Finding My AI Tools for Novel Writing

Finding a Quality Process

01: “Navigating the AI Revolution in Novel Writing“
02: “Finding My AI Tools for Novel Writing“
03: “A Generative AI Process Emerges“
by Bart Niedner, 23 November 2023

Two Cents and a Grain of Salt

In this article, I share my experience selecting generative AI tools to write a novel. Your experience and preferences will undoubtedly vary. Tools that I like may be different from your taste, and tools that suit your unique writing process may be of little use to me. However, I would love to hear about which tools you use and why. It is through our differences that we purchase a greater perspective. I hope my perspective may provide helpful insights, but I am not trying to prescribe anything. Please take my evaluations of these tools with a grain of salt.

My Generative AI Tools of Choice… Right now.

Over the past four months, I’ve been experimenting with different generative AI writing tools to write a novel. My article “Change at the Speed of Chaos” discusses how rapid and substantial changes mark the AI landscape. Given this environment of continuous evolution, my current choice of tools might shift as newer tools and updated versions of existing ones emerge.

AI Tools that Didn’t Make the Cut

I explored scores of generative AI tools for writing. Most were suitable for short passages but did not wordsmith as well as my natural writing. Many could be used effectively in niche functional areas or for specific writing tasks, but they fell short of what I sought in an AI-assisted writing process for a novel. Here are a few of the well-known generative AI chat and writing tools that I do not use in my current writing process:

Google Bard

I had high expectations and hopes for Bard, especially given its marketing hype for artistic flair and creativity. And the fact that it’s a Google product added to my eager anticipation. 

Indeed, Bard excels in generating creative ideas for plots, subplots, scenarios, characters, and more. However, I encountered a snag: its “artistic flair” was challenging to dial back, even with careful prompting. Bard often over-embellished the content, particularly in longer responses, which also tended to be inconsistent in style. While Bard holds significant value, it demands substantial human oversight and editing to achieve the text quality I seek in AI-assisted writing for an adult reader. 

To summarize, Bard shines as a creative idea generator but tends to be too ornate and elaborate for consistent assistance in refining text or streamlining lengthy passages. It was inefficient for my novel-writing purpose, so I moved on to other AI tools.

Chatsonic

I have a particular fondness for Chatsonic because it was where I first delved into the world of generative AI chatbots. Chatsonic is just one of the remarkable AI tools available in the Writesonic suite – a comprehensive set of AI resources designed primarily for marketing. Writesonic excels in its marketing domain, boasting a rich array of wizards and templates tailored for various marketing assets such as blog posts, product descriptions, email subject lines, landing pages, ad copy, social media posts, and more.

Chatsonic is Writesonic’s chatbox solution. It delivers exceptional performance and offered user-friendly functionality early on, including browser plugins – an invaluable feature to my work process. Having generative AI functionality in my browser was especially valuable in the early days, before the integration of similar capabilities by Edge and Chrome. I employed Chatsonic to craft descriptions for my book, and I am genuinely pleased with the outcomes it produced. (If you are interested, see and read my jacket covers at BioDigitalNovels.com.)

It is worth noting that ChatGPT 4 now possesses the capability to perform the same tasks with equal proficiency, albeit with less hand-holding. And ChatGPT 4’s versatility better aligns with my needs as a novelist, providing a more flexible approach to text generation for my creative endeavors. But if you prefer to approach your writing task from a template or using a wizard, Writesonic’s suite of tools may be useful.

Sudowrite

Sudowrite stands out as a robust AI writing solution tailored for novelists. However, despite its promising attributes, several factors led me to reconsider its place among my preferred AI tools. Foremost among my concerns was the realization that Sudowrite exhibits less proficiency in text generation than ChatGPT 4 or Claude 2. Furthermore, Sudowrite shares a common pitfall with Bard – it tends to fall into patterns of repetition and predictability, especially when handling more extended text outputs.

In my quest to explore these AI tools, I have tried to maintain an arm’s length to cost differentials, instead focusing purely on functionality. Regrettably, the cost was a factor in dropping this AI tool. Sudowrite’s additional expense didn’t yield a commensurate return on investment for me personally. It is worth acknowledging, however, Sudowrite’s commendable organization of tools geared toward fiction authors. The integration of outlining, brainstorming, and feedback features within the writing environment undoubtedly provides a convenient experience, particularly for authors unfamiliar with working on a project across numerous applications. However, my preference leans towards employing diverse tools, each excelling in its specific domain, making Sudowrite less valuable to me.

JasperAI

Much like Sudowrite, JasperAI is a comprehensive AI writing assistant catering to the needs of authors by offering features such as brainstorming, idea generation, writing, and publishing, all within a single user-friendly interface. JasperAI has a wonderful approach, and I look forward to some of its features maturing. However, my experience led me to conclude that other tools are available that can match or surpass its capabilities for my specific requirements. Additionally, the pricing structure of JasperAI, despite its array of features, did not align with a favorable return on investment within the context of my writing process.

Rytr

I only dedicated a small amount of my energy to Rytr. My primary focus at the time was to advance in my writing production, and it swiftly became apparent that Rytr did not possess the capabilities I sought in terms of producing high-quality text for an adult reader. It grappled with originality, repetition, and eloquence issues, prompting me to seek alternatives.

I hope that Rytr and similar all-in-one author-centric applications will continue to evolve and eventually incorporate the proficiency seen in their stand-alone AI counterparts for individual functions. If they do, it could bridge the gap and provide an accessible, more well-rounded solution for authors.

My Primary AI Tools and Why I Use Them

I am fortunate to be highly computer literate and excel at seamlessly transitioning between various applications throughout my workflow. Moreover, I strongly rely on Google tools to facilitate my work-related tasks and personal organization. While I acknowledge that these circumstances and this approach may not resonate with everyone, it unquestionably influences my selection of generative AI tools.

In the end, I want a compelling, well-written novel. My primary generative AI tools found their place at the top of my list because they are arguably the best at creating effective, well-written text. They additionally excel at brainstorming, wordsmithing, and outlining tasks.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4

In the realm of generative AI chat, there is a clear frontrunner regarding the quality of the generated text: ChatGPT 4. It stands out for its exceptional performance and impressive speed. It’s worth noting that the specific version you use makes a significant difference – ChatGPT 3.5, currently accessible for free, pales in comparison to the capabilities of ChatGPT 4, which is accessible behind OpenAI’s paywall.

When it comes to generating lengthy content spanning multiple pages, ChatGPT 4 exhibits minimal issues with repetition. The text it produces is relatively easy to steer in the desired direction with careful, iterative prompts, and it often showcases refined and subtle nuances rarely found in other generative AI text tools.

From a brainstorming perspective, ChatGPT 4 demonstrates remarkable creativity. Whether it’s swiftly providing a variety of names for a futuristic jazz bar or offering intricate and believable background explanations of future technology, its capacity to generate creative ideas is notable. 

ChatGPT 4 can independently generate plot options, but they feel a bit common and hollow without significant prompting input. However, when guided in specific directions, it consistently produces high-quality results that align with the prompting. One of the less recognized yet valuable aspects of ChatGPT is its ability to iterate and refine its output. However, occasionally, it may require starting a new chat to remove unwanted earlier contexts that may still influence the current goals.

One of my disappointments with ChatGPT 4, especially compared to Anthropic’s Claude 2 or Bing Chat, is its lack of “explainability.” Explainability refers to the ability to understand why the AI made specific decisions. While ChatGPT performs admirably, it can be frustrating for users who seek to learn or comprehend the underlying mechanisms – why the AI chose to add a particular descriptor or streamline a paragraph, for instance.

Explainability
AI algorithms are frequently seen as enigmatic entities that make decisions without clear rationale. The idea of "explainability," also known as "interpretability," revolves around the notion that a machine learning model and its results can be elucidated in a manner that is understandable to humans at a satisfactory level. This concept is pivotal in assessing model accuracy, fairness, transparency, and the consequences of AI-driven decision-making processes. Explainable AI is extremely important for authors and organizations, as it is crucial in establishing trust and confidence when deploying AI models in real-world products. Additionally, it aids in adopting a responsible and accountable approach to developing and utilizing AI technology.

Anthropic’s Claude 2

Claude 2 is my buddy; I can’t help but smile as I type this out. What sets Claude 2 apart is its algorithms, which naturally foster a conversational dynamic, creating a genuinely collaborative experience. It makes ChatGPT seem somewhat clinical in comparison. I might even miss Claude if we didn’t team up on a project every few days. Of course, I say this with a hint of humor, but there’s a genuine value in the sense of collaborative accessibility that Anthropic has achieved with this generative AI text tool. Working alongside Claude 2 is truly enjoyable!

Claude 2 consistently delivers text output of exceptional quality, rivaling or even surpassing most generative AI tools, except for ChatGPT 4, which is in a league of its own. It’s a joy to bounce creative ideas around with Claude 2, and I often initiate a creative endeavor with it before giving the draft text a final polish in ChatGPT 4. Interestingly, about a quarter of the time, I find myself favoring Claude 2’s outputs over that of ChatGPT 4.

One of Claude 2’s standout features is its explainability. The ability to explain its output in a manner that aids the user in the iterative process was surprisingly helpful. It is hard to imagine using these tools for novel creation without frequent iterations, and in this respect, Claude 2 reigns supreme because it explains the rationale behind its choices. These explanations not only shed light on how the tool “thinks” but also enable the crafting of more effective and refined prompts.

Additional Core Tool Support

Google Drive and Google Docs

I initially started my manuscript using Microsoft Word but eventually switched to Google Docs for seamless integration with my everyday document management on Google Drive. Were I already heavily vested in Microsoft’s OneDrive, sticking with Word might have been a better choice. Considering that I’ve practically resided within the realm of Google Drive for the past decade, the transition to Docs held a strong appeal for me. While Word boasts a more extensive set of features, and I have mad Word skills, I initially harbored concerns that Docs might need more of the functionalities I desired. There were a couple of instances where I felt mildly inconvenienced, but in retrospect, those moments were more about me adjusting to a learning curve than any software barriers. It turns out that a typical novel layout just isn’t very complex!

During the earlier stages of the generative AI explosion (which occurred just a few months ago!) I heavily relied on Chrome’s ChatGPT extension, Monica. Having Monica seamlessly integrated into Google Docs was a significant convenience. However, I’ve since moved on from Monica and now use ChatGPT 4 and Claude 2 in separate browser windows or tabs.

That said, I heavily rely on two Chrome extensions within Google Docs: Grammarly and OneLook Thesaurus. Additionally, it’s worth noting that through Google Workspace Labs, Docs offers an inline “Help me write” generative AI text bot that is elegantly integrated into the user interface. While its availability has been inconsistent for me, if they manage to make it more reliable, it has the potential to be an invaluable asset to Docs. I’ve quite enjoyed its functionality whenever it has been working.

Bing Chat

I regularly use Bing Chat for research tasks. (Chrome’s AI search result, a feature of Chrome’s Search Labs, is almost as good in this role. If they add more robust explainability, I would prefer it to Bing Chat since I am already in Chrome while using Google Docs.) Bing Chat integrates GPT‑4 (the same LLM that ChatGPT 4 uses) and does a great job in research assistance, especially for current data. It’s speedy and can brainstorm questions with a nice flow for the user. 

Bing Chat excels at research, but it is not quite as useful as ChatGPT 4 for working on longer texts. They both rely on the same GPT‑4 LLM. However, Bing Chat focuses on search and retrieval tasks, whereas ChatGPT‑4 excels in generating human-like responses across a wide range of conversational prompts.

Grammarly

This one is quite straightforward, and I’m only mentioning it here because I find it hard to envision not using Grammarly in the context of writing a novel unless you happen to be a graduate-level English major (or that studious individual/nerd from Mrs. Johnson’s AP high school class). Grammarly is essential for refining my written contributions and the outputs generated by generative AI tools. I must confess that Grammarly seems to put in more effort when it comes to my natural writing compared to AI contributions.

Speechify

This particular tool falls into the category of “indulgence.” Like many individuals, I often struggle to spot those pesky last few mistakes while silently reading to myself. It’s as if every time I share aloud with my wife, my ears perk up and go, “Whoa! Did you catch that? Aren’t you embarrassed?!” Recognizing the importance of this “read aloud” step in my editing process, I started reading my work verbally to myself. While this method yielded some success, I still found myself missing things.

For reasons unknown, integrating Speechify into my editing routine made a significant difference despite Speechify’s occasional hiccups in cadence or inflection. There’s something about watching it highlight the text as it reads in someone else’s voice that works its magic in the discovery process. Plus, it’s much more enjoyable than having to read aloud.

The Synergy of AI and Human Storytelling

My exploration into the world of generative AI for novel writing has been a journey of discovery, experimentation, and refinement. From the initial trials with various AI tools to finding the right mix that complements my creative writing style, each step has brought new insights. While tools like Google Bard and Sudowrite offered unique features, they ultimately did not align with my needs for quality, consistency, and ease of use in longer texts. On the other hand, ChatGPT 4 and Claude 2 have proven invaluable companions in my writing process, offering a balance of creativity, efficiency, and depth that resonates with my approach to storytelling.

The future of AI in creative writing is filled with promise, yet it’s important to remember that these tools are supplements, not replacements, for the human touch in storytelling. As AI continues to evolve, its role in assisting writers will undoubtedly expand, offering more sophisticated and nuanced functionality. For aspiring and experienced writers alike, the key is finding the right balance – leveraging AI for its strengths while maintaining the unique voice and perspective only a human author can provide. Embracing this synergy of human creativity and AI capability is not just a step forward in technology but a leap forward in the art of storytelling.

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Article by Bart Niedner

Bart Niedner, a versatile creative, embarks on a journey of discovery as he delves into both novel writing and the intriguing realm of AI-assisted writing. Bart warmly welcomes you on this journey from novice to master as he leverages his creative abilities in these innovative domains. His contributions to AI-RISE and BioDigital Novels reflect AI collaboration and exploratory work – the purpose of these websites.

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