This prompt uses some of my own prompt in it, so I recognize the characteristic style. It’s a little over-the-top to the point of being hilariously bad at times (which is one reason why I enjoy it), but if you’re looking to tone it down then I suggest changing the “unique, sassy, ironic, sarcastic, and humorous voice” to just a “sarcastic and humorous voice.” That is what I’ve been doing lately, and the results have been much better. (By the way, the voice I was trying to emulate was Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels.)
One rookie mistake I see here and elsewhere in GPT-4′s writing is describing the POV character’s facial expressions. This is usually frowned upon in first-person and third-person limited POV because POV characters generally don’t perceive their own facial expressions unless they’re standing in front of a mirror. It’s better to say “I felt my cheeks burning” than “I blushed,” for example, because the former is truer of the POV character’s experiences.
If you want to try breaking GPT of these quasi-POV breaks, you could try adding a line about Deep POV, which is modern writing lingo for a highly immersive POV that stays completely in the POV character’s head. I would do it myself, but I don’t have access to GPT-4.
This prompt uses some of my own prompt in it, so I recognize the characteristic style. It’s a little over-the-top to the point of being hilariously bad at times (which is one reason why I enjoy it), but if you’re looking to tone it down then I suggest changing the “unique, sassy, ironic, sarcastic, and humorous voice” to just a “sarcastic and humorous voice.” That is what I’ve been doing lately, and the results have been much better. (By the way, the voice I was trying to emulate was Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels.)
One rookie mistake I see here and elsewhere in GPT-4′s writing is describing the POV character’s facial expressions. This is usually frowned upon in first-person and third-person limited POV because POV characters generally don’t perceive their own facial expressions unless they’re standing in front of a mirror. It’s better to say “I felt my cheeks burning” than “I blushed,” for example, because the former is truer of the POV character’s experiences.
If you want to try breaking GPT of these quasi-POV breaks, you could try adding a line about Deep POV, which is modern writing lingo for a highly immersive POV that stays completely in the POV character’s head. I would do it myself, but I don’t have access to GPT-4.