Writing the Next Bestseller: How AI is Assisting in Novel Writing

We experimented with the cutting-edge GPT-3 Chatbot and OpenAI Playground technology, and we were amazed by its remarkable capabilities when it comes to novel writing. It is truly frightening to consider that AI could potentially be used in novel writing – a thought that would have been inconceivable only a few years ago! With the help of such advanced artificial intelligence, the creative possibilities are vast and exciting.

Yes, there are undeniably intricate and contentious debates surrounding the usage of AI software, but fundamentally we consider it to be a major advancement in comparison to other editing programs. Additionally, it serves as an effective asset for conducting research and creative ideation sessions.

In this article, we will explore potential applications of AI in editing software and creative projects, as well as highlight its core benefits.

Recent Advancements in AI

A lot of people are voicing their opinions about the huge controversy surrounding AI art and its potential to replace artists. People have asked, “What will happen when they come for us writers?” In response, a lot of our author friends have said that this won’t be an issue for quite a few more years yet. However, it is still something that many in the writing community are debating.

Many writers who have formed an opinion about AI for writing tend to say something along the lines of “I tried it before, but it wasn’t very good.” However, what they haven’t realized is that this new AI technology is a lot more sophisticated and smarter than anything else previously developed. It’s only been around for a short while, so if they were to give it another try they may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

It’s worth noting that in the summer of 2022, Midjourney, a pioneering independent research lab, unveiled its newest AI program with the same name. This cutting-edge system is capable of creating images from textual descriptions – an ability similar to OpenAI’s DALL-E and Stable Diffusion. The release of Midjourney has been highly anticipated by experts in the field as it promises to revolutionize how we interact with digital media.

Meanwhile, Chat GPT-3 saw an impressive surge in user base over its first six days, with a million users signing up to use the AI tool. This indicates that not only is there a high level of interest and willingness among people to try out this technology, but also that we can expect the capabilities of the program to rapidly expand as it continues to learn from these interactions. As more people use Chat GPT-3 regularly, it’s likely that the AI tool will become smarter quickly.

OpenAI Playground

OpenAI Playground is another innovative tool that enables you to communicate with an AI bot in order to generate unique, creative content. It’s very similar to Chat GPT-3, in that it allows you to ask the bot to craft nearly any kind of work for you, from text-based pieces such as articles and stories, down to intricate drawings and animations. Essentially, OpenAI Playground provides a platform where artificial intelligence can create whatever your imagination desires.

The character limit of 4,000 tokens in OpenAI Playground restricts the amount of content creation. When we attempted to use a prompt, the result was an intriguingly short yet effective prologue for a book. We were pretty impressed with its quality and would not hesitate to include it in a published work.

AI can do more than just edit and rephrase your content; for example, Quillbot is a tool that allows users to upload a document or text and then select the desired style. This type of technology provides an efficient way to alter the format of any written material created by an individual, allowing them to tailor it to their specific needs. Furthermore, AI-powered tools such as Quillbot are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to quickly modify and enhance documents with minimal effort required.

How AI Tools Support Novel Writing

We can use AI to write a strong hook for an opening paragraph that is very specific, in which we could describe exactly the scene that we want, including characters and what happens. Alternatively, we could ask Chat GPT-3 for ideas on how to create a plot twist. With this powerful tool, it is possible to generate creative and unique ideas that can craft engaging stories.

Chat GPT-3 is a handy tool in terms of providing not only the requested paragraph but also offering insight into why it constitutes a good one. It goes beyond just delivering results and provides additional information that can be beneficial for understanding exactly why certain aspects of the paragraph are effective. It can even provide extra advice and guidance to help optimize the quality of any further written work.

It’s also true that Chat GPT-3 works effectively, as it is based on the entirety of books in history. If you are particularly cautious, you could try using the name of a deceased author or one who wrote a long time ago; however, this would not guarantee the modern style of writing that GPT-3 can create. By harnessing all resources from past and present literature, this AI tool has enabled users to compose content that reflects current trends and language use.

As we’ve previously discussed, OpenAI Playground is restricted in terms of character count, but Chat GPT-3 offers much more freedom as you can endlessly continue creating content and it will remember everything that has been written prior. Unless you reset the thread and start over again, you could even specify “write a chapter one” or “write a chapter two”, without having to worry about exceeding any limits.

Novel Writing Using Chat GPT-3

In each chapter, you would provide GPT-3 with the direction of what you want to write. However, it would memorize all of the character names and the plot conflict that was established in prior chapters. This is something unprecedented as it allows for continuous novel writing without needing to start from scratch every time. This capability of GPT-3 makes it unique among other AI programs and writing assistants.

We asked Chat GPT-3 to compose a 10-page long first chapter with a compelling hook in the opening paragraph. As expected, when we read the first part of its output, it was quite similar to what it had already said before. Nevertheless, in spite of having used the same input before, we remained optimistic that this new attempt would yield more satisfactory results.

Chat GPT-3 also tends to prematurely wrap up conversations because it assumes that when we mention a ‘story’, it must be a short story and thus requires some kind of conclusion. This can become an issue as oftentimes, we may want a longer narrative such as a novel or book, but the AI will assume that things should end sooner than necessary. Consequently, this can lead to an unsatisfactory ending which is much too early for our liking.

Utilizing Prompts

If you are an expert in the art of writing novels and have a chapter outline – such as a 24-chapter plot – and are very specific with each step, we think Chat GPT-3 will get so much better very quickly. By providing precise information on what should occur within each chapter, it can evaluate the content more accurately and produce higher-quality results.

Furthermore, if you provide Chat GPT-3 with a prompt about what type of scene to write, it can generate the desired content instead of crafting a story that has an ending or conclusion. For instance, you could phrase your prompt as “don’t conclude this story” or “leave it open-ended”, requesting that the conflict remains unresolved. As we become increasingly adept at providing appropriate prompts and instructions, the possibilities for what Chat GPT-3 is capable of producing will be immense.

If you’re a slow first drafter or prefer to edit rather than draft, Chat GPT-3 could be particularly useful for your writing process. It can provide ideas that you can use and expand upon by meshing them all together, adding more to it and ultimately building up the content. This could enable your creativity and help you produce a lot of well-crafted material in the long run.

The other great advantage of Chat GPT-3 is that authors don’t need to waste countless hours searching on Google for mundane queries such as “what’s the tallest building”, or “how long can you live underground without food” and see a variety of irrelevant results. Some people are claiming that this AI tool is virtually a substitute for Google, as when you search or ask questions it will provide an accurate response and a satisfactory answer without needing to scroll through multiple results.

Final Thoughts

There is a considerable amount of potential for AI technology in novel writing. Although it may be somewhat dystopian and alarming for what the future may hold for humankind, we cannot deny that the tools are incredibly compelling. Despite their early stages, we are optimistic about the possibilities of AI technologies that await us in the near future.

In the near future, AI technology that can detect and correct spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as line editing to improve novel writing style, are on the horizon. These powerful tools will become available soon and could make it much easier for people to refine their writing by making it smoother, more exciting – or whatever else they desire.

It’s about time that we had some new and improved tools to assist with writing a novel; these tools should make it easier to edit, revise and refine the work, as well as provide helpful support during the drafting process. With the advancements in technology, this is becoming increasingly achievable – it’s an exciting prospect for any aspiring writer.

And in the course of six months, we might be able to compose an impressive 100,000-word rough draft within the space of a single day. With enough editing and polishing, this could even evolve into a full-length book capable of standing on its own.