I finally started a new writing project, for which I am experimenting with a new method made possible with modern AI technology: keeping an overall plot structure in mind with AI as I “discovery write” (writing without plotting) the scenes themselves. The idea is that the scenes remain fun and intriguing to write as I don’t know exactly where they’re going while writing, but then feeding them into AI and brainstorming with AI to make sure the overall plot is still sound, so that I don’t write myself into a corner (or the opposite of that, meandering so much that it feels like the story is not progressing anywhere).

Writing-wise, I generally prefer discovery writing, which is when you write without plotting stuff in advance, so you yourself don’t really know where you’re story is going.

But while I can write much more productively with discovery writing, it has only ever lead to failure as eventually I write myself into a corner, with no satisfying way to resolve the many plot threads I enjoyed creating along the way. Either that, or the plot meanders so much that the overarching story just starts feeling like it’s going nowhere… because it is.

So I need to plot to some degree. And that’s quite enjoyable too, so I don’t mind at all. My problem then becomes that I easily over-plot, afraid of failing if I leave too many uncertainties, so that when the plot is done, I lose all desire to actually write the story. The story loses it’s magic, and I become more interested in plotting out a new idea rather than dramatizing what I have.

So clearly there’s a delicate balance between the two that I have not yet quite found.

I got lucky with Son of a Dark Wizard as my initial plot helped me write the first part of the story, and then I was able to replot the second half such that was able to stay interested in writing to the end. (And the replot ideas just came out of nowhere as I approached writing the midpoint; I didn’t plan on replotting the second half, but it was much more interesting than whatever my initial plot was, which I forgot.)

Granted, Son of a Dark Wizard was also relatively short at only about 40k words, and it was meant to be the first of a series (which I still intend to continue), so not all the plot threads had to come to a conclusion. Which, as George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss know, is kinda cheating.

So I’m experimenting with adding AI to the workflow:

The AI Workflow

Step 1: A Foundational Plot Arc

I have an overall plot in mind, providing a general direction to aim for. While there’s no set path, I do have foundational plot points along the way, specific events that need to come to fruition at certain points that shape the overall narrative into specific acts (think Save the Cat beats), so the path can’t meander too much and there remains a sense of progress.

Step 2: Brainstorm with AI

Then I brainstorm scene possibilities with AI. What sort of progress do I want to see next? What sort of situation do I want to see the characters in? The AI is quite good at brainstorming, though you have to experiment with how best to prompt it, and continually dismiss its initial ideas, which are generally cliché. Fortunately AI never gets tired of you saying, “Can you think of some more ideas?” or upset when you dismiss its ideas. It’s got no ego or preferences of its own. And, of course, as the writer, your own ideas naturally become part of the brainstorming too.

Step 3: Write a Scene

After settling on an idea for the scene, I then write it, which now remains fun and interesting because there will be elements I had only just considered during the brainstorming step directly preceding it. That is, the idea for the scene is still “alive” and fresh in my mind.

Plus, I can drop little plot threads or new ideas in here and there to see what the AI will think of them when planning the next scene.

Step 4: Return to Step 2 with Newly Written Scene

Feeding the new scene into AI (thank goodness for long context windows!), I can ask it what it thinks of the new scene. How does it progress the story in the overall plot structure? Where might the new little threads I planted go, and how will they tie in to the overall plot? What sort of scene might come next?

Step 5: Finish First Draft and Edit!

I haven’t gotten here yet, but clearly there will need to be a second draft, as so much is being discovery written. For now, I’m trying to keep momentum going by merely adding comments in the first draft, such as “He can’t actually say this, as it’s too on-the-nose” or “Insert description of room here that shows he is disorganized“… or sometimes simply “Bleh!” when I write something I don’t like, but want to move on.

So after about a week of work, I’m at 17k words! Which is only about 2.4k per day (about a single scene), but that’s still pretty good for me, especially with how insanely rusty I am.

Granted, I am also only at the beginning of the story, which is always the easiest part to write, so we’ll see whether or not I can keep the momentum going and how this workflow with AI will manage the generally trickier second act.

About the book

What’s this new book about, you may ask? It’s a fantasy mystery (less action, more dialog and contemplating). Here’s a tentative plot blurb:

Born during a total solar eclipse, 13-year-old prince Damian finds his magic difficult to control, at least until he’s taken under the wing of the castle’s most elusive wizard. Finally making some steady progress, he’s excited to learn more.

But his world changes in one terrible instance when his father, the king, simply blips out of existence one day. Not only does the king vanish, but so does all memory and trace that he ever existed, save for in Damian’s mind.

Unwilling to use magic to erase his own memory to make himself compatible with this new reality, Damian is determined to find out exactly what happened to his father, and whose powerful magic was behind it.

Was it the Aetherians, the mysterious race of winged humans whose strange magic is said to allow them to see into and interact with alternate realities? Was it the dragons of the borderlands, whose chaotic magic has been known to break people’s minds and warp their perceptions? Or perhaps the king did it to himself, meddling with strange magic he didn’t understand…

Whatever the case, solving the mystery seems the only hope of getting his father back.

That may end up changing. At 17k words, I am still two or three scenes away from the pivotal catalyst: the disappearance of the father. (By the way, I do have the mystery’s solution and story conclusion as part of the foundational plot arc, so I’m not discovery writing that.) My prediction is that the final novel will be 250-300k words long. But that will just be a first draft. And I can always split it into multiple volumes if needed.

On a side note, one may notice the similarities with Son of a Dark Wizard… another wizard prince whose father has been un-alived! Although this one’s quite different in tone.

Not sure what the title will be yet. Stay tuned!