To get over the hurdle of getting to write, I’ve already talked about using this blog or recording my audiobook to get over the initial fear of the blank page. However, the best system I’ve been using to get the urge to write turned out to be the part of writing I hate the most.
“Writing is re-writing” is a slogan I put on my computer when I was editing my first novel back in the nineties. I remember that big vacuum-tube monitor on my grandparents’ kitchen nook where I set up my computer to write. (I was in college, my grandparents were in Texas for the summer, I got to use the house.) I had already written 500 single-spaced pages of a novel that turned out never to see the light of day. Mostly because it was crap, partly because it was rejected by publishers, and now, because it’s hopelessly out of date. This was a different obstacle; going back through what I thought came out perfect the first time and saying “How do I make this better?”
What I needed was someone else to read what I wrote and make some suggestions on how to improve it. What I thought I had was a co-author; I printed and mailed him copies of my first drafts, and since his name was going to be on the page, I thought that would make him incentivized to actually work on it. However, when he dropped out of college, we didn’t have that daily connection to work on the story, and between being depressed, working, and physically distant, he never wrote one damned word afterwards.
I keep telling myself I forgave him for that, but then I keep bringing up this story, so… have I?
This has led to a long tradition of my friends saying they’d read something of mine and then blowing me off. And yeah, that hurts. Especially when I need an editor that I can’t afford to publish books no one reads. Thankfully, technology has come to save me. The much maligned AI chatbots, which will probably kill so many careers, has already started to kill my brother-in-law’s career as an editor. (I can’t afford him either.) He also is physically in another state and it takes time for him to read and make suggestions. AI can do it in 15 seconds.
I actually use two chatbots to do my initial editing with. I used to use Microsoft Copilot for initial run through, but even though it has the “conversation” that I’ve written my current trilogy in throughout, it doesn’t check further back than… oh, a couple weeks of transcripts? And I understand – this is a free service and there’s a limit to how much processing power it will provide me. However, I discovered Google Gemini does go back through the whole conversation and does a better job of line-level editing for me.
For the second draft, I run it through Claude. This chatbot is amazing, it does everything I want it to, and it does it well. If I want it to crank out extensive fan-fic histories combining the Act of Union in 1707 with the rise of the Ministry of Magic (they are connected, my friends!), it writes a compelling essay on the subject. But man, are they stingy with their processing time. If you’re trying to type during the work day (whistling nervously), then I get one chapter edit before it locks me out for five hours. If I wanted to spend $20 to $100/month, I’d hire my brother!
However, having that immediate feedback on my writing, really inspires me to write more. If I start the day with having the chatbots going back over what I wrote the previous day, that really gets me going to keep writing. Now, do I always take their advice? No. However, sometimes it comes up with better ways to write lines than I ever used. So my story is… 5% written by AI, but if I wanted it to write the story instead, that would kill the fun I’m having! And personally, I think it comes out better.
If you’re curious what an AI edited, human written original piece looks like, check out No Such Wizard, my recent novel. If you’re a dedicated Kindle user like I am, it’s only $0.99. Check it out. If you’re a cheapskate like me, I still want you to read it, but you can check it out on An Archive of Our Own (AO3) with simpler formatting, but the words are all the same. Enjoy!
Albigensia Press 