From Almost an Author:
Writing can be a solitary journey. But what if you had a companion to guide you, to help you when you’re stuck, to inspire you when your creativity needs a boost? That’s where ChatGPT comes in.
While many authors frown upon the idea of trusting artificial intelligence with their writing, it can be a helpful tool to facilitate your creative process without losing your unique voice.
Even though there are enough examples of books written with ChatGPT lately, we won’t talk about making AI write for you. Instead, we’ll cover a bunch of useful tasks you can give ChatGPT in order to nudge your creative flow whenever you feel lost.
Yes, weaving AI into your writing routine might appear challenging, and you indeed need to understand the basics of prompt engineering to ask the right questions. So let this article be your guide, demonstrating how AI can make life easier for fiction writers.
Here are six things ChatGPT can do to assist in your book-writing process:
1. Generate story ideas
Ever felt stuck while brainstorming new story ideas? ChatGPT can act as your virtual ideation partner, providing fresh perspectives and novel concepts to kickstart your creativity and expand your imaginative horizons.
ChatGPT prompt example: I’m writing a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world with elements of science fiction. Suggest ten unique storylines that revolve around a group of survivors, their struggles, and the mysteries of this new world they must explore.
2. Assist in character development
ChatGPT prompt example: Help me further develop a character for my mystery novel. Her name is Jane, a private detective in her late thirties with a keen sense of intuition, a dark past, and a stubborn nature. I need more details on her backstory, personality traits, and possible character growth.
3. Get you unstuck during plot building
Navigating the labyrinth of plot building is no longer a daunting process. ChatGPT can aid in constructing compelling plot lines, helping to fill in the gaps and resolve narrative complexities, ensuring your story remains gripping from start to finish.
ChatGPT prompt example: I’m stuck with a plot point in my fantasy novel. My protagonists are trapped in a magical labyrinth filled with deadly traps and mythical creatures. I need a creative and coherent strategy for their escape that ties into the magic system of the novel.
Link to the rest at Almost an Author
I’m seeing ads in my Facebook newsfeed for this auto-tune for newbie writers. In my opinion, if you really need to rely on an auto-tune for writing, then your money would really be better spent attending a few classes on how to properly construct sentences, scenes and plots.
Looked at the whole article and have to say, if you need this kind of help, you’re not a writer. I’ve seen the software used academically and the results are not much better than an informed Google search. Faster yes but otherwise, Creative Writing 101 for remedial students. Might be better pitched to middle managers with poor social skills.
Well, I do concur, but still…
Whether the suggestion comes from waking up in the middle of the night with an “of course! that’s how character X could get the news from character Y!” or from a random suggestion from an AI list doesn’t seem to me to make much difference, as if that usage from AI were a contaminant.
I write fiction to a premise and a plan, but lots of little bits bubble up via random insights, and I suppose AI could just be another random source (wouldn’t call it “insight”).
I think the issue is really the fundamental one about tools in the hands of amateurs vs in the hands of experts. AI won’t fix amateur usage, but for experts it’s just another tool.
It’s a pretty weak tool. Remember, GPT and similar ‘AI’ programs are extremely well-read parrots. The best you can expect from them is to imitate established patterns. The worst you can expect is dada.
What bubbles up in your brain can be useful, because your brain has formed connections that you are normally not aware of, and those connections cause one idea to lead to another and another, until you have a whole sequence of ideas that hang together. What bubbles up in AI is not connected to anything inside you, except by chance, and is unlikely to be fruitful in that way.
Random chance has its place. Sometimes what bubbles up in my brain is on target (and deeply connected) and that’s terrific, but sometime it’s just out of left field and sparks a different direction once it appears (just like reading a miscellaneous book or visiting a new place can).
At least any form of tech (like ChatGPT) would allow for a ton of random, and the expertise comes in being attentive to some chance spark. Volume has its own utility, even if it smells of the plebian.
I’ve found it interesting in the same way that playing with random number generators and encounter tables is interesting. Ultimately, though, the only meaning is what the writer can impose on the results.