How using AI really helps with my writing

Using AI can be fraught with danger as reliance on its creative ability could, if allowed, take your own creative spirit out of the equation.

I use AI sparingly mainly for information, research and grammar/spelling checks. I don’t use it to create books which many people seem to be jumping on the bandwagon to do. Personally I think this is a sad state of affairs but if someone can make a fast buck using AI they will!

I look at AI as a fantastic aid that allows me to take some of the tedious non-creative aspects away giving back more creative story writing time. Let’s be fair, who likes trawling the internet to check the depth of the deepest part of Loch Ness or the population of Tokyo when AI can do it for you in seconds and be at your fingertips time after time.

I also use it to spell check and ensure grammar is correct and although AI is not 100% accurate…yet! it  is a very good way to take some of the heavy lifting out of the self-editing process, and I tend to do this after completing each chapter. After I have finished the first draft I will self edit at least half a dozen times before submitting the final draft to my editor.

There is one aspect of AI I have just started using that I wish I had thought of when I began writing the Moreton Scientific investigation series. I tend to write each book in the series over a two to three month period and as the chapters increase it becomes more difficult to keep tabs on the storyline and continuity of events and characters. Now, when I complete a chapter I run it through AI for a spelling/ grammar check, then ask AI to create a short synopsis of the chapter. I then copy and paste it into a master Word Doc so I have a complete chapter synopsis for the book as I go along. This has cut down hours of reading and re-reading and I can’t believe I was stupid enough not to have thought of it sooner! Now I can cast my eye quickly over each chapter synopsis and get back into the writing groove immediately.

So that’s my use of AI in a nutshell – to Spell/ grammar check, research and to create a running chapter synopsis Word Doc, leaving far more time to do what I love doing… creative writing!