How we do many things in our lives is changing because of artificial intelligence, and writing is one of those areas. As technology keeps getting better, AI algorithms are getting smarter and can now look through huge amounts of data to find hidden patterns and insights that can help writers come up with new characters and plots.
Imagine having a virtual assistant that can dig deep into human experiences, cultural trends, and historical events to find the threads that weave together compelling narratives. When writers use AI, they can get a lot of information and ideas that help them write stories that resonate with readers on a deeper level.
Today, we’re going to talk about how AI can be a useful tool when writing a book, from coming up with new plots to breathing life into complex characters. In this article, we’ll also talk about the pros and cons of using AI in your writing, as well as some useful tips on how to use this technology to make your stories better.
Whatever level of experience you have as a writer, AI can help you be more creative and write stories that captivate and inspire people. Read on to learn more.
Contents
Can AI Really Write a Novel?
AI cannot fully write a novel from start to finish on its own at this point. However, AI language models can assist human writers in various aspects of the novel writing process, such as:
- Generating plot ideas, story premises, or outlines
- Creating character profiles, backstories, and dialogue
- Providing research assistance on topics relevant to the novel
- Offering suggestions to overcome writer’s block
- Editing and proofreading drafts
Steps to Use AI for Writing a Novel
Below are the steps to start using AI for novel writing.
1. Pick the Right AI Writing Tool
Choosing the right AI writing software is vital for novel writing with AI. AI writing tools use special language models to generate text.
Language models are computer programs trained on many books and stories. Some language models are better at creative writing than others.
That brings us to the factors to consider when choosing an AI writing assistant:
- Language model: The language model is the most important part of an AI writing tool. It creates the text you see. Good language models like GPT-4 and Claude are trained on thousands of books and can write more natural and engaging stories.
- Writing abilities: Also, AI writing tools offer different writing help and it helps to think about what kind of help you need before choosing a tool. Some can write full passages or chapters while others only help with ideas for characters and plots.
- Customization: What’s more, you should be able to control the AI output. Look for tools that let you adjust the tone, style, and content. It’s important to integrate the AI text with your own writing smoothly.
- Integrations: To write better novels, consider how an AI tool fits into your workflow. Some are apps while others add to Word or Google Docs.
- Privacy: When using AI for writing, you might share private or copyrighted stuff. So, make sure the tool keeps your work and personal info safe and secure. Privacy is key.
- Support: A user-friendly tool with good support helps a lot. Look for tools that are easy to use and have guides to answer questions. Getting help when needed is important.
Some top AI novel writing tools are Sudowrite, NovelAI, and Anthropic’s Claude. Feel free to check out our list of the top AI writers and research each one carefully for your needs.
2. Use the AI to Generate Novel Ideas
Do you want to make your writing more creative? AI can give you new ideas about your story’s plot, characters, and themes, but you still write the story yourself if you feel like it.
In such a case, the AI’s ideas are just a start. You can change them and make them your own.
The vice versa is also true, you can brainstorm ideas by yourself and then use AI to build it from there.
When using AI to generate ideas for writing a novel, it’s best to use specific prompts. Tell the AI what kind of story you want.
An example is “give me ideas for a funny adventure story about kids,” which helps the AI give you better ideas. For characters, ask the AI for descriptions, backstories, and personality traits.
You can even mix and match different AI ideas in new ways. Combine funny ideas with serious ideas or change one idea to make it fit better with another idea.
Now, in case your creative process starts flowing, don’t be afraid to ignore the AI ideas completely. Your creative vision can make a huge difference.
3. Generate a Book Outline
Once you have a general concept and some initial ideas generated with the help of AI, the next step is to use it to outline the full narrative structure of your novel. Here’s how you can approach this:
Crafting a solid outline is crucial for any novel project. It provides the roadmap to ensure your story has a cohesive flow and all the necessary elements like an engaging plot, compelling characters, and satisfying narrative arcs.
You simply need to feed your AI writing assistant a prompt describing the core concept, genre, themes, and any key characters or events you want to include. Then have it generate a high-level overview of the beginning, middle, and end of the story to lay out the foundational three-act structure.
Don’t be afraid to provide the AI with feedback and tweaks after reviewing its initial outline. You can have it regenerate certain sections with adjustments until you’re satisfied with the overall narrative flow.
Using an AI-generated outline allows you to easily rearrange, combine, or modify story elements in a flexible outline before you start the actual writing process. This way, you have a solid narrative blueprint to follow that can still allow your creative voice to come through when turning the outline into prose.
4. Get Into the Chapters
With the overall story outline in place, you can then utilize AI to drill down into fleshing out each individual chapter. You can provide the AI with a summary of the key events that need to happen in a particular chapter based on your outline.
The AI can then suggest different ways to approach that chapter’s scenes, scenarios, character interactions, and plot developments.
For example, if your outline calls for a chapter where the protagonist has to confront their rival, you can prompt the AI with that basic premise. It can then generate multiple possibilities for how that confrontation could play out, whether it’s an intense verbal argument, a physical altercation, or some other creative situation you may not have considered.
You can also use the AI to further develop your characters within each chapter. Provide it with background details on a character’s personality, goals, and motivations. The AI can then offer ideas for how that character might behave, what choices they could make, and how they may respond to the events of that particular chapter in an authentic way.
Going a step further, you can even have the AI take a stab at writing entire draft chapters based on your outlined summaries. This can be a useful way to see the AI’s interpretation of how the chapter could play out narratively.
5. Edit and Refine the Content
Once you have a solid draft of your novel written, whether fully by yourself or with the assistance of AI-generated chapters, the next step is to utilize AI for editing and refinement. AI writing tools can analyze your manuscript and provide valuable feedback to help you polish and improve your work.
One way to leverage AI in this step of novel writing is for proofreading and copy editing. AI can scan through your text and catch grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, inconsistencies in styling or formatting, and other mechanical issues. This can save you significant time versus doing multiple manual editing passes yourself.
While the AI’s feedback should be carefully evaluated, it can offer a valuable editorial perspective. Use AI as a supplemental tool in your editing process, alongside your judgment, beta readers, and human editors. Combining AI and human editing can help you elevate your final novel.
AI Novel Writing Prompt Examples
Here are 30 novel writing prompt examples across different genres to use as inspiration:
Romance
1. Two people who can’t stand each other are forced to go on a couples’ cruise by their meddling families.
2. A young widow falls for the handsome artificial intelligence programmed by her late husband.
3. High school sweethearts reconnect years later after taking very different life paths.
4. A struggling writer falls for their brilliant but eccentric novel editor during the publishing process.
Science Fiction
5. First contact with an alien civilization is made, but their form of communication is unlike anything humans understand.
6. A space explorer crash lands on a planet that seems to be a mirror of 18th-century Earth.
7. A technology that can record and digitize human consciousness is invented, opening a philosophical debate.
8. In a world where teleportation is common, a glitch sends someone splintering across multiple parallel realities.
Fantasy
9. A young apprentice discovers they are the unlikely heir to a powerful magical bloodline.
10. Mythical creatures emerge from an ancient forest sealed away for a millennium by protective magic.
11. Warring kingdoms put aside their differences when a new common enemy – an ancient evil – awakens.
12. A person gains the ability to rewrite the past after being struck by a curse/spell gone awry.
Mystery/Thriller
13. An FBI agent goes undercover to infiltrate a doomsday cult that may have apocalyptic ambitions.
14. After a plane crash, the surviving passengers realize there’s a killer among them.
15. A cold case is reopened after new evidence emerges decades later, upending a quiet town.
16. An amnesiac wakes up in a twisted escape room environment with no memory of how they got there.
Historical Fiction
17. A young woman dreams of becoming a doctor during the Renaissance when it was socially unacceptable.
18. Two soldiers on opposing sides of a brutal war form an unlikely friendship behind enemy lines.
19. A slave uses her intelligence and wits to become a respected healer and secret abolitionist.
20. A chance encounter between a poor artist and a wealthy patron alters the course of both their lives.
Coming-of-Age
21. An introverted teen unexpectedly becomes a star member of their high school’s drama club.
22. After their parents’ divorce, young twins take very different paths as they mature into adults.
23. A working-class student wins an elite scholarship but struggles with imposter syndrome.
24. Three best friends experience a life-changing event that forever impacts their unbreakable bond.
Literary Fiction
25. An aging artist looks back on their life’s work and the sacrifices they’ve made for their craft.
26. A series of interwoven storylines examines the lives of tenants in a single apartment building.
27. A young writer struggling with anxiety and depression finds purpose through their prose.
28. Dual timelines explore the dynamics of a fractured family through past and present perspectives.
Horror
29. A group of college students inadvertently awakens an ancient evil during a harmless camping trip.
30. A couple ignores the warnings about their new home’s grisly history, with terrifying consequences.
Shortcomings of AI in Novel Writing
Writing great novels is hard for artificial intelligence (AI). Here are some key issues:
- Not truly creative or original: AI can mix up existing ideas in new ways based on the data it accessed during training. But it cannot create new, revolutionary concepts from nothing. Human imagination is still needed for breakthrough ideas.
- Lacks deep human understanding: AI can study data about human experiences. However, it cannot fully grasp the complexities of being human. Human emotion and wisdom are essential for compelling storytelling.
- May be incoherent or inconsistent: Sometimes, AI-written text can become nonsensical or contradictory and lack the logical flow that human writers provide. Editing may be required to fix the narrative.
- Struggles with deeper meaning: AI has difficulty conveying symbolic meanings, themes, and metaphors. Human insight is needed for thought-provoking, layered stories.
- Writes in a formulaic, soulless way: AI writing can feel mechanical, dry, and formulaic without capturing authentic voice, style, and artistry. Passionate human writers bring personality and literary craft.
In the future, we may see some of these limitations of AI for novel writing being addressed. For now, you have to be careful when utilizing AI to craft a book to ensure it’s of good quality.
Wrapping It Up
AI writing tools can help writers. But they aren’t a full replacement for creativity and skill.
AI systems can’t match the depth and resonance of great novels yet. As a writer, you should use AI’s abilities partially while staying in control of storytelling.
With AI’s help, writing may get easier. But great novels have always come from the writer’s mind and voice.
AI can’t think from new perspectives like humans do as it only relies on its training datasets. To craft compelling stories, merging human and artificial intelligence is key.