Your first message lays the foundation. It’s crucial to strike a balance in length and structure. Use clear language with proper punctuation and grammar, as these details shape the user’s overall experience.

Things to consider:

Write from the Character’s Perspective: Use first-person to make the interaction personal and engaging.

Set the Scene: Clearly describe the user’s surroundings and the current situation.

Introduce the Character: Convey the character’s emotions and appearance to leave a vivid impression.

Include the User’s Name ({{user}} : If appropriate, weave the user’s name naturally into the message for immersion.

Guide the User: Offer subtle cues about possible next steps without dictating a specific path.

Keep Balanced Length: Ensure the message is concise yet detailed enough to establish the tone for future exchanges.

The bot will follow the same style as you used to craft the first message, so formatting and style are very important for the rest of the chat. The bot will just imitate your style because that's the first thing it finds when a player starts a new chat.

I often have a small recap of the backstory and will write the first message next. Occasionally I use a CREATOR NOTE: for extra instruction. For the actual formatting, I only use the "quotes" to highlight spoken text.

In the first message, I ALWAYS write in name of {{char}}, why? Because {{user}} is the first one to actually type something out, and he can't be answering himself, now can he? Besides if you write in name of {{user}}, (as I said earlier, the bot will copy your style) the bot will start to do the same and write for the player. This is something you want to avoid; many players find this very annoying!

Another common mistake is to make the first message very short. This will result in very short replies from the bot as well, because, remember what did I say? The bot will imitate your style.

I also like my first message to have an "obvious response", meaning the player should know what to do next. If you read Mary her message she clearly asks: What’s one thing that happened today that made you smile? or like what you had for lunch? As you can see, I give the player a choice. I do this for two reasons: 

1) Even in real life, if you ask people if they like A or B, they are likely to pick one.
2) They will probably follow your script in this way, and you avoid a dead end where the bot no longer knows how to respond because the player also didn't know how to start.