Relaunch: The novel is back!

Also, um, I started a business on AI tools! Which have also totally changed how I'm writing the book!

TL;DR: I was having trouble writing earlier this year, but all that excess creative energy instead went to starting a business! At AI Impact Lab, I help mission-driven organizations adopt generative AI tools to increase their impact. But now that that’s launched, my creative brain has some extra space and has refocused on the novel — which I’m approaching totally differently because of the very same generative AI tools!

Hang on, generative AI? Didn’t you write about trying to use that for your novel?

Sure did. In fact, that’s really the seed of where the business idea came from. This was all back ~8 months ago in the AI Dark Ages, before GPT4 was released in March, and I basically didn’t find the generative AI tools at the time to be that helpful with the novel. But then, on a whim, I tried using GPT 3.5 to write imaginary press releases and grant reports, and was absolutely blown away by how good it was at professional writing.

And that’s where the business idea came from.

Which came first, the focus on the business, or the writers block?

Great question, and the truth is, I don’t know.

In my last substantive post here on Taren Ipsum, I said I had writers block and asked for advice on overcoming it. My experience of it at the time was that the writers block was the primary thing going on in my creative life.

“Writers block, frustration, creativity :: abstract oil painting” by Midjourney

But I also already had the idea percolating for the business and had had several conversations with friends, although I hadn’t decided yet whether to launch it. I don’t know what the cause-and-effect was:

• Was I was subconsciously ready to get back to work and excited about my business idea, which was taking up creative energy that could otherwise have gone to the novel, and that’s why I had writers block?

• Or was the writers block inevitable after pushing myself so hard for NaNoWriMo (I wrote 30,000 words in November) and then taking a break for the holidays, and the business idea only grew because I had the creative space?

Or is the truth a combination and there’s some other explanation? If we lived in a novel then probably the author would try to make this clear and part of a character arc, but we don’t, so we will never know.

Stop talking about process! How’s the novel going??

Ok sorry but I’m still going to talk about process! The novel is going well in the sense that I feel fully immersed in the world again, and have a lot of momentum to make progress.

It’s also going well in that, unlike last year, I now have generative AI tools that are very helpful to my process — partly because the tools themselves have gotten better, and partly because I’m more adept at using them:

• I’m routinely using Claude and ChatGPT-4 at every stage of the writing process, from ideation around character arcs, to drafting scene outlines, to giving me feedback on my own writing.

• I recently started experimenting with using Pi to have conversations about the novel where I ruminate out loud, and Pi both does useful rephrasing of what I’ve just said as well as asking me provocative questions.

• I use Perplexity Copilot anytime I need to do web research on a topic like nuclear fusion.

All of this makes the writing process much easier and faster overall.

That having been said, I’ve added exactly zero words to the draft of my manuscript in Scrivener. This is because, in November during NaNoWriMo, I was acting as what’s George RR Martin calls a “gardener” and others call a “discovery writer” — I was learning about my own characters and plot by just writing and seeing what came out.

“An older woman writing a book in the middle of a garden :: ink illustration” by Midjourney (Note: Midjourney has a huge built-in age bias, especially for illustrations of women. I tried asking for a 40-year old or a middle-aged woman and kept getting 20-ish-year-olds, and frankly this “older woman” looks about 25 to me.

But I’ve decided that the best way for me to write in this new world of AI tools is instead work as an “architect” or “outliner.” Which means my plan is now to:

1. Absolutely nail the novel’s theme, plot, and character arcs (with the AIs’ help).

2. Expand that into a scene-by-scene outline (with the AIs’ help).

3. Draft the scenes (with the AIs’ help).

4. Then move into editing mode (with the AIs’ help).

“A blueprint of a house with a woman sitting inside with a laptop” by Midjourney

Of those four steps, I’m still on #1. But I am making a lot of progress there.

I think? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I mean, I’ve never done this before, so probably won’t have any idea whether I was actually making progress until after I’m done. If that ever actually happens, of course!

Anyway, if you’re interested in learning more about generative AI tools beyond their applications to writing novels, you should follow me on the AI Impact Lab Substack, called AI For Good: