So I'm Writing A Novel With ChatGPT
I’ve had a fictional story in my mind for thirty years. It’s about a guy in advertising (duh) who makes a connection to a past life. In fact, when I was in San Francisco just prior to my first born being so, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to write the story as a screenplay before heading off to Goodby each day. Finished it, too. Showed it to some friends and colleagues, one of whom was Darren Brady-Harris, who I had recently hired as an Assistant Account Executive at Goodby AND, more importantly, was an actor in the movies Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, and other cult classics. Anyway, he was kind enough to read his boss’ screenplay (eye roll, right?) and was kinder still to offer an honest opinion. Which was, “I think it would make a better novel.”
Though I can’t remember them now, he had good reasons. I do remember he liked the story, just thought it would be better read than seen. So trusting Darren’s opinion, I filed it away and swore someday I’d get back to the story and write it long-form. Never had the time. But then something happened.
Something artificial…
…and intelligent.
Could ChatGPT write the novel for me?
It occurred to me that maybe I could give ChatGPT the key plot points of the story and then let it do the actual writing. I wasn’t quite sure how to approach it, so I figured I’d ask Mr. GPT himself. Here’s how that conversation went down:
I was shocked at how sincerely encouraging something so artificial could be. But I was intrigued enough to give it a go.
Prompter in chief
Given Mr. GPT’s encouragement (excitement?), I started prompting the characters from my story one by one in separate prompts. Their names, backgrounds, character traits, things like that. Then once the main characters were inputted (learned?), I started prompting what happens in chapter one. Then two. Then three and four. What came back to me was surprisingly coherent and, from where this non-author is sitting, well written. And damn if it wasn’t FAST. Entire chapters in seconds. So fast, it entered my natural speed bias I didn’t realize I had. How does one value something, the output of which happens so immediately? I’d say it was “off the cuff” but that’s a human way to look at it. This was instantaneous chapters. Crazy.
But was it any good?
Yes. I mean, it wasn’t perfect. Sometimes in a prompt I would say something like, “The chapter ends with Gwen walking out of the room in disgust.” And then Mr. GPT would write, “And we close this chapter with Gwen walking out of the room with great haste.” So I simply told him that the book can’t be self-aware like that and he rewrote entire chapters, again, in seconds.
Click here to read the first four chapters yourself. I have only done very minor editing and adding details that Mr. GPT forgot. I wanted people to see the actual result so far.
to be the writer, or not to be, that is the question
I posted the first four chapters on my Facebook page and a writer friend of mine, Jane Roper, who wrote a wonderful book recently, “The Society of Shame,” posted an interesting point. She said, “Go for it, but you don’t get to say you wrote the book.” Hmm, interesting take. It’s my story, but she’s right, they’re not my words. Does it matter? If it’s a good story, does it matter if AI wrote the actual words? Figuring this is a “later problem,” I tabled it for now. What I wanted to know now was did Jane think it was any good.
SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE OPINION OF A REAL AUTHOR ON THE AI WRITING BEFORE YOU’VE READ THE FIRST FOUR CHAPTERS YOURSELF. YOU KNOW, TO KEEP YOUR JUDGMENT UNTAINTED.
I then asked Jane to check out the first four chapters (same link as above) and here is her reaction, “It hangs together logically enough, which is cool. And the pacing is decent. But the writing itself is pretty damned abysmal. (What a relief!) It's definitely fascinating, though. The AI is trying to use metaphors and descriptive language, as fiction writers do. But, like a beginner writer who's told to use descriptive language, the AI is applying it WAY too heavy-handedly and indiscriminately. And, as is also the case with prose by beginner writers, it's full of clichés, and there's no specificity of detail, or sense of characterization, or voice. Honestly, it reminds me of some of the writing I saw from college freshmen in a creative writing class I taught. It's sort of cute. :-)”
So I’m at a crossroads again. Sort of like when I heard Darren Brady-Harris’ comments so many years ago. Do I continue working with my pal, Mr. GPT, and get the entire novel written and then spend loads of time editing? Or do I stop right here because AI is going to take over the world and I should stop encouraging it? Something in-between?
What say you? I look forward to your comments below.
Regardless, I was very impressed with what Mr. GPT (3.5) could pump out in mere seconds. Scary impressed.
Will Burns is a brand consultant and Founder & CEO of the revolutionary virtual-idea-generating company, Ideasicle X. He’s an advertising veteran from such agencies as Wieden & Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein, Arnold Worldwide, and Mullen. He was a Forbes Contributor for nine years writing about creativity in modern branding. Sign up for a video consultation through my Intro Page.