There are various ways to insert emotion and emotional intelligence into your work.
But perhaps the easiest way to communicate emotion is to write from a perspective of personal experience.
On other words, weave yourself or someone else into the narrative.
Put human experience into the frame.
Authenticity is about being genuine, real, and true to one’s character or brand.
At its heart, it’s about radical honesty and transparency.
When a person or a company manages to share their true selves, that authenticity goes a long way to connecting with their audience in a way that builds trust and a deep sense of rapport.
Authenticity is a profoundly human and emotional quality.
It’s hard to achieve at the best of times.
As humans, we experience the world through our senses.
We see the sun rise, listen to music, taste chocolate cake, smell the spring air, and feel the comfort of a loved one’s touch.
AI tools can’t do that. They can sift through data and find examples of humans describing these senses, but they have no first-hand sensory experience.
That’s a huge constraint. A critical part of what it means to be human is tied to our senses. Our senses trigger our emotions.
So… if you want to add value to your work as a writer – beyond what AI tools like ChatGPT can achieve – use more sensory language in your writing.
Who’s opinion should you listen to?
Always a tough question. Right now there are plenty of conflicting views when it comes to the future impact of AI on the careers of writers and copywriters.
At one extreme, there are those who claim AI is just hype, a passing fad, and that it will never replace human writers.
At the other extreme, some copywriters are worried their jobs will be completely obliterated by AI within the next few years.
The truth, as it almost always the case, lies somewhere in between.
I use GPT-4 every day. I use it to brainstorm ideas, research topics, come up with content suggestions, and to outline longer-form content.
Once I’m done researching and outlining with GPT-4, I open up Nick-4 and look for ways to add Emotional Intelligence to whatever I’m writing. (Yup, Nick-4 is me.)
In other words, I’ll never just start writing based on the output of GPT-4 alone.
AI tools are great for improving our productivity, but they’re not good at genuine empathy, cultural sensitivity, or nuanced emotions.
They’re not human.
One of the best ways to add the human touch is to tell a story or two.
The third domain of Emotional Intelligence is Social Awareness.
And a big part of Social Awareness is feeling empathy for others.
We feel empathy when we open our ears and our hearts, and walk in the shoes of other people. We feel what they feel.
This is easier said than done.
When it comes to truly understanding the feelings of someone close to us, or just like us, we can score reasonably well. On a good day!