writing Character Generation via ChatGPT

[BabySofia]

Over the past month I've been playing around with ChatGPT a bit trying to see where it can be useful or not. I know some have tried to get it to write stories... personally I haven't been that impressed by that use. (Though I suspect in a generation or two more that will probably improve!)

One thing I have been find it incredibly useful for is generating names and personality traits. I have typically spent a ton of time using random name lists, baby name lists, etc. trying to come up with character names. Today I used "Generate 50 fictional girls first and last names based on popular US baby names in 2022" to come up with 50 names that I chose from for some what I consider to be minor characters in the book. I needed 3 girls, and then 7 guy names, so I did with both and was able to select some decent ones and have put the others aside for when I need them next. (A LOT less time!)

I typically do a lot of general sketch info - even for minor characters. So I used this prompt next: "Generate a list of 11 students labeled student 1 to student 11 with a selection of the following values for each: Year (either Junior or Senior), Major (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Portal Physics, Physics, or Mathematics), and height (Values from 9' tall to 12'3")" It did exactly what I needed it to do without any other effort. With the names selected, and these traits selected, I copied into Excel and then into the table in my word document in an amazingly short amount of time.

I fully plan to keep experimenting with some of these tasks that I normally go through randomly to see what I come up with. I just wanted to share this with the community in case anyone else spends way too much time on this task.

Anyone have other uses they've come up with for it with writing?

[Personalias]

16 hours ago, BabySofia said:

"Generate 50 fictional girls first and last names based on popular US baby names in 2022"

I apologize for nitpicking:

1. Why 2022? Unless the characters themselves were babies, wouldn't it make more sense to pick something from a past decade?
2. How is this different than google?  You can google the most popular baby names of any given year already.

P.S.  I admit I am not a fan of AI writing or art, definitely a conflict of interest for me.  Also my wife/mommy has had a long fascination with baby naming trends since before we met.  

[BabySofia]

35 minutes ago, Personalias said:

I apologize for nitpicking:

1. Why 2022? Unless the characters themselves were babies, wouldn't it make more sense to pick something from a past decade?

This is for Lights, Camera, ...What?!? which is set in the future. I figure I'm more accurate with naming students who are being born basically now that way. 

35 minutes ago, Personalias said:

2. How is this different than google?  You can google the most popular baby names of any given year already.

This is how I've done it in the past. The real difference for me is the multi-tasking of the generation goes a lot quicker than having to go find a first name, pick a last name, figure out how tall they are or other character traits. I won't use this for main characters necessarily, but I tend to have a number of side characters that come in and out of scenes that this is great for. (For instance the spot above is for a class, this way I have the names of classmates already if I need to refer to it. I may never use more than handful of names, but it helps out with continuity errors I've stumbled into before)

35 minutes ago, Personalias said:

P.S.  I admit I am not a fan of AI writing or art, definitely a conflict of interest for me.  

Understand this completely! Fortunately I don't think we'll be at the point of 'good' generated writing for quite some time. The art I've actually been somewhat impressed with people on, even if I've never managed to generate anything I liked. (I've tried a lot of variations in an attempt to get some cover art imagery, I found I was better off paying an artist still)

[Personalias]

20 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

This is for Lights, Camera, ...What?!? which is set in the future. I figure I'm more accurate with naming students who are being born basically now that way. 

This is how I've done it in the past. The real difference for me is the multi-tasking of the generation goes a lot quicker than having to go find a first name, pick a last name, figure out how tall they are or other character traits. I won't use this for main characters necessarily, but I tend to have a number of side characters that come in and out of scenes that this is great for. (For instance the spot above is for a class, this way I have the names of classmates already if I need to refer to it. I may never use more than handful of names, but it helps out with continuity errors I've stumbled into before)

Understand this completely! Fortunately I don't think we'll be at the point of 'good' generated writing for quite some time. The art I've actually been somewhat impressed with people on, even if I've never managed to generate anything I liked. (I've tried a lot of variations in an attempt to get some cover art imagery, I found I was better off paying an artist still)

I appreciate the clarification and can understand your reasoning.  Thank you for your time.

[Cute_Kitten]

6 hours ago, Personalias said:

 I admit I am not a fan of AI writing or art, definitely a conflict of interest for me.  

I love AI generated art and stories. It's pure comedic gold! ?

[SolSombraYSoldados]

On 3/18/2023 at 5:20 PM, BabySofia said:

Over the past month I've been playing around with ChatGPT a bit trying to see where it can be useful or not. I know some have tried to get it to write stories... personally I haven't been that impressed by that use. (Though I suspect in a generation or two more that will probably improve!)

One thing I have been find it incredibly useful for is generating names and personality traits. I have typically spent a ton of time using random name lists, baby name lists, etc. trying to come up with character names. Today I used "Generate 50 fictional girls first and last names based on popular US baby names in 2022" to come up with 50 names that I chose from for some what I consider to be minor characters in the book. I needed 3 girls, and then 7 guy names, so I did with both and was able to select some decent ones and have put the others aside for when I need them next. (A LOT less time!)

I typically do a lot of general sketch info - even for minor characters. So I used this prompt next: "Generate a list of 11 students labeled student 1 to student 11 with a selection of the following values for each: Year (either Junior or Senior), Major (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Portal Physics, Physics, or Mathematics), and height (Values from 9' tall to 12'3")" It did exactly what I needed it to do without any other effort. With the names selected, and these traits selected, I copied into Excel and then into the table in my word document in an amazingly short amount of time.

I fully plan to keep experimenting with some of these tasks that I normally go through randomly to see what I come up with. I just wanted to share this with the community in case anyone else spends way too much time on this task.

Anyone have other uses they've come up with for it with writing?

It is amazing for this. It doesn't do anything I can't do with google, but the difference is that it does it so fast.

I ask it to write biographies for me, and it creates whole set of family names that make sense together by ethnicity, region, etc. As you said, it creates sensible school programs, degrees, etc. You can ask it to write a CV for a character, it's great! As far as writing goes, chat GPT is total garbage. But for generation of mundane, yet plausible details it rocks.

 

It also makes a very good grammar critique bot. It catches lots of little errors that I wouldn't notice on my own, and that Word's grammar checker isn't sophisticated enough to find.

 

It's also a great research tool. Instead of having to read 5 wikipedia articles and someone's blog to have a good grasp of a subculture or hobby, etc, chat GPT will distill that information for me. I can have a conversation with it, like I would with someone in the subculture and it will get me enough of the right details to lend authenticity to what I'm portraying.

 

Great tool, will not be replacing writers any time soon. It only knows how to write the most generic pablum possible - which make sense because it's grinding up all the writing in the entire internet into a smooth paste, checking your prompt, and based on that it grabs some of that paste and pushes it into a sausage casing.

 

You get a hot dog every time. You're never going to get a delicious pork bratwurst that's been seasoned with apple and fennel. For that kind of artisan stuff you need a human writer. It's all our inconsistencies and psychosis that add the spice.

 

 

[BabySofia]

40 minutes ago, SolSombraYSoldados said:

You get a hot dog every time. You're never going to get a delicious pork bratwurst that's been seasoned with apple and fennel. For that kind of artisan stuff you need a human writer. It's all our inconsistencies and psychosis that add the spice.

This may be one of the more unique foodie ways of describing this I could imagine hearing! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I might have to try the bios idea... very interesting idea! 

[Ericc]

Chatgpt  could write  awesome things, BUT there is no magical ‘write me a 15000 lines story’ prompt. You really need to get your hand dirty and having a good understanding how the AI logic works, how it’s short term memory could be used efficiently and having some basic programming knowledge. 
 

but yes, we are witnessing history in the making  

 

[Weeklyne]

Generating names and personality traits for your characters can be a breeze with AI. It's a great way to speed up your creative process.
I've also experimented with ChatGPT for various writing tasks, and it's pretty versatile. For instance, you can use it to brainstorm plot ideas, create dialogue, or even flesh out settings. It's all about exploring how it can best assist you in your writing journey.
And speaking of assistance, if you ever need AI-generated prompts for writing or any other creative tasks, you can check out ChatGPT Resume Prompts at https://excalibur.guide/ai/ai-resume-writing-prompts/. It's a handy resource to keep your creative juices flowing.

[WBDaddy]

14 hours ago, Weeklyne said:

create dialogue,

I'm highly skeptical of ChatGPT's ability to create dialogue. I've seen more than enough robotic dialogue from human writers to think that a robot could do better. 

[BabySofia]

5 minutes ago, WBDaddy said:

I'm highly skeptical of ChatGPT's ability to create dialogue. I've seen more than enough robotic dialogue from human writers to think that a robot could do better. 

Too many examples of people trying to pass off AI as 'writing' right now. That being said... someday it may get there. The graphics side of things has gotten scarily good with some human input. AngelKitty on WattPad has experimented quite a bit with it, I'm not a fan at this point - but I can see long term it may have some potential. It's a semi-interesting experiment to me.