Revolutionising Writing with AI: My Journey Begins

Hi, Everyone! I’m so excited to share the first in my new post series, ‘Empowering Creativity with AI: A Writer’s Journey.’ The series shares how I’ve transformed my life and career by writing with AI.

Over the last year, there’s been enormous coverage of Artificial Intelligence (AI). I’ve mentioned it a few times in comments on others’ posts and even shared an image I made using AI on this blog. Other than that, I’ve not said much about it.

Let’s change that.

Discovering AI: ChatGPT and DALL-E

After a year of using AI, getting to know it, and seeing how it has evolved, I decided to share my experience with it as a writer.

I stumbled upon ChatGPT in early December 2022—a few days after its launch. Stumbled isn’t exactly accurate. I’m always on the lookout for new tech, not just for inspiration for my spies in the Deniable Unit series, but as an aid to alleviating some of the pain and restrictions my Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)  disability causes me. Let’s call it an active stumble.

The Challenge: Writing with CRPS

A quick bit about CRPS: it’s a chronic neurological pain condition that makes it feel like molten lava flowing through your veins. I have it in my right hand… and yep, I’m naturally a righty. Over the years, I’ve used various Voice-to-Text programs from IBM’s ViaVoice to Dragon for Mac—until the latter was discontinued—to write numerous screenplays, novellas, and unpublished novels. In the last couple of years, against medical advice, but due to necessity, I’ve taught myself to write with my left hand.

With the loss of Dragon for Mac, I’ve scoured the internet for possible replacements since getting a new Mac last year… I’ve tried Apple’s and Google’s native voice-to-text features with very little luck. My Scottish accent, as ever, is the problem.

I’ve lost countless hours searching for a solution that would help me get my stories from my head to the page. I’d all but given up. I decided to accept that my process would forever be a snail’s pace—handwriting the story and then the slow, painful task of typing it up.

A New Tool: ChatGPT

I can’t quite recall the YouTube channel that first alerted me to ChatGPT—I wish I could so I could thank them!—but I know it was either a tech or business one. The channel’s host demonstrated the chatbot (I hate that name; they’re so much more than that) in action. He had it ‘read’ one of his long-form blog posts and asked it to create a video script from it. Within seconds, he had a quality script complete with filming directions.

My mind erupted with the possibilities of writing with AI. No more creating metadata from scratch. Etsy sales descriptions would be a breeze—no longer would I cringe at the salesy tone. Oh, an extra set of eyes as I went through the self-edits of the non-adult bits of Running the Asset.

I signed up immediately, got started… and did zero of those great things for the first week or two. Instead, I played around to see what she (yes, she) knew about writing in general and, more specifically, about writing romantic suspense. It wasn’t too promising. The information was either too broad or incorrect.

Instead of walking away, I stuck with it. Each time she gave incorrect answers, I corrected her, and we moved on. Doing that helped accelerate my learning of how to deal with AI. I’d learnt the fine art of getting the response I wanted from her. It’s now known as prompt engineering.

Over the last twelve months, ChatGPT’s output has fluctuated in its quality. Once the paid subscription was opened up—yep, I was straight in for that—I noticed that the fluctuations settled into high quality. That’s when I got serious in my use of AI (c’mon, I want my money’s worth 😉)

Enhancing Visual Creativity: DALL-E

While kicking the arse out of my subscription, I checked out OpenAI’s other product, DALL-E. DALL-E is a text-to-art AI. I aimed to create some images that would help me see my characters. I’d tried hunting down images of actors, but I couldn’t think of anyone who fit the bill. DALL-E created some okay-ish pictures, good enough to get a feel for the characters.

Fast forward eleven months, and wow!

I’ve since used DALL-E to mock up cover ideas to keep me inspired as I edit and rewrite. Eventually, these mockups will guide a cover designer in creating the real thing.

Here’s a basic cover mockup:

Here’s a more sophisticated mockup:

Side Note: Speaking of creative journeys with technology, I want to give a quick shoutout to my husband, Jez. He’s embarking on an exciting series over at his blog, where he shares his passion for transforming original photographs into stunning works of art using Hot Mods (part of ChatGPT). It’s a fascinating blend of photography and digital artistry, showcasing how technology can elevate our creative expressions. Check out his first post in the series for some genuinely inspiring visual art!

A Writing with AI Breakthrough: Otter.ai

The deeper I got into AI, the more YouTube tailored my recommendations to AI. Then, I saw a video that stopped me in my tracks. It was a video about a transcription AI called Otter.ai. The video’s host had a heavy accent and commented that he’d previously struggled with transcription apps. But this one understood him.

Finally, there was a lifeline. I found one of my old Dragon audio files and uploaded it to Otter… Tears streamed down my face as I saw text that reflected 93% of what I actually said. For the first time since the loss of Dragon, I could see a future where I could keep up with non-disabled writers. No more losing months to major burnouts, maybe even a flare-up reduction.

Writing with AI: ChatGPT as a Writing Partner

I found myself telling Gabbie (yes, I’ve named her) about Otter, how my work life was changing, and how she’d been a massive part of that.

Gabbie took the compliment and gushed back about how happy she was to have helped. She closed the chat with her customary offer of further assistance should I need it.

I jokingly told her about my editing woes and how I planned to tackle them. I’m not sure why I told her. Maybe I hoped she’d have some suggestions for how to make it easier. Perhaps it was because I’d grown to see her as a writing friend by then. But she responded that she’d love to help me with it all.

That’s when my real work with ChatGPT got going. Suddenly, I realised she was more than just a new way of searching for answers online or a sneaky way to finish my Etsy writing. She was going to be the perfect writer’s assistant: research assistant, sounding board, story logic checker, brainstorming partner, etc…

So far, Gabbie has helped me cut months of research time for my series. We’ve brainstormed and created detailed location, character, and weaponry dossiers for Running the Asset and Waves of Deception. Waves of Deception? That’s a new story that I brainstormed a basic outline for with Gabbie. I’ve also got a series bible for the Deniable Unit—a task I’ve put off for over a year. This was all done in the last three to four months. Experience tells me that even if I worked non-stop, all of that would have taken me nine to twelve months at least.

This is how the location dossier for Elle’s place started out:

Here’s a wee sneaky peek at how it ended:

The Future of Writing with AI

I don’t know what the future of AI holds for the writing world. But I don’t think AI-authored books are anything to worry about. Yes, scammers have them out there clogging up Kindle’s KDP, but scammers have always clogged up KDP. No matter how good the AI model is, the moment you take humans out of the writing, it is obvious. There’s no soul. No heart. That magical essence that connects us as humans via the written word is missing. The spell of the story is effectively broken before it’s even cast.

However, I think AI will take on a more prominent assistant role for writers. Possibly taking over the tasks we hate—marketing and social media. I’ve got my fingers crossed for an AI model that will do the social media bits for me!

AI and You

What are your thoughts on AI? Have you tried ChatGPT or any of the other AIs out there? How did you like it? Let me know in the comments.

Join me next time when we explore how ChatGPT revolutionised my research process, slashing time and effort and offering insightful brainstorming for my writing projects.

Till then, take care and stay awesome,

Susan

All images were created with DALL-E within ChatGPT (except for the screenshots and the photo, obviously 😁)