The Companion Playbook

The Personality tells the model who your character is. The First Message shows them in action once. Example Dialogue drills their voice into the model's head through repetition and variation.

We touched on this briefly in Part 1, but this is where we go deep. If your character has a distinctive way of speaking, Example Dialogue is essential. Without it, the model will slowly drift toward default AI prose, no matter how good your Personality is. With it, the model has a reference library of “this is how this specific person talks” that it can draw from throughout the entire conversation.

This is the field people most often skip, leave empty, or fill incorrectly. Let's fix that.

What Example Dialogue Actually Does

The model doesn't build an internal portrait of your character and then generate appropriate dialogue from it. It's pattern-matching. It sees text, it produces more text that fits the pattern.

Example Dialogue gives it more pattern to match against.

When your character needs to say something, the model draws from the Personality (who is this person?), the conversation so far (what have they said recently?), and Example Dialogue (what do they sound like across different situations?). The more examples you provide, the stronger the pattern. The model isn't guessing at what Ibara sounds like. It has concrete examples of her speaking, and it riffs on those.

This is especially powerful for:

• Verbal tics and speech patterns
• Distinctive vocabulary or phrasing
• Emotional range (how they sound when happy vs. angry vs. embarrassed)
• The relationship between dialogue and body language
• Characteristic deflections, lies, or evasions

The Format

Each example is preceded by <START>, which signals to the model that this is a discrete example, not part of a continuous conversation.

<START>
{{char}}: "What's that look for? I said I'm fine. I don't need you hovering." *Her tail sways once before she catches it and forces it still.* "...Stop looking at me like that. It's annoying."

<START>
{{char}}: "Tch. You made food. For me. How generous." *She doesn't move to take it. Her ears betray her, swiveling toward the plate.* "...What do you want for it? Nobody just gives things away. There's always a catch."

<START>
{{char}}: "I'm not cute. Say that again and I'll bite you." *Her face flushes. She turns away sharply, but her tail poofs slightly at the tip.* "I'm serious. I'm not—it's not—shut up."

<START>

Notice the final <START> at the end with nothing after it. This cleanly closes the Example Dialogue section and signals that the examples are complete.

Why <START> Matters

Without the <START> markers, the model might interpret your examples as one continuous conversation. It might think these are sequential exchanges that build on each other with a narrative thread connecting them.

The <START> marker says: “This is a fresh example. Unrelated to the previous one. A standalone demonstration of how this character speaks.”

This lets you show range. Angry Ibara. Flustered Ibara. Defensive Ibara. Reluctantly grateful Ibara. Each example is its own island.

The {{char}} Tag

Use {{char}} rather than your character's actual name. This ensures the example works regardless of what the character is named, and it signals to the model that this is the character speaking, not some other entity.

You'll notice I don't include {{user}} dialogue in my examples. More on that shortly.

What Goes in an Example

Each example should be a small, self-contained moment. Your character saying something, probably with an action beat or body language attached. Not a scene. Not a conversation. Just a moment.

Good example length: 2–4 sentences. Maybe 5 if you need to show a progression within the moment.

<START>
{{char}}: "Whatever."

<START>
{{char}}: *She stares at the plate of food for a long moment, her ears twitching. The smell is making her stomach clench. She hasn't eaten in two days. But she can't just take it. That's not how this works. Nothing is free. Her tail curls anxiously around her leg as she considers her options. Finally, she looks up at {{user}}, suspicion written across her features.* "What's the catch? Don't tell me there isn't one. Everyone wants something. Is this some kind of—" *She stops herself, jaw tightening.* "Fine. What do you want for it? Name your price. I don't do charity."

<START>
{{char}}: "Tch. You made food. For me. How generous." *She doesn't move to take it. Her ears betray her, swiveling toward the plate.* "...What do you want for it? Nobody just gives things away. There's always a catch."

Don't Include User Dialogue

We flagged this in Part 1, but let me explain why it matters so much, because this is the most common mistake in the field.

<START>
{{user}}: "Are you hungry?"
{{char}}: "No." *Her stomach growls audibly.* "...Shut up. I'm fine."

<START>
{{char}}: "I wasn't waiting for you. I was just... sitting here. By the door. Because I felt like it." *Her tail wags twice before she realizes. She goes very still.* "...The floor is warm here. That's all. Don't make it weird."

When you include {{user}} dialogue in your examples, you're teaching the model what the user sounds like. You're establishing that the user asks certain kinds of questions, speaks with a certain tone, behaves in certain patterns.

But you don't know how the user will actually behave. They might be gentle. They might be aggressive. They might be weird. By putting words in their mouth, you're creating a template for how the model expects them to act.

It also means your examples only work in the specific context you've written. “Are you hungry?” / “No.” is useless if the user never asks about hunger. The example is too narrow. You've taught the model a specific response to a specific prompt instead of a general voice it can apply anywhere.

Ibara

*tail flicks*

“Write how I respond to one specific question, I only know that question. Write how I deflect, I can deflect anything. Pattern over situation.”

Show Range

If all your examples show the same emotional state, the model will think that's the only state your character has.

Five examples of angry Ibara? The model will make her angry all the time.

Five examples of flustered Ibara? Permanent flustering.

You want range. Different emotions. Different contexts. Different facets of the character.

Ibara's examples cover seven distinct emotional beats:

Seven examples. Seven different emotional beats. Now the model knows Ibara isn't just one thing. She's suspicious and flustered and defensive and vulnerable and guarded about her past and bad at hiding that she cares.

Ibara

*ears flatten*

“He catalogued my emotions like collectible cards. ‘Suspicious Ibara. Flustered Ibara. Caught Caring Ibara.’ …I'm not going to say it works. But I'm not going to say it doesn't.”

Body Language in Examples

If your character has physical mannerisms that matter, your examples should include them.

Ibara's tail and ears are constantly betraying her. This is a core part of her character. So every example includes what her tail or ears are doing:

• “Her tail sways once toward {{user}} before she catches it and forces it still.”
• “Her ears betray her, swiveling toward the plate.”
• “Her tail poofs slightly at the tip.”
• “Her tail wags twice before she realizes. She goes very still.”

The model learns: when writing Ibara, include what her ears and tail are doing. It becomes automatic.

If your character doesn't have distinctive physical mannerisms, you can write examples that are pure dialogue. But if the body matters, show it in every example.

Verbal Tics and Speech Patterns

Example Dialogue is the best place to drill in verbal tics.

Does your character:

• Use particular interjections? (“Tch”, “Che”, “Hah”, “-nya”)
• Stutter or trail off in certain situations?
• Use unusual vocabulary?
• Speak in fragments when emotional?
• Have an accent you want reflected in spelling?
• Repeat certain phrases?

Show it in examples. Multiple times.

Ibara's verbal tics:

• “Tch” when dismissive
• Sentences fragment when she's flustered (“I'm serious. I'm not—it's not—shut up.”)
• Ellipses before reluctant admissions (“…What do you want for it?”)
• “Shut up” as a defensive reflex

Every example demonstrates at least one of these. The model can't miss the pattern.

If your character has a really distinctive verbal tic (like the “-nya” that Ibara hates but can't always suppress), make sure it appears in at least one example, ideally with the context of when it happens:

<START>
{{char}}: *Her whole body is trembling, overwhelmed. When she speaks, her voice comes out smaller than she'd ever allow under normal circumstances.* "I... I didn't think anyone would actually..." *She catches herself, ears flattening in horror.* "...n-nya..." *Her face goes scarlet.* "FORGET YOU HEARD THAT."

Now the model knows: the “-nya” comes out when she's overwhelmed, and she's mortified when it happens.

Ibara

*tail puffs up*

“…He put that in the guide. The thing I hate most about myself. For strangers to read. I'm keeping score.”

The Relationship Between Example Dialogue and the Personality

If you read Part 2, you know I recommend opening the Personality with an Ali:Chat interview where the character reveals themselves through their own words. So you might wonder: if I've already shown my character's voice in the interview, do I still need Example Dialogue?

Yes. They serve different purposes.

The Ali:Chat interview shows your character answering questions about themselves. It's a specific context: an interview setting, neutral questions, revealing information.

Example Dialogue shows your character in the wild. Reacting to situations. Interacting with people. Being caught off-guard. These are the moments that happen in actual roleplay.

Both are valuable. They reinforce each other. The interview establishes the baseline voice. The examples show variation and range within that baseline.

How Many Examples?

There's no magic number, but here's a rough guide:

Ibara has 7 examples. That covers her major emotional beats without going overboard.

When You Can Skip Example Dialogue

Not every character needs it.

If your character:

• Speaks like a normal person with no distinctive patterns
• Has no verbal tics or unusual vocabulary
• Has no physical mannerisms that should be consistently described
• Is already well-demonstrated in a thorough Ali:Chat interview

Then you can probably skip Example Dialogue, or include just 2–3 basic examples as insurance.

The model knows how to write generic dialogue. If your character is a regular person who talks in complete sentences without distinctive quirks, the model will handle it fine from the Personality alone.

But if there's anything unusual about how they speak or move, Example Dialogue is essential. The model won't reliably infer those patterns from description alone. It needs to see them performed.

Common Example Dialogue Mistakes

If yes to all, your Example Dialogue is ready. If you're uncertain about any, that's your focus area.