AI Book Writing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So, You Think You Can Write a Book with AI?

Welcome to 2025, where anyone with Wi-Fi and a dream can call themselves an author. AI is here, and it’s changing the game. But while some people think writing a book with AI is as simple as pushing a button, reality begs to differ.

The truth? Most AI-written books are terrible. (Yeah, I said it.) They lack structure, coherence, and any real emotional connection. Why? Because writing—actual writing—is about storytelling, structure, and craft. AI doesn’t just magically understand that.

But don’t panic. If you know what you’re doing, you can use AI to write a great book that sells, gets good reviews, and doesn’t read like a glorified Wikipedia entry. The trick is to work with AI, not let it take over completely.

Let’s break it down.

Step 1: Understanding AI's Role in Writing

AI is not a replacement for talent, creativity, or actual writing skills. It’s a tool—a powerful, incredible, and sometimes frustrating tool—but still just a tool.

What AI Can Do:

• Help you brainstorm ideas – AI is an excellent tool for overcoming writer’s block. Whether you need plot twists, character names, or fresh non-fiction angles, AI can churn out dozens of ideas in seconds. But not all ideas will be great—expect a mix of gold and garbage. The key is to refine what AI provides and filter out weak ideas while expanding on the stronger ones.

• Outline your book efficiently – Instead of staring at a blank page for hours, AI can generate detailed chapter structures, key themes, and logical sequences to give your book a clear direction from the start. However, AI-generated outlines often lack originality, so you’ll need to tweak them to fit your vision.

• Assist with world-building and character creation – Need backstories, lore, or setting descriptions? AI can expand on your ideas and suggest rich details you may not have considered, making your fictional worlds more immersive. It can generate cultural histories, character arcs, and environmental details, but the emotional depth and nuances must come from you.

• Generate rough drafts quickly – AI can take your bullet points and turn them into readable paragraphs, helping you get past writer’s block and maintain momentum in your writing process. This is especially useful for non-fiction, where structuring information is crucial.

• Improve language and grammar – AI is great for cleaning up awkward phrasing, fixing typos, and ensuring grammatical correctness, making your manuscript more polished. It can even suggest variations in sentence structure and tone, making your writing more engaging.

• Offer a fresh perspective on tricky passages – Sometimes, a scene just doesn’t flow. AI can suggest alternative phrasings, rewrite sections in different tones, or reframe an argument to make it clearer and more compelling. However, AI lacks true insight into human emotions, so its suggestions may still require fine-tuning.

What AI Can’t Do (Unless You Guide It Properly):

• Write with deep emotional intelligence – AI struggles with nuanced emotions. It can generate sentimental text, but it often lacks genuine human depth unless carefully guided. Subtle emotions like regret, longing, or internal conflict often require human intervention.

• Structure a story like a bestselling author – AI doesn’t naturally understand rising tension, conflict escalation, or the rhythm of a well-paced novel. You’ll need to oversee these elements yourself, ensuring that plot points flow naturally.

• Avoid clichés and overused tropes – AI pulls from existing data, which means it often defaults to predictable or formulaic storytelling. It’s up to you to push for originality by adding unique twists, personal experiences, or unconventional character arcs.

• Fact-check or verify sources for non-fiction – AI “hallucinates” facts. If you’re writing non-fiction, always double-check sources before including AI-generated information. Misinformation can ruin credibility, so cross-reference everything before publishing.

The key takeaway? AI is a tool, not a replacement for a writer. The best results come from using AI strategically while maintaining your creative control.

Step 2: The Tools You Need

Writing with AI isn’t just about choosing one chatbot and calling it a day. The best approach? Use a combination of tools.

1. Chatbots for General Assistance

Chatbots are great for brainstorming, rewriting, and quick research. Here are the best options:

• ChatGPT (OpenAI) – Strong for brainstorming, summaries, and rewrites. It can generate ideas quickly but often requires careful prompting and revision. If used correctly, it can even mimic different writing styles.

• Claude (Anthropic) – More natural writing style, with better coherence for long-form content. Some authors find it more intuitive than ChatGPT for storytelling, especially for fiction.

• Gemini (Google) – Still catching up, but decent for general assistance. If you already use Google tools, it may integrate well into your workflow. However, it has yet to surpass OpenAI in terms of writing quality.

👉 Pro tip: Always use the paid versions of these tools. The free versions often lack depth, have word limits, or produce lower-quality output.

2. Specialized Writing Tools

For long-form writing, a dedicated AI-powered book-writing tool will help you stay structured:

• PseudoWrite – Best for fiction, offering AI-generated prose. However, it has limited flexibility, making it less ideal for non-fiction.

• RaptorWrite – Free software with API costs, great for discovery writers who like to “write as they go.” If you prefer minimal structure and more spontaneous creativity, this tool is for you.

• Novel Crafter – The most powerful, but requires a learning curve. Think of it as the Adobe Photoshop of AI writing tools—lots of features but a bit overwhelming at first. It allows for deep customization of AI-generated content.

👉 Best combo: Use a chatbot for brainstorming and revision, and a specialized tool for long-form writing and structuring.

Step 3: Writing Methods – Discovery vs. Outlining

There are two main ways to write a book, and AI can support both.

1. Discovery Writing (a.k.a. “Seat of Your Pants” Method)

If you like to write as you go, AI can help generate scenes and ideas on the fly.

How to do it:

• Start with a character idea or scene concept.

• Feed AI a scene prompt (e.g., "Detective Candace slumps into her chair. The coffee machine is broken.")

• Let AI generate prose, then edit and refine the text to fit your voice.

• Keep repeating the process to build the story organically.

🛑 Warning: If you don’t edit properly, AI will continue generating text based on flawed logic. This can lead to plot inconsistencies and character inconsistencies.

2. The Outlining (or Fractal) Method

If you like to plan, this is for you.

How to do it:

1. Use AI to generate a high-level summary of your book.

2. Break that down into a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline.

3. Flesh out characters, themes, and settings before you start writing.

4. Use AI to expand sections piece by piece instead of generating full chapters in one go.

5. Continuously validate and adjust the output to maintain narrative cohesion.

⚡ Pro tip: Use ChatGPT for outlines and Novel Crafter for writing.

Final Thoughts: AI is a Writing Assistant, Not a Magic Wand

Yes, AI can help you write faster and eliminate writer’s block. But at the end of the day, you are the writer. AI is not a substitute for skill, creativity, or storytelling instincts.

👉 If you hone your prompting skills, refine AI-generated drafts, and inject your style, you can produce something amazing.

👉 If you just hit ‘generate’ and publish whatever comes out, you’ll end up with another unreadable AI trash book.

The choice is yours. AI is here. Now, are you ready to write like a pro?