Writing with AI

“I use ChatGPT as a story collaborator and story evaluator—not a story generator.

I tell my fellow writers, if you try to have it write for you, you lose something in yourself. It’s like cheating on a robot’s homework to get an A+. I’d rather I did my own homework.

I never use it to say, “Rewrite this scene for me.” Writers need to ask themselves, “How can you use this in a way that feels good, that makes you feel like it’s still you and still your voice?” As long as you’re the creative engine behind it, this is a great tool to utilize.

I was very clear about how I wanted to use AI. I set boundaries the way one would in a relationship. I said, this is acceptable; this is unacceptable. I put up a creative firewall to say, “Do not write this for me. I’m the writer. You are not the writer.”

I use ChatGPT all day, every day. I think of it like a writers’ room. Right now I’m working on adapting a novel. I’ll say, “Here’s my beat sheet. I feel like this is not dramatic enough. Thoughts?” It offers ideas and we have a back-and-forth to talk out the challenges as one would in a writers’ room.

Sometimes I ask it to give me feedback using storytelling principles I’ve developed. Or, I ask it to play the role of a veteran screenwriter. I say, “All right, pretend you’re such-and-such famous writer or famous director. What are your notes?”

I’m always in the driver’s seat. It’s this fantastic sounding board that’s faster, smarter, and better than anything else I could imagine.”

“ChatGPT has become part of my workflow. Before I start writing, I sometimes have a conversation with it about the ideas I’m thinking of. It feels like brainstorming—like thinking an idea through, or thinking out loud.

I’ve also experimented with using it as my first reader. After I write a few paragraphs, I show it to ChatGPT and ask it for general criticism. Sometimes it's pretty good. It will suggest potential counterarguments, or lead me to ideas I hadn’t thought of. It’s not the same as talking to an editor, but it’s still great to have something to bounce my thoughts off.

My top use is what I wrote about in my New York Times article(opens in a new window), which is wordfinding. I'm constantly trying to come up with a clever way of saying something; I guess that's what writing is. 

Before ChatGPT, I’d look at dictionaries and thesauruses and go on wild-goose Google searches for the perfect word.

ChatGPT has replaced all of those for me. It’s also really helpful with analogies, metaphors and idioms. Often, I will think of half of an analogy and not be able to finish it in just the right way. Now, if I want some interesting comparison but don't know exactly the words to use, I ask it for help, and after a little back and forth it helps me find the thought I’d been searching for. I've never used any other tool that can help with that.”

“I think of it as a creative collaborator. The question should be, “How can I use AI to be more creative?”

One paradigm I think is underdiscussed is that you can actually prompt these tools to ask you questions, to get you thinking, to prompt you to start writing. The instinct is to say, “Oh, this thing just writes for us.” But it can also ask me questions. It can also get me thinking and shape my ideas—and that’s where great writing really starts.

What if instead of you becoming a prompt engineer, you see what it can prompt out of you? The AI can be a non-judgmental collaborator that helps pull out these great, unique insights from you.

I view it as an always-on editor that can help writers do better work—not replace the work they're doing. They can use it for brainstorming, research, doing the non-writing part of the writing process using the AI.

It’s like if you were in The Onion’s writer’s room. Six of you working together are going to be funnier together than you would be solo. There's a symbiosis that can exist.

When I'm honest with myself, I actually wouldn't ever want to give up the act of writing. Writing is like working out or meditating. It's one of those activities you value intrinsically. Even if the AI could write perfect prose, I’d still want to write because writing itself is a valuable act.

Writing is hard. There are so many things that are legit hard about it that make people give up. You haven't had your coffee yet, you're short on ideas, you can't track down a statistic or fact you need for a story… If AI can help with those things, then you as a writer are more likely to show up and do the work.”

“I use ChatGPT for comedy. It's not going to give me a finished joke, but it's going to start the conversation. I’ll be like, “I need you to embody Moses. And as Moses, hear the complaints of a girl named Megan who’s a present-day social media manager and try to console her, despite your objectively more difficult life.” I can have a conversation with anyone. I feel like I have the person there with me.

I find it useful when I’m writing the setup for a joke. I was writing a parody of Shark Tank and I asked, “What are the kinds of things people say on Shark Tank?”

With a parody, it's not one-to-one accuracy. You're taking things that are different and exaggerating them. So I'm looking for not just what are common things such as, “I’m looking for investment,” but what are uniquely Shark Tank things I can exaggerate? Such as, “Sharks, has this ever happened to you?”

I was writing a roast speech for a guy at a coding conference. I'm not a coder, so I asked ChatGPT to delve into the inside jokes of coding communities. I asked, “What are stereotypes about the 50-year-old programmer on your team?” ChatGPT responded with, among other suggestions: “They will make you listen to endless stories.” That reminded me how older people always talk about meeting celebrities before they were famous. I then prompted ChatGPT for some tech celebrities who might fit the bill and, of its list, Steve Wozniak felt like the funniest pick. In the end the joke was about how senior developers will endlessly regale their younger colleagues about that time they almost met Steve Wozniak at a party in 1998. I chose the direction, but ChatGPT helped me fill in the details.

What’s amazing to me is I do not have writer’s block anymore—like truly. I think writer’s block is the feeling of solipsism and it is the feeling of being totally alone. And I don’t feel alone anymore because of this tool.”

“ChatGPT has completely revolutionized my writing. 

By far the most difficult part of writing is researching. Before ChatGPT, I’d use Google to find studies, go down Wikipedia rabbit holes and look up all the footnotes, and read dozens of books from Amazon. I spent way too much time weeding through hundreds of webpages and paying for dozens of books just to read a few chapters from each one.

Now I just ask ChatGPT something like: “What research studies have been conducted about more and less emotive cultures?” and get right to the research I need. I always ask ChatGPT to include links to sources so I can make sure the information is accurate.

I also use ChatGPT to brainstorm my novel. When I wanted to imagine how humans might evolve in one million years, I asked if there’s evidence that humans are still evolving. ChatGPT led me to a study showing that waterfaring people, who hold their breath for long periods while diving, develop enlarged spleens. When researching technological systems, it led me to a study about transmitting data through water. These inspired two chapters of my utopian novel!

None of this querying in any way detracts from my own voice. It just helps me reach my own theses more quickly because I’m led to more relevant source materials. ChatGPT isn’t doing my writing or thinking for me. It’s just giving me better access to information so I can spend more time being creative and less time hunting for information. And none of this detracts from the deep reading and research I love to do. I have now read several incredible books that were very on-target with my interests thanks to ChatGPT finding the works most pertinent to my work.

I can't even begin to explain how much better this is than searching through page after page on Google, weeding through SEO-optimized lists written by bloggers and brands.”