Tools I currently use:
This is current as of 2/20/2024.
- NovelCrafter – this software would have been exactly what I was looking for
even if I coudn’t hook my own AI into the backend. The Codex is game changing for me, the type of story bible ease I’ve been looking for. I’m not even using the AI backend anymore, just the Codex. - Quillbot – to rephrase sentences/as a thesaurus on a per sentence editing basis.
- LitRPG Adventures – for fantasy locations and characters
- Poe by Quora – Poe is a service developed by Quora and launched in December 2022. It allows access to a range of AI bots, including my two preferred LLMs: GPT-4 and Claude 2. This cuts the access cost (ChatGPT+ at $20/m and Claude+ at $20/m) in half (Poe $20/m) and the number of messages allowed per month is more than enough for my use.
Tools I have used but no longer use:
- Sudowrite (Disclosure: it’s an affiliate link.) –
for fiction writing and narrative prose. (Stopped using in favor of Claude.) (Started using again just for the Describe button. I do love the Describe button.) (Stopped again to go back to Claude.) - Chatbase.co –
“Just upload a pdf or add a link to your website and get a ChatGPT-like chatbot that can answer any question on it.” I use this to talk to my previously written books with ChatGPT – it’s easier than scouring for “that scene with that thing.” (Not quite there yet. Stopped using it altogether for books until the technology moves ahead a bit, but you’re welcome to try it. Disclosure: it’s an affiliate link.) - Anthropic’s Claude – for fiction drafting, revising, and rephrasing, as well as for querying the manuscript. (I still use the LLM, just through Poe by Quora instead.)
- ChatGPT+ – for Dalle-3 and Vision. (I also use the LLMs through Poe by Quora.)
- TypingMind – You can use GPT4/Claude with a ChatGPT-like interface and enhanced features like chat history search, folders, integrations, prompt library, etc. Fantastic for organizing prompts used outside of NovelCrafter/not used for the fiction itself (like marketing prompts.)
(Went back to Poe. Just prefer it.)
Things I wrote about the tools I’m using/was using:
(Please note much of this is older information)
- Sudowrite Tips and Tricks
- My first days with Sudowrite (June 2021 – October 2021)
- FAQs After ChatGPT Exploded on to the scene. (And information on interview requests.) February 1, 2023
Articles
(Please note much of this is older information)
- New Yorker: The Computers Are Getting Better at Writing
- The Verge: The Great Fiction of AI: The strange world of high-speed semi-automated genre fiction – a long-form article that yours truly appears in.
- The Verge: How Kindle novelists are using ChatGPT – an interview with me about the ChatGPT explosion
- AI-Generated Content and Copyright Law: What We Know (Posted Apr. 18, 2023 – this landscape is likely to change rapidly, so by the time you read this, some questions in the article may have been answered in a court case or by a regulatory body somewhere.)
- 4 Ethical Questions Generative AI Poses
- The scary truth about AI copyright is nobody knows what will happen next
Videos
(Please note much of this is older information)
- The Creative Penn (YouTube): The AI-Augmented Author. Writing With GPT-3 With Paul Bellow
- The Creative Penn (YouTube): Writing Fiction With Sudowrite With Leanne Leeds
- Sudowrite an AI Writing tool for authors: Features and Demonstration on the Business of Writing Podcast featuring author Elizabeth Ann West.
- The Creative Penn (Youtube): Writing Fiction With AI. Sudowrite With Amit Gupta
Classes for Authors
These are classes/training I personally recommend/endorse.
Groups for Fiction Authors
These are groups I’m personally a part of and can confirm are a good source of information.
- AI Writing for Authors – Facebook Group with almost 2,000 5,000 members, and unfailingly AI positive/supportive.