Using ChatGPT for writing

So for awhile now, I've been using ChatGPT in my writing endeavors. I know there's a fair bit of controversy over using AI in writing, and GPT in general, so I wanted to write this blog entry to explain how I use it, and how I think it can help other writers as well.

What I do NOT use GPT for
It's important to start here. While GPT can certainly write an entire story for you, that's not what I'm using it for. The quality of such a story is debatable, and using AI in such a way would be completely negating any creative aspect of writing. I'm no longer writing a story, I'm just using what is essentially a highly advanced article spinner to write one for me. I don't want to do that, and at that point, it isn't even really my work anyway.

I also don't use GPT to come up with characters or plot. There's a gray area here, which I'll get into, but again, I don't use GPT to just write for me. I decide the plot, characters, stakes, and everything else.

Using GPT for Worldbuilding
Let's start with what I do use GPT for - and what I think a lot of writers can profit from - with worldbuilding. This is definitely where I work the most with GPT.

I've found that I can explain my world to GPT, specifically how it's different than Earth, and then ask it a question about what it would be like. GPT can not only understand the question, but accurately extrapolate how my world might be different from Earth.

As with anything from GPT, a healthy amount of research is always a good idea, to fact check the replies. But on the whole, I've found GPT's answers to be about 85% reliable. I've seen maybe two answers that are actually wrong.

I've used GPT to explore how magic systems would effect everyday life, how the geological structure of a planet could be effected by removing or adding resources, how civilization might adapt to the setting of my novels, and a lot more.

The main strength of GPT here is to give you an idea of how the world and civilization would adapt around things like magic systems, fantastical creatures, or lands with non-Earth topographies. Trying to find answers to these questions with traditional Google searching is usually highly difficult to impossible, and could require deep dives into fields of science, after which you'd only have shaky hypotheses. GPT does it instantly, and fact checking the replies is relatively easy.

I do have to note that GPT will not tell you every single result of your magic system or world. Dig into the points it answers with, and be sure to explore every aspect. Also realize that GPT will zero in on one aspect and ignore the others. For example, it told me in one answer that certain crops would grow well on my fantasy world, only to later on note that any crops at all would have a hard time growing. Make sure it always explains its answers, and you should be able to weed these out.

Using GPT to build Languages
I haven't used this as much, but I've found that GPT is capable of understanding abstract criteria for creating fantasy languages. As an example, I asked it for a list of languages which sounded 'regal', were consonant heavy, and favored a specific list of consonants which I provided. It gave me a list of four languages which fit what I wanted perfectly.

Further than that, I then asked it to construct names based on three of the four languages, basing them on words which meant or were synonymous with a word I provided. It happily did so, explaining the roots of each word and what they meant.

Let me restate that: these are made-up words, based on languages I selected, but still adhering to the fantasy consonant rules I laid out.

Now, would I use this to actually generate names or words in a fantasy language? Probably not. But it's great for giving me ideas, and sometimes that's what I need when naming a character. If nothing else, saying the words to myself gets me used to the kind of phonology I'm looking for, which makes it easier to then create my own words/names.

Using GPT for Motivations
An issue I frequently find myself running into (for some reason) is scenarios where I need characters to do one thing, but they would naturally want to do the opposite. Or maybe I need them to do something illogical. Or I need to show that person X has trait Y, but only to the reader. Sometimes the solutions are easy, but most of the time there seems to be no way to solve it.

In the past, I would have to spend days alternating between banging my head against the problem and taking time away from writing, only to come back and bang my head some more. Eventually I always came up with something which worked, but it always took a lot of time.

I've found that if I describe the scenario I'm faced with to ChatGPT, it is able to understand it, and offer solutions. This one blows me away - I've even double checked it and it clearly understands what I'm talking about. How it can do that I have no idea.

The solutions are hit or miss. I have to be careful to tell GPT exactly what I want, otherwise it will start to give me options which I don't want for other story reasons. However, the power of GPT is that you can clarify in the same thread, and the AI knows that you're still talking about the same question and will give you a new refined answer. This is the real power of the AI. If it gives you a list of solutions which don't work, you can just explain why they won't work and ask for more solutions, and it will happily keep generating until you find something which works.

Is this 'cheating'? I don't think so. If I didn't use GPT to solve the scenario, I would have eventually solved it using a device which almost certainly has been used elsewhere. GPT is just doing the same thing, but faster. On top of that, it can give me solutions I never would have thought of, and which might be far better than what I would have come up with on my own.

It is worthwhile to check GPT's solutions against cliches, but since you can literally specify to stay away from cliches, this is rarely an issue.

Verdict
I'm sure some writers will stay away from ChatGPT, and that's fine. For me, I use it the same way I would use Google - to research things and answer questions. The only difference is that it always knows what I'm talking about, I can clarify my original question or get details on part of the answer, and I can control how the answer is produced - whether I want multiple options, in-depth explanation, what-have-you.

To me, this isn't cheating. It's a better Google, a better tool for research, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who could use a more in-depth research tool. As always, just check your answers and make sure to be detailed - GPT isn't perfect.

Hopefully this has been helpful. I'll keep using GPT in my writing, and one day soon, hopefully we'll see the results.

Until then though, keep writing.

~TGRF.

'GPT' here always refers to the free version, ChatGPT 3.5.