Before the first message
Open a character profile and read its greeting, description and visible creator notes. The greeting is already part of the prompt, so answer the situation it establishes instead of sending a generic hello. If the character premise is unclear, choose another before investing in a long chat.
Choose a focused Persona
Your Persona tells the model who you are. Keep name, role, appearance and relationship cues concise. The free tier supports three Personas, and each Persona uses part of the context window. Do not copy the character definition into the Persona.
Guide the first scene
Write one message with an action, intent and a clear opening for the character to respond. If the reply is off, edit or regenerate early; weak patterns become part of the visible context and can continue.
Save what must persist
Get A Taste and higher tiers include Memory Manager. Open the chat menu, enable memory if required, then save and pin the few facts that the ongoing story cannot lose. True Supporter and above add automatic Semantic Memory 2.0.