Welcome to this tutorial about how to write a book, a full-length novel, using ChatGPT. There’s a lot of misinformation out there on the Internet right now, a lot of people claiming they know how to use AI to write actual fiction books, when none of them are actually authors and clearly don’t know what they’re doing.
In an effort to improve on this problem, and to assure authors that there are people out there that are taking AI seriously as a productivity tool to aid in their writing, I’m here to hopefully provide some actual experience with AI as a self-published author.
Most of the AI products I’ve seen publicised on the Internet have been novelties, just little experiments. But what if you wanted to use ChatGPT to create an actual novel, one that a reader wouldn’t necessarily know is made with AI, one that includes a coherent plot, realistic characters, and great dialogue?
That’s what I’m going to get into today.
First, a Word of Caution
A lot of people are afraid that AI is just going to come and take their jobs away, that with a click of a button you’ll be able to write a book, and…
That’s simply not possible at the moment.
Right now, ChatGPT in particular, but a lot of AI tools, are best used as productivity tools. They do for writing what the calculator did for math.
Understand that our goal is not to create a crap book just because we can do so quickly.
We want to actually create a genuinely good book here, and that’s going to require a lot of human editing. In our lifetime, I don’t think it will ever be possible to push a button and have a genuinely good, coherent novel with the touch of that button.
It may happen eventually, but probably not within my lifetime at the very least.
Creating a readable novel with AI assistance still takes a lot of work. Less work, sure, but we are not going to pump out a novel in a day. It just doesn’t work like that.
So with that in mind, let’s dive into my 6-step process for writing a fiction novel with ChatGPT.
Step 1: Pitches
Prompt:
Give me [NUMBER] high-concept pitches for a bestselling [GENRE] story with a unique twist, intriguing characters, and gripping emotional stakes.
If you don’t already have an idea for what you want in your novel, this is how I start, asking for a list of high-concept pitches in a given genre.
I like to add the bits about the unique twist, intriguing characters, and gripping emotional stakes because it tends to improve the quality of the prompts.
However, you may have to run this prompt multiple times, ask for new ideas, converse with it a bit, until you have a few that you liked.
When running this prompt, I found three that I kind of liked, so I copied them into my document. I eventually settled on one:
Result:
In a world where the dead are brought back to life as slaves, a young necromancer must choose between saving her undead lover and fighting for the rights of all the enslaved dead.
I loved this prompt as it had just the right amount of emotional stakes, some intriguing worldbuilding, and I just loved the rather macabre idea of an undead romance. I was immediately thinking of the movie Warm Bodies, but with more magic.
Step 2: Synopsis
Step 2 is where we take the pitch and flesh out a full synopsis from what it gave us.
So taking the above pitch, I fed that into ChatGPT with the following prompt:
Prompt:
Using the following concept, write a story synopsis for a [GENRE] book:
[PASTE STORY SYNOPSIS]
Pro Tip: As of this writing, ChatGPT Plus users have access to GPT-4. I strongly recommend that, for step 2, you start using GPT-4, as it will create better results. It’s fine if you use GPT-3.5 for brainstorming.
This was the response I got back from ChatGPT:
Result:
In the mythical realm of Ethernos, the living coexist with the reanimated dead, known as the Enslaved. Once resurrected by powerful necromancers, these undead beings are forced into a life of servitude, their free will suppressed by the necromantic energy that binds them. It is in this cruel world that the young and talented necromancer, Lyra Valtieri, discovers her unique abilities, as well as her empathetic heart.
Lyra, an apprentice to the renowned necromancer, Master Thane, learns the art of resurrection and control over the Enslaved. During her training, she meets Elrik, an undead warrior enslaved by her master. Their connection is immediate and profound, transcending the shackles that bind Elrik to his cursed existence.
As their love flourishes, Lyra becomes torn between her loyalty to her mentor and her love for Elrik. Her internal struggle intensifies when she witnesses the brutal treatment the Enslaved endure at the hands of the living. Unable to ignore the injustice, she takes a bold stand, advocating for the rights of the Enslaved and challenging the established order.
Her defiance draws the attention of a secretive, underground movement known as the Shadowborn, who have been working towards the liberation of the Enslaved. The Shadowborn offer Lyra an opportunity to use her skills in necromancy to break the magical chains that bind the undead, effectively freeing them from the control of the living.
As Lyra embarks on this dangerous path, she faces the ultimate choice: save her love, Elrik, and risk the wrath of the powerful necromancer elite, or fight for the rights of all the Enslaved, potentially sacrificing her chance at happiness with Elrik. With the fate of the Enslaved in her hands, Lyra’s decision will shape the course of history in Ethernos and determine the future for both the living and the undead.
As the forces of darkness close in and ancient secrets reveal themselves, Lyra must embrace her destiny and unlock the true power within her. In a world where love defies death, and hope sparks rebellion, Lyra’s choices will forever alter the balance between life and death, and ignite the battle for the very soul of Ethernos.
I liked this, but I found the ending to be a little vague, and I wanted to know what happened in the ending so I could better do my outline later.
So I asked ChatGPT for a few more details, did a little of my own editing, and this is what I eventually ended up with (all changes are bolded):
Revised Version:
In the mythical realm of Ethernos, the living coexist with the reanimated dead, known as the Enslaved. Once resurrected by powerful necromancers, these undead beings are forced into a life of servitude, their free will suppressed by the necromantic energy that binds them. It is in this cruel world that the young and talented necromancer, Lyra Valtieri, discovers her unique ability to perform Soul Mending, a magical ability (long thought lost) that allows her to ease the pain and provide comfort to the undead.
Lyra, an apprentice to the renowned necromancer, Master Caelum, learns the art of resurrection and control over the Enslaved. During her training, she meets Elrik, an undead warrior enslaved by her master. Using her newfound Soul Mending ability, she is able to remove Elrik’s pain and bring true awareness of his existence. Most undead can do the tasks that necromancers set out for them, but do not have free will. Lyra is able to restore free will to Elrik. Their connection is immediate and profound, transcending the shackles that bind Elrik to his cursed existence.
As their love flourishes, Lyra becomes torn between her loyalty to her mentor and her love for Elrik. Her internal struggle intensifies when she witnesses the brutal treatment the Enslaved endure at the hands of the living. Unable to ignore the injustice, she takes a bold stand, advocating for the rights of the Enslaved and challenging the established order.
Her defiance draws the attention of a secretive, underground movement known as the Shadowborn, who have been working towards the liberation of the Enslaved. The Shadowborn offer Lyra an opportunity to use her skills in necromancy as well as her Soul Mending ability, to break the magical chains that bind the undead, effectively freeing them from the control of the living.
Elrik supports Lyra and offers himself as her protector. However, due to her advocacy for the rights of the undead, she gains the attention of some very dangerous necromancer elite. At a pivotal part of the story, Elrik is captured and Lyra is forced to choose between saving Elrik or saving all of the Enslaved.
As Lyra embarks on this dangerous path, she faces the ultimate choice: save her love, Elrik, and risk the wrath of the powerful necromancer elite, or fight for the rights of all the Enslaved, potentially sacrificing her chance at happiness with Elrik. With the fate of the Enslaved in her hands, Lyra’s decision will shape the course of history in Ethernos and determine the future for both the living and the undead.
Together a diverse group of allies, including other necromancers, warriors, and even members of the Enslaved, Lyra ventures into the treacherous depths of the Necropolis, a hidden city of the dead, to retrieve the legendary Soulstone. This powerful artifact holds the key to unlocking her full potential and liberating the Enslaved.
As Lyra and her companions face numerous trials, battles, and betrayals, she discovers the true origins of necromancy and the dark history behind the enslavement of the dead.
The forces of darkness, led by her master, tyrannical Arch-Necromancer Caelum, are determined to stop Lyra and maintain their control over the Enslaved. In a climactic battle, Lyra confronts Caelum and his undead army, using her unique abilities to break the chains of servitude, free the Enslaved, and weaken Caelum’s power.
Editing what you get after each step is key, as it will mean you will get better output for future steps.
I won’t be showing all of the editing process for many of the remaining steps, but understand that you will need to fill in a lot of gaps and make improvements all along the way.
Step 3: High-Level Outline
This is where you take the synopsis you just generated and refined, and turn it into a workable outline.
ChatGPT is familiar with a lot of different outlining templates, including but not limited to:
- The 3 Act Structure
- The 5 Act Structure
- Save the Cat
- The Hero’s Journey
- Romancing the Beat
- Dan Harmon’s Story Circle
For this story, since it’s an epic fantasy, I decided to go with the Hero’s Journey. This was my prompt:
Prompt:
Using the following synopsis, create a detailed summary of the story, fleshing out additional details, and breaking it into parts using the [OUTLINE METHOD OF CHOICE]:
I had to go back and forth with ChatGPT a bit to get exactly what I want, which you will have to do occasionally. However, after some time, and with a few edits of my own, this is what I came up with:
Result:
I. Departure (Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid)
- In the mythical realm of Ethernos, Lyra Valtieri, a young and talented necromancer, accidentally discovers her unique ability to perform Soul Mending during her training with Master Caelum. This rare power allows her to ease the pain and provide comfort to the undead, who are often enslaved and tormented by other necromancers.
- As Lyra’s abilities develop, she encounters Elrik, an undead warrior who has been enslaved by her master, Master Caelum. With her newfound gift, Lyra manages to restore Elrik’s free will, and the two form a deep and unexpected bond. Elrik, grateful for her kindness and intrigued by her abilities, becomes Lyra’s confidant and protector.
- Lyra begins to struggle with her loyalty to her mentor, Master Caelum, as she witnesses the brutal treatment of the Enslaved. The more she learns about the world of necromancy, the more she questions its morality and her role within it. Her love for Elrik only deepens her internal conflict.
II. Initiation (Crossing the Threshold, Belly of the Whale, Road of Trials)
- Lyra ultimately decides to take a stand for the rights of the Enslaved, becoming a champion for their cause. Her actions catch the attention of the underground movement known as the Shadowborn, who offer her the opportunity to use her unique abilities to free the undead from their cruel masters.
- As Lyra joins the ranks of the Shadowborn, Elrik supports her decision and remains steadfastly by her side, serving as her guardian and ally. However, their actions do not go unnoticed. The dangerous necromancer elite, who benefit from the enslavement of the undead, begin to hunt them down, seeking to crush the rebellion.
- Tragedy strikes when Elrik is captured by the necromancer elite. Lyra is now faced with a harrowing decision: save the man she loves or continue the fight for the rights of all the Enslaved.
III. Transformation (Meeting with the Goddess, Atonement with the Father, Apotheosis)
- To save Elrik and free the Enslaved, Lyra embarks on a perilous quest to retrieve the legendary Soulstone from the hidden city of the dead, the Necropolis. She forms a diverse group of allies, each with their own unique skills and motivations, who join her on this dangerous mission.
- As they journey through treacherous lands and face numerous trials, betrayals, and revelations, Lyra learns the dark truth behind necromancy and the enslavement of the dead. This knowledge only strengthens her resolve to fight for the rights of the Enslaved and end their suffering.
- Lyra’s journey culminates in a heart-wrenching choice: save Elrik and risk the wrath of the powerful necromancer elite or continue fighting for the rights of the Enslaved, potentially sacrificing her own happiness and the life of the man she loves.
IV. Return (The Magic Flight, Rescue from Without, Crossing the Return Threshold)
- In a climactic battle, Lyra confronts her former master, Arch-Necromancer Caelum, and his undead army. With her allies by her side and her unique Soul Mending abilities, she manages to free the Enslaved from their torment and weaken Caelum’s power.
- Lyra’s decision to stand against her former mentor and the necromancer elite ultimately shapes the course of history in Ethernos, determining the future for both the living and the undead. Her actions inspire others to question
I was pretty happy with this outline, which means that now it’s time to turn to a more detailed outline.
Step 4: Chapter Outline
From now on, I’m only going to be working with a small portion of the above outline as we dig deeper and deeper, getting closer to actually writing the first chapter.
While the above outline is great, it doesn’t give us a good idea of how many chapters/scenes there will be. This is the step where I start to figure that out.
For this stage, I only selected the first three sections of the outline above, and entered them into ChatGPT. Here was my prompt:
Prompt:
Using the following portion of an outline, write a detailed summary for [NUMBER] chapters of this [GENRE] novel:
[INSERT OUTLINE HERE]
For my version, I only selected the first three sections of the Hero’s Journey outline, and asked it to turn them into a detailed summary of 6 chapters. This is what it gave me:
Result:
Chapter 1: The Accidental Discovery
- Introduction to the realm of Ethernos
- Lyra Valtieri, a young necromancer, trains with Master Caelum
- Lyra accidentally discovers her unique ability to perform Soul Mending
Chapter 2: A Fateful Encounter
- Lyra meets Elrik, an enslaved undead warrior
- Lyra uses her newfound gift to restore Elrik’s free will
- Elrik and Lyra form a deep bond, and he becomes her protector
Chapter 3: The Growing Dilemma
- Lyra witnesses the brutal treatment of the Enslaved
- Her loyalty to Master Caelum is tested, as she questions the morality of necromancy
- Lyra’s love for Elrik deepens her internal conflict and doubt
Chapter 4: Secrets Unveiled
- Lyra begins to investigate the history of necromancy and the Enslaved
- Her discoveries reveal a dark and unsettling past, further fueling her doubts
- Lyra starts to consider using her powers for a greater purpose
Chapter 5: The Shadowborn’s Offer
- Lyra catches the attention of the underground movement, the Shadowborn
- The Shadowborn propose an alliance to use her abilities to free the undead
- Lyra is torn between her loyalty to Master Caelum and her desire to help the Enslaved
Chapter 6: A Decision to Defy
- Lyra finally decides to take a stand for the rights of the Enslaved
- She chooses to accept the Shadowborn’s offer, with Elrik’s support
- Lyra’s decision sets her on a new path, setting the stage for the next phase of her journey
I would then go through this outline and flesh it out further using details that, as an author, I know will flesh out the story better and will be needed to keep the story from being too vague.
This is what some of the edited portions looked like for Chapter 1:
Edited Version:
Chapter 1: The Accidental Discovery
- Introduction to the realm of Ethernos
- Lyra Valtieri, a young necromancer, trains with Master Caelum, where he teaches her how to raise the undead for the first time
- Master Caelum shows Lyra how to awaken the undead. The dead body is placed on a ritual table, and embalmed with special magical ointments. The dead body has to be only recently dead in order to be reanimated.
- She raises a undead warrior, who we will later find out is Elrik, but who runs off screaming after being awoken
- Lyra accidentally discovers her unique ability to perform Soul Mending, when she is attacked by another undead servant that she awakens. In her fear, she unknowingly activates her Soul Mending ability, instantly calming the undead servant.
- Master Caelum is impressed that she has seemingly awakened a calm undead, since most apprentices don’t do it well, and create monsters that can’t be controlled without the aid of the Master Necromancer.
As you can see, there’s still a lot of work that goes in on my part, and this must be repeated for every chapter that you’ve generated so far. But the AI does get us half-way there.
Moving on to the next step:
Step 5: Detailed Chapter Summaries
This is the last step before we actually start writing. I’ve found that the more detail we can include in Step 6, the better the output of the scene.
So for Step 5, we’re going to generate some of that detail. This is what my prompt looks like:
Prompt:
Take the following chapter description and flesh it out with more details and individual beats for the scene:
[INSERT CHAPTER DESCRIPTION HERE]
If you’re lucky, you’ll get a bulleted list of story beats, which I always find are easiest to work with.
For this step, I entered in the revised Chapter 1 that you see above, and this is what I got:
Result:
- Lyra Valtieri, a young and talented necromancer, finishes her breakfast as quickly as she can in the mess hall of the Necromancy Academy. Today is the first day when she will be taught how to raise an undead body, and she is so excited but also incredibly nervous. After finishing breakfast, she moves on to the underground chambers where her master will be waiting.
- Lyra meets her mentor, Master Caelum, a wise and powerful necromancer who has trained some of the most skilled necromancers in Ethernos.
- Master Caelum, already knowing that Lyra has great potential, decides to jump straight into letting her raise an undead with his guidance.
- The two go to the academy’s underground reanimation chambers, where a recently deceased body is placed on a ritual table.
- Master Caelum instructs Lyra on how to properly prepare the body, using special magical ointments and incantations that are essential to the reanimation process.
- As Lyra carefully follows Master Caelum’s instructions, she manages to raise an undead warrior from the body on the table.
- The undead warrior, who is later revealed to be Elrik, awakens and is initially terrified by his new undead form. He screams and flees from the chamber, leaving Lyra and Master Caelum behind.
- Master Caelum, impressed by Lyra’s first attempt, says that the warrior will soon be apprehended and they don’t need to worry about him. Instead, he instructs her to raise another undead servant.
- The second undead servant awakens and, in confusion and fear, lunges at Lyra.
- As a self-defense mechanism, Lyra unknowingly activates her unique ability to perform Soul Mending, instantly calming the undead servant and preventing it from attacking her.
- Master Caelum is impressed and amazed by Lyra’s natural talent for necromancy, as most apprentices struggle to create and control undead servants without the aid of their mentors.
- He encourages Lyra to explore her newfound ability and promises to guide her through her journey as a necromancer in the Realm of Ethernos.
As with any step, you’ll want to scan through everything and make sure it lives up to your standards. You may find portions that are still pretty vague, so you will want to add some specificity to the scene with a few additional bullet points of your own.
I also find that, especially at this stage, it helps to start adding some descriptions of the scene you are in, descriptions of the characters, what characters are feeling, etc. This will be vital in the next step.
Now we get to my favorite part…
Step 6: Chapter Writing
At this stage, you’re ready to write. If you aren’t subscribed to ChatGPT Plus yet, this is the point where it is practically crucial that you do so, as you will need GPT-4 to get the best output here.
GPT-3.5 is certainly capable of fiction writing, but it pales in comparison to GPT-4, so subscribe if you can.
For the writing of the actual text, I have a much more complex prompt to try and keep the style and tone consistent.
Prompt:
Write 1000 words of a chapter using the following details:
Genre: [ENTER GENRE HERE]
Tone: [ENTER TONE HERE]
Point of View: [ENTER POV/TENSE HERE]
Setting: [ENTER SETTING HERE]
Key Characters: [ENTER CHARACTER DETAILS HERE]
Summary: [ENTER YOUR ABOVE SUMMARY HERE]
Conflict: [ENTER MAIN SOURCE OF CONFLICT HERE]
Make sure to have plenty of realistic dialogue, and be sure to show don’t tell, and use deep point of view. Write in a very slow pace, building the story with in-depth character development and world building.
I’ve found that last sentence is EXTREMELY helpful at producing a high-quality output.
Since ChatGPT can’t write too much at a time, I find it helps to only select small portions of my detailed chapter outline at a time. With experience, you’ll eventually figure out about how much that should be, but I used only four bullet points for the following results:
Result:
Lyra Valtieri swallowed the last bite of her breakfast, her fork shaking in her hand as she forced down the tasteless gruel. Today was the day, she could hardly believe it. In just a few hours, she would be learning the dark art of raising the dead. Her stomach churned with a mixture of excitement and dread as she pushed away her empty plate and left the dining hall.
As she made her way down to the underground chambers, her heart pounded in her chest. The air grew colder, the torchlight flickering off the damp stone walls. Lyra clenched her fingers around her robe, the bright red fabric a stark contrast to the darkness around her.
She hesitated at the entrance to the chamber, her breath hitching as she considered what lay ahead. “I can do this,” she whispered to herself, trying to instill confidence in her quavering voice.
The door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit room filled with the scent of decay and something else, something more sinister. Master Caelum stood near a stone table, a tall figure shrouded in the darkness. His long black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, the shadows cast by his face making him appear as though he wore a permanent scowl.
“Ah, Lyra, you’re here,” he said, his voice void of emotion. “I trust you’ve prepared yourself for this lesson?”
Lyra’s fingers tightened around her robe, and she swallowed hard. “Y-yes, Master Caelum,” she stammered, her voice betraying her uncertainty.
“Good,” he replied, his eyes flicking to the lifeless body that lay upon the table. “Now, come closer. I shall instruct you on the process of reanimation.”
As Lyra approached, she caught sight of the body on the table, the reality of what she was about to do settling in her gut like a stone. It was a man, pale and cold, his eyes closed in eternal slumber.
You’ll notice that this is not very long. You may have to work with it a bit to get the full 1000 words I mentioned in the prompt. If needed, you can give it less of the summary and try again, as the less you give it, the more it is likely to flesh those parts out.
Then it comes time to edit. Here is an example of an edit that I did to the above result, with the changes highlighted in bold:
Revised Version:
Lyra Valtieri swallowed the last bite of her breakfast, her fork shaking in her hand as she forced down the tasteless gruel. Today was the day, she could hardly believe it. In just a few hours, she would be learning the dark art of raising the dead. Her stomach churned with a mixture of excitement and dread as she pushed away her empty plate.
“Hey Lyra,” said Markos, dropping down on the opposite side of the table. “Are you ready for today?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Lyra. She had probably eaten too much gruel. Already it was sinking in her stomach like a stone.
“You’ll do fine,” said Markos. “You’re the best in the school!”
Lyra couldn’t take it anymore, she had to get out. Without another word to Markos, she simply rose and left, ignoring his protests.
As she made her way down to the underground chambers, her heart pounded in her chest. The air grew colder, the torchlight flickering off the damp stone walls. Lyra clenched her fingers around her robe, the bright red fabric a stark contrast to the darkness around her.
It’s moments like these where you’ll realize that a character needs to dwell on a thought for just a beat longer, or more dialogue is needed, or a paragraph skimmed over some important details that need to be highlighted further.
Whatever the case, you can add the additions yourself, or even ask ChatGPT to help you revise. It’s especially good at taking a paragraph that you might not have liked, and fleshing it out with more description, dialogue, or whatever you ask for.
Conclusion
And that is essentially my 6-step process for creating a novel from scratch using AI assistance.
As you can tell, it will still take time to completely flesh out those outlines, not to mention actually go through the writing itself.
But like I said, ChatGPT is a productivity tool. It will get you 50% of the way there, much faster than you could have done on your own.
It’s just up to you to do your part with the remaining 50%.
Thanks for the really great tutorial and video. I’ve been experimenting with this and have had good results, however I’ve noticed that the continuity and quality seems to degrade during Step 6 the farther along in the story I go. For example, my Act One was great but then when it started writing a scene for Act Two it forgot details from before and started to not follow the prompt as closely, like not writing dialogue when it explicitly says to.
So far I’ve been correcting it and fleshing these things out on my own (as this just an outline aid more than anything) but I was curious if you’ve encountered this also and had any advice?
Yes, it can get derailed. I’ll usually get around this by starting a new chat and using all the same prompt information to make sure it has the same style and context, then give it the next section of the outline to work on.
Just finished watching the YT video that mirrors with this post. Thank you so much for creating this. I’ve been writing for some time and have published some articles, but I’ve never been able to finish writing my novel(s). But I think this year is the year that I finally close this loop. I love the idea of using ChatGPT as a partner. I played with it as an editor and I really liked its insights. Thanks again!
You’re welcome!
Excellent Work! But how does one do this with a murder mystery, since ChatGPT has content restrictions that don’t allow Mrs. Plum to get diced in the library with the cheese grater?
You’ll just have to work around it, honestly. There’s always some actual writing that needs to happen, and in overly grewsome or sexual situations, it’s usually required.
Thanks for providing a great you tube video as well as a downloadable tool to help with the AI process. I was tired of going to videos just spouting that they created a book in so many hours or whatever but they don’t discuss the process!
Thanks again,
You’re welcome!