Show it an example

2 min read

Some things are almost impossible to describe but trivial to demonstrate. Tone is the classic one. You can write a paragraph about wanting something "warm but not cutesy, professional but not stiff" and still get it wrong.

Paste in one example instead. An email you liked. A product description that sounds right. Then say: match this.

This works for structure too. Show it one entry done the way you want, and ask for the other twenty in the same shape.

Instead of

write product descriptions for my candles in a nice style

Try

Here's a product description I like the sound of: "Smells like the first ten minutes of a bonfire. Burns for 40 hours. Made in a shed in Leeds." Write descriptions in that same voice — short, dry, concrete — for these three candles: [list your candles].

One example did what three paragraphs of adjectives couldn't. The AI can copy a pattern far more reliably than it can interpret a mood.