suggest 10 hashtags for a LinkedIn post about the launch of a writing course.”
6. “Write a Facebook post announcing a free webinar for small business owners on using AI in content marketing, with an emphasis on urgency.”
7. “Draft five different CTAs for a social media ad promoting a freelancing podcast.”
8. “Outline one month of themed social posts for a romance author building an audience on TikTok.”
9. “Create a poll question for LinkedIn that sparks debate about whether writers should use AI tools.”
10. “Turn this blog post into a carousel script for Instagram, with 5 slides max: [paste text].”

📌 Pro Tip: Always give ChatGPT the platform + tone + goal for your post. A LinkedIn thought piece, an Instagram caption, and a TikTok script are three totally different beasts.

Freelance writing and business prompts

Why these work: These prompts focus on lead generation, pitching, and building credibility — all things that benefit from precise, tailored AI output.

1. “Write a cold email pitch to a marketing director at a SaaS startup offering blog ghostwriting services.”
2. “Create a three-paragraph bio for my Upwork profile as a freelance content writer specializing in financial journalism.”
3. “Draft five follow-up email templates for potential clients who haven’t replied in two weeks.”
4. “Rewrite my services page to appeal to small business owners looking for copywriting help. Keep it under 300 words.”
5. “List 10 potential blog post ideas for a business coach’s website that would attract high-value clients.”
6. “Draft a Fiverr gig description for SEO-optimized blog posts for travel websites.”
7. “Write an elevator pitch I can use in a virtual networking event for freelance writers.”
8. “Outline a 5-step process for onboarding new clients in my graphic design freelancing business.”
9. “Create a 200-word proposal for managing a small business’s social media accounts.”
10. “Generate a list of 20 niche markets where freelance writers can find recurring work.”

📌 Pro Tip: When prompting for business tasks, feed ChatGPT your background, services, and target market. Without that, you’ll get copy that sounds like it could belong to anyone.

Self-publishing and book marketing prompts

Why these work: These prompts use ChatGPT to speed up marketing tasks without losing the author’s personal voice.

1. “Write a 150-word back cover blurb for my cozy mystery novel about a retired detective who runs a bakery.”
2. “Create a launch email announcing my new fantasy novel. Include a hook, three selling points, and a buy link.”
3. “Suggest five possible book titles for my nonfiction book on building a freelance career.”
4. “Outline a 4-week pre-launch marketing plan for a self-published romance novel.”
5. “Generate 15 blog post ideas to promote a historical fiction novel set in Victorian London.”
6. “Write five tweet-sized quotes from my book that could be used for promotion: [paste excerpt].”
7. “Create a list of potential podcast guest opportunities for an author of a sci-fi series.”
8. “Draft a Goodreads author bio that appeals to romantasy readers.”
9. “Write three different ad copy options for a Facebook campaign promoting my new thriller.”
10. “Outline a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation for a virtual book launch event.”

📌 Pro Tip: For book marketing prompts, always give ChatGPT your genre, audience, and one-sentence book pitch. That’s the only way the output will feel targeted instead of generic.

Research and idea generation prompts

Why these work: These prompts help writers use ChatGPT as a fast research assistant — not a replacement for fact-checking, but a springboard for ideas.

1. “List 15 common themes in post-apocalyptic young adult fiction.”
2. “Summarize the 5 most common freelance pricing models and their pros/cons.”
3. “Give me 20 blog post angles about sustainable fashion for small business owners.”
4. “Suggest 10 niche subgenres of romance that are trending in 2025.”
5. “List 15 podcast episodes about book marketing published in the last year.”
6. “Generate 10 possible conflicts for a thriller set in the tech startup world.”
7. “Summarize this 5,000-word report on social media marketing for authors into a 300-word brief: [paste text].”
8. “List 12 real-world case studies of authors who successfully crowdfunded their book.”
9. “Give me five historical events that could inspire a fantasy novel’s political intrigue subplot.”
10. “Suggest 10 comparison titles for my nonfiction book on creative productivity.”

📌 Pro Tip: For research prompts, tell ChatGPT the timeframe, scope, and format you need. “Trending topics in the last 12 months” gets you a different (and more useful) answer than just “trending topics.”

How to create your own ChatGPT prompts (and get better results)

Good prompts aren’t magic spells — they’re blueprints. And the writers who get the most out of ChatGPT aren’t the ones hoarding “secret” AI prompts; they’re the ones who know how to reverse-engineer exactly what they want and feed it to the AI model with precision. Think of it less like shouting into the void, more like giving a meticulous brief to a slightly overeager intern.

1. Be ridiculously specific: The fastest way to get mediocre ChatGPT responses is to be vague. Instead of “Help me write a blog post,” say exactly what you want — topic, length, tone, audience, and even examples if you have them. The more details you give, the closer the AI writing will get to something you can actually use without heavy rewrites.
2. Always provide context: Think of generative AI as a house guest who has just wandered into your kitchen—it has no idea what you’re making unless you tell it. Share your niche, audience, and preferred style right up front. This stops the NLP-powered machine learning model from defaulting to bland, generic copy.
3. Use role-playing to unlock better results: Want more targeted answers? Tell ChatGPT to “Act as…” and make it inhabit the role you need. It could be a recruiter evaluating a CV, a programmer explaining a SQL query, or a data science educator breaking down a machine learning concept for beginners.
4. Break big requests into smaller tasks: Asking for a 10,000-word guide in one go is like asking someone to run a marathon with no water stops. Instead, break your project into a step-by-step sequence—an outline first, then individual sections, then examples. This is especially important for technical content like javascript tutorials or social media posts using DALL-E images.
5. Iterate instead of accepting the first draft: The first draft is just the warm-up. Use follow-up prompts to refine: ask for more depth, better examples, or a completely new angle. The goal is to keep nudging the AI model toward its full potential.
6. Feed it examples to train style: ChatGPT learns your preferences when you give it samples. Paste a paragraph you’ve written and tell it to match the tone, vocabulary, and sentence rhythm. Over time, you’ll discover patterns that consistently deliver effective prompts for your style.
7. Give clear formatting instructions: If you want numbered lists, subheadings, or short paragraphs, say so from the start. Whether it’s blog outlines, data science case studies, or caption-ready social media posts, formatting clarity will save you editing time.
8. Ask for multiple angles at once: Why get one option when you can get ten? Ask for several variations so you can pick the strongest or combine the best parts. This works for everything from LinkedIn headlines to product descriptions to YouTube video scripts.
9. Incorporate data or technical examples: If your topic is technical, tell ChatGPT to include relevant tools or concepts—SQL queries, Python scripts, javascript snippets, or DALL·E image generation prompts. Instead of “Explain AI marketing,” try “Explain AI marketing strategies for small business owners using real-world examples from social media campaigns.”
10. Chain your prompts for depth: Build on previous answers. Start with a trends list, expand each into in-depth explanations, then adapt them into short-form social media posts. One conversation with a generative AI tool can give you multiple assets if you layer your prompts.
11. Tell ChatGPT what not to do: Hate clichés? Loathe filler phrases? Say so. You’ll get cleaner output if you tell it “avoid corporate jargon” or “don’t use overused terms like ‘cutting-edge’.”
12. Refine for the medium: Blog posts aren’t YouTube videos, and LinkedIn posts aren’t newsletters. Always specify the platform so the AI can adjust tone, length, and structure.
13. Test and tweak prompt wording: Small changes in phrasing can lead to big changes in output. Try swapping “explain” for “teach,” or “outline” for “step-by-step guide,” and watch how the AI model adjusts.
14. Save your best prompts: When you hit on a formula that produces gold-standard AI writing, save it. Keep a personal “best of” file to reuse and adapt.
15. Always review and edit output: Even the most effective prompts still need your touch. Fact-check, polish, and inject your personality before you publish.

📌 Pro Tip: Treat prompt writing like ordering from a brilliant but overly literal chef. If you just say “surprise me,” you’ll get whatever’s easiest. If you say “I’d like a medium-rare steak with garlic butter, crispy fries, and extra aioli,” you’ll get exactly what you’re craving—whether that’s a polished essay, a technical explainer, or a carousel of killer social media captions.

The limitations of ChatGPT (and how to work around them)

ChatGPT can feel like a magic trick—until it gives you a confidently wrong answer about something you actually know. It’s powerful, yes. But like any tool, it has blind spots, quirks, and the occasional tendency to hallucinate facts. The writers who get the best results don’t ignore those limits—they work around them.

1. It doesn’t replace your creativity: ChatGPT can remix ideas and mimic styles, but it’s not going to wake up one day and invent a genre. Your voice, emotional depth, and unique perspective still matter more than anything it produces.
2. It’s not always accurate: The AI language model is trained on past data, which means it can miss recent trends, misunderstand nuance, or produce outdated facts. Think of it as a student who’s memorized the textbook but hasn’t read the news in months—fact-check everything.
3. It needs your guidance: Left to its own devices, ChatGPT will often default to generic, middle-of-the-road content. Without clear prompts and context, you’ll get something that sounds fine, but reads like it could belong to anyone.
4. It struggles with true originality: Yes, it can mimic Hemingway’s writing style, your favorite blogger, or a viral TikTok caption, but it’s still imitation, not invention. The sparks of genius come from you.
5. It requires editing: Even when ChatGPT nails the structure or flow, you’ll still need to proofread for tone, accuracy, and style. That’s where your craft turns AI chatbot output into publishable work.
6. It’s not up-to-date in real time: Unless you’re using a version with web access, ChatGPT won’t know about this morning’s headlines, the latest publishing trends, or that one author everyone’s suddenly obsessed with. For anything time-sensitive, you’ll have to fill in the gaps yourself.
7. It can be a little too confident: The AI will happily serve up answers in an authoritative tone—even when it’s making things up. If you wouldn’t quote a stranger at a bar without checking their sources, don’t quote ChatGPT without fact-checking.
8. It won’t handle all media types: Sure, it can generate text and even prompt ideas for DALL·E images, but it won’t actually illustrate your graphic novel or edit your podcast. Pair it with the right tools for a full creative workflow.
9. It doesn’t know your audience like you do: Without you steering the ship, ChatGPT can miss the mark on cultural nuance, industry in-jokes, or the exact tone your readers expect. Your insider knowledge is non-negotiable.
10. It’s a tool, not a ghostwriter: The most successful writers use ChatGPT for brainstorming, outlining, and problem-solving — not for handing over the keys and letting it drive.

📌 Pro Tip: Think of ChatGPT as a GPS for your writing—it can show you possible routes, but you still have to decide which road to take, when to make a detour, and where to stop for snacks along the way.

Mastering ChatGPT as a writing tool

ChatGPT isn’t here to steal your job, your voice, or your coffee mug. It’s here to speed you up, spark new angles, and nudge you out of the occasional writer’s block spiral.

The writers who see the biggest gains aren’t the ones collecting endless lists of “magic” prompts—they’re the ones experimenting, refining, and learning how to get ChatGPT’s responses to actually sound like them. Prompt by prompt. Edit by edit.

Artificial intelligence won’t replace human writers—but the ones who master AI writing will absolutely outpace those who ignore it.

Want more tools, strategies, and ideas tailored to your writing life? Join The Wordling’s free weekly newsletter and get smart, actionable advice sent straight to your inbox—minus the filler, plus the occasional well-timed sarcasm.

---

---