the craft. balancing AI tools with creative intuition
AI can seem like the big bad wolf, especially, for writers. I was afraid to even broach the subject so as not to be stoned. But, just like in music, I don’t necessarily see AI as replacing creators, but I do see opportunities to utilize AI for assistance in other areas that aren’t creating your work. Hear me out!
Don’t get me wrong, there are real ethics to sort out when it comes to these tools. The fact that many people’s work has been uploaded without their consent, we all have to be aware of new contracts and their AI clauses, and there will undoubtedly be issues with cultural nuances and dialects and AAVE. It would be irresponsible not to mention those things. I only want to share that the same exact thing happened when the internet was all the new rage, right? We had to figure out the regulations, because with innovation there will always be someone lurking to use it for evil. This is in no sense an endorsement of AI. I only want to be as authentic and honest with you as a community about the ways in which it can help if you want it to. But if you’re steadfast against it, I support you as well!
I, too, was very adverse to fooling with any of the tools, however, in the book The Diary of a CEO by Steven Barlett, he talks about three types of adapters to new technologies and I’m right in the middle. I’m not early and I try not to be late because I don’t want to be left behind. So, eventually I had to see what all the ChatGPT mess was about. Very early though, I made a switch to using Claude.ai as it seemed a little more intuitive, and catered more to the type of help I needed.
My philosophy is this, there were people who didn’t want to social media. There were people who didn’t want to use computers. New technology is scary, and things do shift when things become easier based on those advancements. Certain jobs disappear, the economy changes, but guess what? You either get on board or get run over. So truly, I wanted to start messing around with it so that if it becomes a part of my full-time work, I could be ahead of the curve and thinking about how it can help improve things for my team. I noticed quickly though that there were a lot of ways it could help me with the business of my writing, and running this community.
I want to share with you a few ways that I’ve found working with AI helpful in my own process:
Brainstorming/Research
While I love having these discussions with my husband, he’s not always available to me 24/7. Early on, I realized that AI could be a good tool for some of my random brainstorming sessions like what would be the best place to open a Black/POC centered bookstore in the Valley? We went through pricing, needs, start up costs and so much more. There is a way that it helps me dream. More specific to writing, it can help me with say like three scenarios I’m thinking about for a plot. What would be more drawing? Create more conflict. It can just be a way to bounce some simple thoughts and ideas off of the little person inside the screen.
Writing Emails
Especially when it comes to pitching or cold emails, I just don’t see needing to waste my precious brain power on those things. So when it comes to reaching out to Masterclass instructors or trying to secure guests for the podcast, I don’t mind working with AI to either optimize the emails I’ve written or to draft a template that I can then edit. In 2025, I want to do less small tasks so I can get back to the important task of writing.
Creating Spreadsheets
Your girl lives in a spreadsheet at work and with millions of tasks for this community. Did you know that AI can literally write the code for a spreadsheet that you can then drop into Excel? I had it create a budget with project analysis, etc. AGAIN … hello assistant!
Editing
This can be tricky because you will have to upload some of your content that is then free game for AI to utilize to train itself. But I’m not here uploading my whole book and saying, go! I literally sometimes ask pointed questions about certain small passages of work. Is it evoking enough emotion? Does it satisfy the internal conflict of the character? Are there some better words to use here to get my point across? While I’m thrilled to be starting a new writing group in January, it won’t always be my turn. LOL. So It’s cool to be able to throw some very small thoughts over to the chat and get some feedback on my own generated work. This includes making a summary of something more concise, or honestly, improving my bio because who wants to write their own bio?
Marketing
I wear a lot of hats and sometimes after you’ve created all the content, you don’t want to also think about how to market it. Or write the copy for it. So I have found it extremely helpful to utilize AI in this area. This doesn’t mean that I am copying and pasting whole passages of text, but it is extremely helpful to have a foundation to build upon and edit. We know from back in the day not to solely utilize whole passages of text. Hello! I grew up in the days where Wikipedia was all the rage and professors were desperately trying to thwart students from using it as a real source. So I would see things on Wikipedia and then do my OWN research to back it up.
How are you feeling about AI? Get it away from you and your work? Or has it been helpful to you in any way at all?
One of the most important things about using a tool like this is knowing exactly how to prompt. You have to get specific in order for it to produce the results you want. Here are a few sample prompts that may help you in your own journey.
Example Prompts
Including these beginning statements, “As a ….” helps the “mindset” of the AI tool and should help you get more accurate outputs.
As an Administrative Assistant,
Can you create a schedule for me over the next three days? Here are the tasks that I have to complete and the amount of time that each one would take. Please schedule 30 minute breaks between tasks.
Can you draft an event confirmation with these [details.]
Can you evaluate [this opportunity] to see if they would be a good fit to partner with?
As an editor,
How would you direct a writer to improve this passage? Or expand upon this topic?
How would you make this summary more concise for a studio executive at a major film company?
Can you compare my original to this edit and explain the updates that my agent/editor made and how what I wrote differs?
As a marketing professional,
What are three ways that you would promote this book? Or this blog post?
Here is a [popular post,] using new angles, how could you generate three additional posts for Threads?
Can you develop a marketing strategy for the next month that would cater to [aliens with green hair that are in the age range of 35-40.] (Aliens may or may not exist, but hopefully you get the point.)
As a copywriter/editor,
How would you summarize subject matter?
Can you write a short descriptive text about my [latest course offering] that will [focus on memoir writing for aliens in high school]?
If you had to sell this [wonderful thing that I’ve created] in one line, what would it be?
Hey, Creative Non Fiction writers! Hippocampus mag is looking for guest writers for our CRAFT and WRITING LIFE columns! Email articles@hippocampusmagazine.com for full section descriptions and guidelines.
Footnote is looking for a talented writer and editor to collaborate with leading scholars and thinkers to share their research and ideas with new audiences. You are a great fit for this position if you can understand and synthesize research and complex ideas from a range of disciplines, talk intelligently with leading experts about their work, and identify the most compelling and important insights at the heart of a piece of research.
Named for Bucknell's renowned literary alumnus and initiated in the fall of 1993, the Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing offers up to four months of unfettered writing time for a writer working on a first or second book in any literary genre. The residency provides lodging in Bucknell's "Poets' Cottage" and a stipend of $5,000. (Feb. 1)
We are thrilled to announce the return of the annual Torch Retreat, a week-long paid creative writing retreat for Black women writers with works in-progress! Applications open Feb. 3rd. Learn more and apply: http://torchliteraryarts.org/retreat.
MacDowell encourages artists to apply in any stage of their career, and from all backgrounds and countries. We invite applications in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts. If your proposed project does not fall clearly within one of these artistic disciplines, contact the admissions department for guidance at admissions@macdowell.org. (Jan. 15th through Feb. 10th).
