Should Fiction Writers Use AI Tools To Help Their Their Stories?

Last Updated on June 24, 2023 by Nathaniel Tower

Why did the AI writing tool cross the road? To get to the other side of the story!

Let me preface this post by saying that I’m a bit skeptical of artificial intelligence writing tools, and I don’t advocate for these tools to replace human writers. A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about how AI tools were far away from exceeding the abilities of human writers, but that was before Open AI released ChatGPT.

Now I think the gap is a little smaller than I previously thought.

But I still believe in the power of the human mind, and I think the human writer is capable of producing something far greater than what AI writing tools can create. Of course, that doesn’t mean AI writing tools don’t have any value. On the contrary, AI tools can do wonderful things for writers and readers alike.

So let’s talk about whether or not fiction writers should use AI tools to help them write their stories.

This may anger some people, but I think the answer is, yes.

Of course, the key word here is help. Fiction writers still need to do the vast majority of the work. They can only use an AI writing tool as a tool, similar to how a photographer might use Photoshop or a similar program to enhance their photography. This still requires skill, just like using any software does. An AI writing tool is no different.

I would argue that a bad writer using an AI writing tool will still produce bad writing most of the time.

Is AI writing a form of plagiarism?

Before I send all fiction writers down the path of using artificial intelligence to craft their next great story of novel, let’s address the elephant in the room: the fear of cheating or plagiarizing.

When it comes to writing, it’s important to remember that there are no shortcuts to success. An AI writing tool is simply a tool, like a pencil or a computer, that can aid you in the writing process. It’s up to you to put in the hard work and creativity to craft a story that is uniquely yours. And that’s why only good writers will be able to use AI successfully. Since AI can’t produce or understand many things like emotion, subtext, subtlety, or much more, it’s up to the human writer to guide AI and decide what’s usable and what’s not.

Using an AI writing tool does not automatically make you a cheater or a plagiarist. Obviously if you type a prompt into a ChatGPT, tell it to write, and then claim exactly what it wrote as yours, then you are plagiarizing. But if you use it to generate ideas, review your work, or guide you along the way, then you can still claim the work as your own.

Let’s put this another way: if you use an AI writing tool to help you in any way, you need to be sure that you are doing the vast majority of the work if you want to put your name on it at the end of the day. Any fiction writer who asks an AI tool to generate an entire story for them and then submits it as their own is a fraud. And most frauds eventually get caught, right?

But there are ways to use an AI writing tool to help you craft your story without leaving you a cheater. Let’s explore some of those ways.

AI can help you generate ideas

One of the biggest benefits of using an AI writing tool is it can help you generate new ideas. This can work in a variety of ways for you.

Many AI writing tools can generate prompts to give you a starting point for your story. For example, an AI tool might generate a prompt like “A detective is trying to solve a murder case, but all the evidence points to his best friend,” and then your imagination can take it from there. In reality, this is no different than taking one of my short story ideas and using it as your own. No one would accuse you of cheating if you did that.

But AI writing tools aren’t just good at helping you get started. They can also help you get unstuck, which can be a big benefit if you are suffering from writer’s block. Some AI writing tools can assist in character development and plot structure. This can give you new ideas to help build well-rounded, believable characters and create a compelling plot. If you don’t know how to describe the setting in your story, you can ask an AI tool to generate some ideas. Just make sure you take these ideas and write them yourself using your own words and language that matches your story. Otherwise, you won’t just be a fraud – you’ll also have an uneven piece of writing.

AI can help check your grammar and sentence structure

We’ve all been using editors for many years, right? On a certain level, asking AI to review your story or novel is no different than asking a friend to read it over and check for any mistakes. You can also ask AI to give you feedback without allowing the machine to take over and write it for you. We don’t call writers hacks because they ask for feedback.

Many writers have been using tools like Grammarly for years with no qualms. If you think AI writing tools are unethical, then you probably should stop using any pre-programmed intelligence like Grammarly or even Microsoft Word’s built-in spellcheck to help you do your work. That might sound like an extreme comparison, but asking Grammarly to spellcheck or grammar check a story really isn’t much different than asking ChatGPT or Jasper or any other AI tool to do the same. They aren’t doing the writing for you; they are just assisting in a task that will enhance your story. It’s still up to you to review the suggestions and decide what changes to make.

I’m not suggesting by any means here that AI writing tools should replace professional editors. This is a tool for writers to use during their own editing process before they submit their work. Artificial intelligence can’t replace a professional editor who understands the nuance of voice and tone and knows what sells.

How much AI writing can you use in your fiction

I wish I could give you a number, like 98.8% of the words in your final story must be your own in order for you to rightfully claim to be the author of a work of fiction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Even before AI writing tools, authors had plenty of help from editors. While some editors simply provide feedback or correct a typo here and there, other editors get a lot more aggressive with their assistance and will even rewrite full paragraphs for the author. Does this suddenly make the story not the original writer’s?

In order for you to claim authorship of any work of fiction, you ultimately need to believe it is your own work. And you should always be honest with yourself, even if you are writing fiction. Don’t take credit for work you didn’t create. Don’t submit a short story you didn’t write. Even if you don’t get caught, it’s simply unethical to do so, just like it’s unethical to steal a short story from another writer and submit it as your own. And I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t do that.

If you’re using an AI writing tool as anything more than a tool to help you write better, than you are doing it the wrong way. Keep in mind, the real work still lies in your creativity and hard work. Getting some inspiration from a tool is not evil and doesn’t make you any less of a writer.

Remember this – if you submit AI writing as your own, then you are ultimately saying that artificial intelligence should replace human writers.

I know this topic is pretty deep, so let’s end with another joke:

Why did the robot write a novel? Because he was a machine-ation of a great author.

Guess what? I asked AI to write that joke for me. So if you laughed, you’re no better than the machines at this point! I personally thought it was a horrible joke, so it looks like most comics will get to keep their jobs. For now. I hope the same is true of writers.

What are your thoughts on using AI tools to help you as a fiction writer? Have you used ChatGPT or any other writing tools yet? Share your experience and opinions in the comments. And don’t forget to share this post on all your favorite channels.