SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

Is there really any benefit to using AI for creative research? I’m going to tell you the answer up front. Yes, a million times, yes!

Writing research does not live up to the fantasy. It’s the part of writing I used to view as ‘living the dream’. The thought of visiting Paris and sipping on a cafe au lait as I soaked up the city’s vibes was how I’d envisioned it. But the reality isn’t anything close to as glamorous. It’s filled with dead-ends, U-turns, and rabbit holes so deep you wonder how you even got there in the first place.

My days of rabbit-holing aren’t behind me, but with the introduction of ChatGPT, the holes aren’t anywhere close to as deep… and my search history no longer resembles that of a serial killer.

ChatGPT: A Quick Introduction

If you haven’t ventured into the world of ChatGPT, here’s a quick rundown on what it is: Created by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model. Think of it as a personal assistant who has access to vast amounts of knowledge. All you have to do is type/speak your query (mobile app), and ChatGPT (or Gabbie, as I like to call her) will access that knowledge and respond in a friendly manner.

Time Efficiency and Productivity

In my introductory post, I shared that during a chat with Gabbie, I mentioned that I would have to create numerous in-depth dossiers for the edits of Running the Asset. Locations, characters, weapons, organisations, and props for the book to make editing easier. It was a task I’d looked forward to, but I quickly realised the daunting reality as it approached.

I’d researched before starting work on the Deniable Unit Series as the series had changed form massively from the initial idea—more on that in a future post. I hit Google for CIA, (SIS) MI6, embassies, consulates, ambassadors, and diplomats. The more I read, the deeper I fell into the rabbit hole.

The same happened when I researched Embassies and consulates, ambassadors and diplomats.

Don’t get me wrong, it was totally worth the effort, but it took months and led to a shitload of random files now lost in the depths of my hard drive.

I went through a similar process when coming up with locations before writing the first draft. That was so time-consuming that I abandoned it with a promise that I’d fix any errors ‘in post’ (a filmmaking term for fixing things after filming in post-production).

Well, ‘post’ was staring me in the face, and the prospect was enough to send me running. Running until I wondered if AI could help me.

The location work I did myself took thirty-four days or seven work weeks. That was for fifteen locations. With Gabbie as my research assistant, we worked through sixty-four locations in just twelve days or two and a half work weeks!

AI for Research in the Wild

When I performed my location research, I referenced Wikipedia, satellite view in Google and Apple Maps, Street View, transport maps, property listings, and so many blogs that I had to up my glasses prescription.

I like to go deep with research, and rabbit holes are easy to fall into… Gabbie doesn’t prevent rabbit holes, so I gave her some parameters for the information that I needed to help create my dossiers.

I broke the location dossiers into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

Primary locations require more details as they are important to the characters and story and are often revisited. Secondary locations require a wee bit less detail. Tertiary locations need enough information so that I can weave enough detail into the narrative that will give the reader a flavour of the place.

So, how did I do it? For each location, I gave her some general information about the place, who it related to, the importance to the story, etc. Her job was to help me determine whether the real-life location would accommodate the type of building I wanted, what the sightlines were (snipers!), and to give me a quick bit about the likely sight, sounds, and scents for the area.

Once she replied, I double-checked her information using Street View, Maps, etc. Double-checking AI output is a necessity; I can’t stress that enough.  There were multiple instances where she altered real places to fit what I’d envisioned. It’s great to have an assistant willing to bend reality to your vision… not so great if you want to create a certain level of verisimilitude in your writing.

After a bit of back and forth on what I expected from her, you know, reality, she’d tell me flat out that what I wanted wouldn’t work in that locale. Once I knew something wouldn’t work, I’d ask her for areas that would work. Sometimes, she’d find some; others, I’d create a fictional place or rework the story to fit.

Faux Pas Averted

From the get-go, I’d nailed where my bad guy, Trevor, lived. Or, at least, I thought I had. I had the address, checked it on the satellite view, and it was just a big patch of land with a road running to it. I gave Gabbie the address, told her who lived there, what events occurred there… Huh. Of all my searches, I hadn’t bothered to check the address. Why would I bother? It was a patch of land.

It also happens to be a French military base! I couldn’t believe it. The shame! The shame! ? ?

After getting over my shock and mortification, I told Gabbie why I’d picked that particular patch of land—it relates to the end of Act Two B, so I’m not sharing the why for now. She came up with a few ideas that were okay but not perfect. I copied and pasted the description from the first draft into the chat box, and she came back with a place that fit not only the original story but also the new version!

As we worked through the locations and I provided her with the importance of some scenes taking place in each of them, something became apparent. The locations had their themes running through them. One was clearly about the romance, and another was Adam’s growing dilemma over involving Elle in his dangerous mission. A fact that wasn’t lost on Gabbie; she even pointed out others I hadn’t caught.

Enhancing Writing Quality and Depth

Every writer has a weakness. As an editor, I know that mine is writing descriptions. I think it comes back to when I was a kid trying to read a book where the author described a rose for three pages. I’d never been so bored in my life. I got it. It was a red rose, and the petals were pretty. I knew what a rose looked like, I didn’t need it in that level of detail. Okay, that apparently still annoys me.

The problem is that I see the scene in my head but fail to write the details, like the soft glow of the street lights on the rain-soaked cobbles. Dialogue is second nature to me, but that kind of detail rarely enters my head as I write.

I asked Gabbie to add the likely sights, scents, and sounds of the locations in the hope it would help me keep them in mind as I do the re-writes.

Though I haven’t started the rewrites yet, I have started on the scene blocking. I’ve found myself adding those details that are usually left in my head and never make it to the page. I regularly practice the art of description while creating artwork in DALL-E—a text-to-image AI, also from OpenAI. (Take a look at the amazing images Jez has created using his photos and detailed prompts.)

With the time saved on my research and the richness of details, I can connect with the characters and locations far better than I ever have before. My love for the story has only deepened—a fact I wouldn’t have believed a few months before when I feared the story was too unwieldy to fix.

Key Benefits of Using AI for Research

The key benefits of using ChatGPT as a research tool are immense:

• Time efficiency
• In-depth, reliable fact-checking
• Avoiding deep rabbit holes in research
• Speeding up location scouting

The longer I work with Gabbie, the more I realise her potential to enhance my writing skills. This post focused on the research side, but join me for the next post in my Empowering Creativity with AI series, where I share how I worked with ChatGPT to brainstorm another Deniable Unit story in less than three days. Plus, how it helped me make a difficult career decision.

Have you ever used AI for research? Let me know how it went in the comments.

Till next time, take care and stay awesome! Susan