Recent Posts - The AI Writing Companion

Flash Fiction: Using ChatGPT to help Create my First Draft

April 6, 2023 / Jacob Arndt

Getting more out of ChatGPT:

I have a confession to make, in preparation for this post, I have been working with ChatGPT on my own time. Shocker, I know! After my experience trying to learn about flash fiction the other day, I wanted more. Honestly, I needed more. I resisted the urge to take to the web and start reading stories and exploring online articles on how to create flash fiction. Instead, I stuck to my guns and dove back into using AI to learn.

Now that I have more specific resources and examples I feel I’m ready to give writing flash fiction a shot. Don’t worry, as always, the full ChatGPT logs from my sessions are available at the end of the post so you can see how I went from getting general advice and knowledge to dialing in on more specific examples.

My AI-Assisted First Draft:

Below is my attempt at a first draft of flash fiction based on the items I’ve learned from ChatGPT. I’ve mentioned this before but we’re going to be sticking to flash fiction for this example. It’s easier for me to write and work on short examples and it’s easier for ChatGPT to analyze shorter amounts of text. I’ve also decided to leave this text below as an unedited piece. What is here is a first draft, we’ll go through and edit this story into something more substantial in my next post.

Without further ado here is my first AI-assisted writing sample:

“A Cocktail a day”

The harsh fluorescent light shone through the empty bag hanging above his bed. He reached up and tapped it with a bony finger and sighed,
“A cocktail a day keeps the cancer away.”
He turned away, closed his eyes, and felt his heartbeat to the drum of the monitor.

It’s short, not so sweet, and gets the point across. It took me longer than I would like to admit to write that one paragraph but that’s part of the experiment! It needs some work, but I know that’s a good base to build off of. In the next post, I’ll be using ChatGPT to help edit, and flesh out the base of the story.

For those curious about how I was able to get more specific writing resources, attached is the ChatGPT log!

Link to the ChatGPT Discussion:

ChatGPT: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnHinTJ3CWhKmyo3meUcipN2hwBI?e=r7aaln

Using AI to Learn How to Write Flash Fiction

March 23, 2023 / Jacob Arndt

Teach me ChatGPT!

Today, we’re going to start our experiment by using ChatGPT to learn about short fiction. My mind loves structures, tools, outlines, and courses to follow so we’re going to see what resources ChatGPT can give me to help me down the path of learning how to create short fiction.

I have some knowledge in the field but I’m going to act and start like I know nothing about short fiction. The goal is to see if ChatGPT can give me a comprehensive guide to creating fiction. For this experiment we will focusing on the mediums of short stories, flash fiction, micro fiction, and poetry. For the sake of brevity and not killing my laptop it will be easiest to create, and enter shorter amount of texts into ChatGPT so that it can easily analyze my work.

Find me flash fiction resources:

As a beginner to the flash fiction writing stage I thought it best to see what resources of the genre are out there. My AI companion delivered on that one:

Websites:

Writer’s Digest: This website has a variety of articles and resources on flash fiction, including tips on how to write, revise, and submit your work.

Flash Fiction Online: This online magazine features original flash fiction stories, as well as articles and interviews with authors on the craft of writing flash fiction.

100 Word Story: This website publishes stories that are exactly 100 words long, and provides a great example of how to write flash fiction with limited space.

Books:

“Flash Fiction: 72 Very Short Stories” by Tom Hazuka, Denise Thomas, and James Thomas: This collection of flash fiction stories is a great way to see how other authors approach the genre, and can provide inspiration for your own writing.

“The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction” edited by Tara L. Masih: This book is a comprehensive guide to writing flash fiction, featuring essays by prominent authors and exercises to help you develop your own writing.

Not a bad start but I want to use ChatGPT as my only resource for learning how to write short fiction. That is going to be a little more difficult than I first imagined. Never the less I was intrigued by it’s suggestion of “The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction” so let me see if I can learn anything worthwhile from a summary:

Summary of “The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction” by Tara L. Masih:

“The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction” is a comprehensive guidebook for writers interested in the genre of flash fiction. Edited by Tara L. Masih, the book is divided into three main sections: “Craft,” “Forms,” and “Issues.”

In the “Craft” section, the book explores the fundamental elements of writing flash fiction, such as character, plot, setting, and dialogue. It also provides guidance on how to revise and edit your work, as well as tips on how to create a strong opening and closing for your story.

The “Forms” section delves into the different structures and styles that can be used in flash fiction, such as the prose poem, the vignette, and the list. It also includes examples of successful flash fiction stories in each form, as well as exercises to help you experiment with different styles.

The final section, “Issues,” tackles some of the unique challenges and considerations that come with writing flash fiction, such as how to create tension and conflict in a limited space, how to balance exposition and action, and how to use symbolism and metaphor effectively.

Creating a short story template based on the resources ChatGPT found:

The summary isn’t a bad one! However, I need more specific writing advice. I need rules, template to help get me started. Not broad knowledge, so I asked my AI companion to come up with a detailed outline for a piece of Flash Fiction and it did just that:

Choose a premise: First, choose a premise or idea that you want to explore in your story. This could be a theme, a character, a setting, or a conflict.

Determine the length: Decide on the length of your flash fiction story. Most flash fiction stories are under 1,000 words, but the exact length can vary depending on your needs and preferences.

Develop your characters: Create a main character or characters for your story. Think about their desires, motivations, and flaws, and how these elements will drive the plot of your story.

Establish the setting: Establish the setting of your story. This could be a physical location, a time period, or a more abstract concept like a mood or atmosphere.

Build the conflict: Create a conflict or tension that drives the story forward. This could be a physical obstacle, a moral dilemma, or an emotional struggle.

Develop the plot: Create a plot that builds to a climax and resolves the conflict. This could be a traditional 3-act structure, a series of vignettes, or another structure that suits your story.

Write the opening: Craft a strong opening that hooks the reader and establishes the tone and setting of the story. Consider using sensory details, dialogue, or action to draw the reader in.

Build the middle: Develop the middle of the story, which should introduce the conflict and build tension. Consider raising the stakes, introducing complications, or creating surprises to keep the reader engaged.

Write the ending: Craft a satisfying ending that resolves the conflict or leaves the reader with a sense of closure. This could be a twist ending, a moment of realization, or another device that suits your story.

Now here is something I can work with! Structure, ideas, a template for how a piece of short fiction is supposed to work. With this, I can start to build around ideas, fill in characters, and start creating a piece of flash fiction.

We’ll save the creation of the flash fiction piece for the next post. My, myself, and my AI need a break from all this hard work.

Lessons Learned so far:

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post! It was a short one but I wanted to see what type of resources I could get out of ChatGPT. Using ChatGPT as my only source of knowledge is going to be harder than I thought. The Chatbot is good at giving summaries but it is lacking when it comes to specific details. Regardless, it’s a wealth of knowledge and has been interesting to work with.

Attached is a link to my ChatGPT conversation. I omitted some of the questions I asked ChatGPT to keep this post from getting too long but it gave me a list of detailed short stories to check out.

Link to the ChatGPT Discussion:

ChatGPT: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnHinTJ3CWhKmyXqTUib5MAqWAuA?e=s7zZmU

Revolutionizing Creative Writing with AI: An Experiment with ChatGPT

March 5, 2023 / Jacob Arndt

Welcome to my creative writing Experiment!

Welcome to my new experiment! If it’s your first time on my website, welcome! If you’ve been here before, welcome back! This is my space to document, create, and analyze creative writing content using AI. My goal for this website is to push the boundaries of what we can create with the help of AI.

This isn’t an experiment about having AI create creative writing content for me. Instead, it’s a place to use AI as a companion throughout the creative process. I will create all the work here, with the help of AI, which can generate templates, create unique locations, and help discover character descriptions. My role is to expand the world and develop the story.

What we’ll be doing:

I’m excited to share my experience in using AI to help create creative writing content. I have had a love of reading and writing for my entire life. Now that I’m older, I work in Technology but my love for writing has never faded. I wanted to use this as an experiment to combine the two and see if AI is a real companion to the creative writing process. Throughout the next couple of weeks I’ll be using AI to help with the following items:

Generate unique and interesting Story Prompts.
Edit my work for spelling, grammar, tone, and consistency.
Create names for Characters and locations.
Analyze existing short-form content to create creative writing templates.
Use AI to find resources on how to write, format, and edit creative writing content.
And Much more!

For this experiment, I’ll be using the AI tool, ChatGPT as a companion to the process. It is the most well-known, and easily accessible language model available to the public. At the end of each post, I include the ChatGPT logs so you can see what exactly I’m asking the AI and what its exact answer is.

If any of that sounds interesting to you then join me! The experiment has already begun. Attached to the end of this post is my ChatGPT session about blog posts. This very post is based on a template that I had ChatGPT create for me. The content and words are all mine but the template came from the AI. Not a bad start right? So join me, myself, and my AI as we learn and create together.

Disclaimer:

I have a couple of disclaimers I need to get out of the way:

I do not have any affiliation with OpenAI or ChatGPT. I am
conducting a thought experiment and writing exercise, and the outcome is not the responsibility of OpenAI or ChatGPT.
I am not a published author. I’m just a guy that enjoys reading, writing, and technology. These works may end up being published someday but that is not the end goal of the experiment.
All created work here is purely fictional. I will not generate complete stories using ChatGPT. Instead, I will use it to help me create character outlines, and fictional locations, brainstorm using writing prompts, and assist with editing.

Link to the Chat GPT Discussion:

Follow the link below to see the text file that contains my conversation with ChatGPT: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnHinTJ3CWhKmyCgwwt2cVpBaMXO?e=C2jHfa