Matthew Scott Campbell

I belong to several Facebook groups that help writers with writing, publishing and marketing books. This should not be all too surprising given the nature of this website. Most of the time, I simply lurk on these groups. Occasionally, I will add some feedback based on my own experiences so far.

Something that keeps coming up lately is the role AI is playing in the writing process.

I have personal convictions about this topic and I wanted to share some of them here.

I think AI Assistance in Writing is a good tool to utilize… WHERE IT MAKES SENSE.

Let me explain.

You can’t ask an AI to write the book for you. You can’t have it write everything and copy/paste it in. Even if AI ever gets good at this skill, I would advise against it. First, generative AI is essentially a “cloner”. It evaluates works that are fed into it for basic structure and content, and then it regurgitates it on demand based on a complex matrix of data that matches the criteria. So as a writer, you are attempting to create something unique and new, but that is contradictory to what an AI can produce. So, don’t do it.

What I believe you can do is use the AI as a tool for managing your process.

For example, use the AI to help manage your story arcs and your characters. Utilize the memory saving feature to push data to the AI so that it can track continuity as you progress. This memory storage concept can be used to create ‘world bible’ that you draw from while you are writing. Once created, you can then ask the AI details about your universe. An example would be, “Please describe Tabitha to me.” To which it would generate all of your details you have fed it about your character named Tabitha. Another use, “Does Markus have a last name?” In this case, it responded with “You have not given Markus a last name.” So, I had to come up with a last name and assign it to him. After that, Markus had a last name and the AI would know what that last name was anytime I would ask. This saves time so that I do not have to search through my draft trying to figure out details to things I have already decided.

I use the AI prompt so that if I get stuck on a sentence and don’t like the way it is worded, I have the AI provide me with alternatives. It usually provides 5-10 versions of my same sentence using the same words I used just in different arrangements so that I can read them, hear them and figure out the proper sentence to utilize.

Another way I use AI is to bounce fantastical ideas against it. My universe is huge and complex. There are certain elements that I need to wave a magic wand at in order to make things work the way I want them to. When I do that, I do not want to lose cohesiveness for the reader so I ask the feasibility of any given ‘wand waving’. This allows me to make sure that my story is believable while allowing me creative freedom to allow the events and mechanisms in my universe to exist.

You can use the AI to guide your overall writing process. First draft, editing/revisions, beta reading, etc… There are things that an AI knows because ‘everyone does it this way’. I had a disagreement with my AI over this recently. It told me to step away from my first draft for “a few months”. After two weeks I was at my wits end and had to return to it.

So, in conclusion, (TLDR;) – use AI as a tool. Use it as a sort of custom-tailored Google that applies to you, your writing style, your writing process and your overall universe. In this way, I have found AI to be quite the valuable tool in the writing process.