Editing With It

Editing with ChatGPT isn’t about handing over your draft. It’s about refining it faster, cleaner and without losing your voice. Here’s how to keep control while still getting real help.

Polish without flattening

Preserve your voice while improving flow, grammar, or clarity. ChatGPT is especially good at refining drafts without stripping away your tone. The key is to be specific about what you want to preserve. Instead of saying "make this better," say "improve flow but keep my rhythm."

I pasted in a product announcement draft and asked it to smooth the flow but keep the excitement. The output felt like me, just cleaner.

I shared so many personal reflections and asked it to improve grammar without making it sound "corporate." My fragments get fixed but the tone is left personal and raw.

Cut with intent

Ask it to trim by 30%, keeping tone intact. This works well when you're over word count or just want something tighter. You can even specify which parts to protect and which ones can be compressed. You're not asking for editing, but instead you're asking for editing with constraint.

I needed these blog posts trimmed down to around 500 words each. I told ChatGPT to preserve the intro and conclusion but tighten the middle. It returned a version with the same message in fewer words.

A cover letter I wrote rambled. I asked for a 20% cut while keeping the enthusiasm and unique phrasing. It nailed the edit without sounding like a template.

Rewrite in alternate voices

Test how something reads in formal, casual, sharp, sarcastic or poetic tones. This is especially useful when adapting for different audiences. A recruiting email might need warmth. A product teardown might benefit from precision. A blog intro might pop more with rhythm. You can test all of them in one prompt and pick what fits. This is especially useful with A/B testing.

I taken dry project summaries and asked for versions in "inspiring," "technical," and "straightforward" tones. Each one gave me a new way to frame the story.

For a startup launch blurb, I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the copy in the style of Apple, Nike, and Stripe. The tone shifts helped me find one that matched our brand.

Compare versions

Run multiple passes, then choose your favorite phrasing. Versioning is one of the model's biggest strengths. Ask for three takes with different vibes, then mix and match. It's like having three editors on call. Each one with a slightly different filter.

I fed it a landing page headline and asked for five alternates: some bolder, some more reassuring. One ended up as the final headline, but the others inspired subheaders.

When rewriting a short bio, I asked for versions that emphasized credibility, humor, and momentum. I merged phrases from all three into the final cut.

Save final outputs easily

It's often faster to export directly to DOCX or PDF when ready to use or archive. Once you've landed on a final version, don't waste time copying back into another tool. Just ask for a formatted export and move on.

After finalizing a blog post in chat, I asked ChatGPT to export it as a properly styled DOCX. It was ready to upload to Beehiiv (this blog platform) in seconds.

I wrapped up a newsletter draft and used the PDF export to quickly share with a collaborator for comments.

#ChatGPT #AIPrompts #WorkingWithAI #AIWorkflows #PromptEngineering #WritingWithAI #AIForWriters #AIProductivity #HumanInTheLoop #BuildWithAI