Full transcript
0:00You do not need 99 AI tools to write
0:03great fiction. You need a small stack,
0:06one stack, a small ruthless set of tools
0:10that you actually open every single day
0:11that help you get the words on the page,
0:14ship the books, and make readers happy.
0:17So, in this video, I'm going to walk you
0:18through my exact AI fiction stack. This
0:21isn't theory. This is not a list of
0:23tools I might try someday. These are the
0:25apps that are literally open all the
0:27time on my computer almost daily on my
0:30screen when I'm writing, editing,
0:32marketing, and publishing my books. I'll
0:34walk you through the core brain that
0:36runs pretty much all of my writing
0:38workflows, as well as the visual tools I
0:40use for covers, concept art, and soon AI
0:44film, and the dictation tool that lets
0:47me write my thoughts out far faster than
0:49I could type them, the editor that
0:51smacks my prose around and tells me
0:52where I suck, and a few honorable
0:55mentions and why I don't use some of the
0:57big-name AI novelist tools anymore, even
1:00though they're good. And at the end, if
1:01you want to shortcut a lot of this and
1:03you just plug into my actual
1:04automations, I'll tell you how to get
1:06that. So, let's get to the stack. If you
1:08don't know me, my name is Jason
1:09Hamilton. I help aspiring authors use AI
1:12to crank out more and better books
1:14faster without turning your stories into
1:16generic robot mush. And when I started
1:19using AI, I did what most writers do. I
1:21signed up for everything. I had
1:23Sudowrite, Novel Crafter, Random
1:25Rappers, shiny new tools, and I was
1:27still honestly kind of stuck. There were
1:30too many tools, too many overlapping
1:32features, too many all-in-one promises
1:34that weren't actually built around how I
1:36write books. So, instead of chasing the
1:39next tool, I sat down and built a stack,
1:42which includes a few core tools, each
1:44with a clear job, that I actually use
1:47every day or near every day. And that's
1:49what I'm going to walk you through now.
1:51So, think of this as the ultimate AI
1:53fiction stack author edition. Use mine
1:55as a template, then tweak it to fit your
1:57own workflow and your own brain. Now,
1:59let's start with the most boring part of
2:01the stack, which is Claude Pro. Now,
2:04here's how I think about it. Every stack
2:06needs one chatbot model
2:09and a place you can just throw random
2:10questions, troubleshoot, brainstorm, get
2:13code help, rewrite emails, and do all of
2:15the non-book tasks that clutter your
2:17creative brain. And for me, that's
2:19Claude. Now, I used to use Perplexity as
2:22my main general-purpose AI,
2:24and I still use Perplexity a lot for
2:26things like research and tech
2:30troubleshooting,
2:31and as a sort of Google replacement,
2:34that kind of stuff. But, because of some
2:36issues with their terms of service that
2:39I recently made a video about, I made a
2:41switch so that my paid chat brain, or my
2:44catch-all for everything not that
2:47doesn't fall into any of the other
2:48categories, is with Claude Pro. Now, how
2:51I actually use Claude daily, I'll use it
2:53for things like quick prompts that don't
2:55fit any of my automations, turning messy
2:57notes into checklists or action plans,
3:00sanity checking ideas before I build a
3:02full workflow in n8n, as well as tasks
3:05like summarizing long tech docs or
3:08platform updates and that kind of thing.
3:10So, you could use ChatGPT or something
3:12else for this. Yes, you you could. The
3:15key principle is having one main chat
3:17model that you pay for and rely on, and
3:19don't scatter your brain across five
3:21half-used tabs. For me, that's Claude
3:24Pro as my primary, sometimes Perplexity
3:26cuz I still as big of the problems as I
3:29have with the terms of service, they're
3:30still one of my favorite tools, and I
3:32still use them for some things. Quick
3:34break. Most people watch these videos
3:35not along and then don't write. I built
3:38my Story Hacker membership to fix that.
3:40For just $5 a month, you get my books,
3:43which are worth over $200 if you bought
3:44them on Amazon, the bulk of my courses,
3:46and a community of writers, all helping
3:48each other win. All inside of the
3:50community, so you've got one place to go
3:52and get your dream books written. If
3:53that sounds good to you, just hit the
3:55link in the description, join the $5
3:57here, and we'll get you on boarded. It's
3:58the price of a coffee, and you'll have
4:00zero reason not to win. All right. Now,
4:03this the next one, this is the big one.
4:05This is the central nervous system of my
4:08writing life, and that is n8n. Now, if
4:11you don't know what n8n is, think of it
4:13like this.
4:14It's a kind of visual automation tool
4:16where you can build workflows that
4:18connect AI models, APIs, documents, and
4:22logic into a repeatable system. Any
4:24repeatable AI prompt system that I'd
4:26created now lives inside of an n8n
4:30workflow. Now, what does that look like
4:32in practice? Well, we have the actual
4:34writing process. This is
4:36everything from the initial idea to
4:38flushing out the characters to the
4:40writing to the editing, all of that. I
4:43also use it for analyzing books and film
4:46scripts, which I call story hacking,
4:48which has been a really valuable tool
4:50for me to learn more about what makes
4:52these stories tick and how to write
4:54something similar. I also use it to
4:56develop things like marketing materials,
4:58which speaks for itself. And one thing
5:00I'm getting into in the near future is
5:02translations. Like, how can we get
5:05translations that kind of go with all of
5:07the quirks of the language
5:10rather than being a direct literal
5:12word-for-word translation, which isn't
5:14always very good. Is n8n more technical
5:17than just click a button AI tools? Yes,
5:20it is. Is it worth pushing through that
5:22learning curve? Also, yes.
5:24Because once you build it, you're not
5:26prompting anymore. You're operating your
5:27own personal software, essentially. And
5:29I'm in the process of taking all of
5:31these n8n automations and turning them
5:32into a tool that's way easier to use
5:34without you needing to mess with nodes
5:36and JSON. Although, if you still want to
5:38create your own automations, it's still
5:40worth checking n8n out. But, my tool is
5:43going to be exclusive to my membership,
5:44which I'll talk to at the end of this
5:46video. Now, for now, just understand
5:48Anyden is where my real AI writing
5:51happens. Everything else is really just
5:53support of this tool. Next up, let's
5:55talk about visuals, cuz even if you're
5:57just a writer,
5:59visuals matter still. You have book
6:00covers, you have ads, you have social
6:02media
6:04visuals, you have website banners,
6:06character art, mood boards, all of those
6:09kind of things to see your world. And
6:10for that, my go-to is still Midjourney.
6:13Now, is Midjourney dumber than some
6:15newer models in terms of raw reasoning?
6:17Probably. It lags behind a lot of these
6:20other newer models. But, is it still the
6:23best overall for pure aesthetic and just
6:25general vibes? In my experience, yes.
6:29So, this is how I use Midjourney in my
6:31for my own business. I use it for things
6:33like character reference sheets,
6:35location concept art, style exploration
6:38for a new series, early cover mock-ups,
6:41so I know what direction to give a human
6:43designer later, visual prompts that I
6:45later feed into video tools. And I know
6:47a lot of AI video people who do the same
6:49thing. They start with Midjourney to
6:51nail the look, the composition, and the
6:53mood, because it has those good
6:55aesthetics, right? And then they hand
6:57those images over to other tools for
6:58animation or further tweaking.
7:01And that's exactly how it plugs into my
7:02stack. Midjourney is essentially the
7:04style generator and where I get those
7:07basic image assets. But, this next tool
7:10is where I take that to the next level,
7:12and it's called Higgsfield. Higgsfield
7:14is an AI visual platform that aggregates
7:16a ton of different models, and I use
7:18primarily it for additional image
7:20generation beyond Midjourney,
7:22as well as experimenting with newer
7:24models, and increasingly working with AI
7:26video. Now, here's why I'm so bullish on
7:29this piece of the stack. Now, if you
7:31didn't know this about me, I actually
7:32originally wanted to be a filmmaker back
7:34in college and in high school before
7:36that even. And the gap between the
7:38novelist and the filmmaker is shrinking
7:40fast because of AI video. I think we're
7:42reaching a stage where we're just going
7:44to be a creative directors of various
7:47IP, and it's not just going to be you
7:50won't just be limited to being a
7:51novelist or a filmmaker. You can do
7:52both, right? And Higgs Field, from all
7:55the research that I've done, is one of
7:56the better aggregators out there. They
7:58also give me unlimited Nano Banana
8:00generations, which means I can crank
8:02through a ridiculous amount of visual
8:03iterations without worrying about every
8:05single credit. So, my visual pipeline
8:08looks roughly like this. I'll start with
8:10style and concept exploration in
8:12Midjourney, and then I'll move over to
8:14Higgs Field for further image work and
8:16video test if I'm doing that. And then I
8:18might use Nano Banana Pro through Higgs
8:20Field to tweak and evolve those
8:22concepts. Right now, I'm still using the
8:24video stuff lightly, but my intention is
8:26to lean heavily into this as I move
8:28toward more film-like projects based on
8:31my stories.
8:32Now, there's an important note here.
8:33Higgs Field doesn't have Midjourney
8:35access because Midjourney doesn't offer
8:37an API, at least not yet. And that's why
8:40I have both. The Midjourney subscription
8:42for pure visuals, and and then Higgs
8:45Field for everything else, as well as
8:47the videos I'm planning on working on in
8:48the future. Words, cuz one of the
8:50easiest ways to speed up rewriting
8:52without using AI for the actual
8:55generation is simple. You stop typing
8:58everything and use a dictation AI
9:00software. Personally, I use Aqua Voice,
9:02but Whisper Flow is another one I know
9:04of that's supposedly very good. And the
9:07way I use it in practice is I'll just
9:09click into a text box anywhere on a
9:11screen, and I'll hit a hot key, and then
9:13just start talking. And then Aqua Voice
9:15turns my speech into text right in that
9:18box. The kind of things that I use it
9:19daily for are things like social media
9:22posts, especially posts inside of my
9:23school group, as well as capturing story
9:25ideas before I lose them, and brain
9:27dumping notes on characters, worlds, and
9:30my future books outlines, and stuff like
9:32that. A big advantage isn't just speed,
9:34although that is huge. It's actually
9:36just reducing friction. Cuz the more
9:38chances that you give your brain to say
9:40I'll do that later, the fewer words that
9:42you will write. Dictation kills a lot of
9:44that friction. And if you've never tried
9:46dictating fiction, here's a simple way
9:48to get started. Open your notes app or a
9:51document, turn on Aqua Voice or any
9:53solid dictation tool, like I said,
9:55Whisper Flow is fine, too, and then talk
9:58through a scene as if you're describing
10:00it to a friend.
10:02Then later, you can clean it up with AI
10:03or editing tools. Next up is editing.
10:06The tool I use for this is AutoCrit, as
10:09well as some of my N and N automations I
10:11mentioned earlier. Now, AutoCrit isn't
10:13strictly an AI writing tool,
10:15but it does have a few AI features.
10:17More importantly, it also gives you data
10:19on your writing, which is super
10:20valuable. Now, here's how I use it.
10:23Uh I like to use the alpha and beta
10:25readers to get AI feedback that is
10:27aligned with a certain type of reader. I
10:30also like line editing metrics like the
10:32number of adverbs, dialogue tags,
10:34sentence variation, and all of this uses
10:36genre comparison that shows how my books
10:39stacks up against others in my category.
10:42And this matters because most authors
10:43edit based on vibes, like I think it's
10:46too slow or this feels clunky.
10:48And AutoCrit lets me see the patterns in
10:51my writing and quantify some of the
10:52issues, as well as prioritize what to
10:54fix first. And I don't outsource my
10:57taste to it, but I do use it as a kind
10:59of dashboard to check certain things
11:00like, am I overusing certain uh word
11:03constructions? Is my pacing way off the
11:06norm for the genre? Are my dialogue tags
11:08distracting?
11:10And it's not flashy, but it makes the
11:11stack stronger. Now, there are a few
11:13tools that I use constantly that aren't
11:15generative AI, but are absolutely part
11:18of my author stack. First up is
11:20Publisher Rocket. This is what I use for
11:22keywords and category research for
11:24Amazon. It also helps me aim my books
11:26where readers already are. And then the
11:28next one is Atticus, which is a
11:30formatting tool.
11:32I use that to create my ebook and print
11:34PDF formats, and it's one of the main
11:36tools for actually turning manuscripts
11:37into publishable files. And then the
11:40next one that I use is Adobe Photoshop.
11:42There are probably cheaper open-source
11:44options to this, but I just use it
11:45because that's what I've grown up
11:47accustomed to. And I use that for subtle
11:50cover formatting work. So, things like
11:52changing the trim size, tweaking the
11:54back blurb, fixing small layout issues.
11:57And then there's Miblart or their little
12:00sister Get Covers. And these are the
12:03book cover services that I use for the
12:06non-AI covers that I want on my books,
12:08especially my tentpole books, where I
12:11want something that is more effective
12:13than AI. Because here's the truth about
12:15AI covers. A skilled human designer who
12:17knows your subgenre will still beat AI
12:20for optimized market-aware covers every
12:22time. Now, I'll use AI for concepts, but
12:25I bring in the pros when it matters
12:26most. So, think of it like this.
12:28Generative tools help create words and
12:30images, and these infrastructure tools
12:33help you publish and sell what you
12:34create. And you honestly need both. Now,
12:36you might be wondering why I haven't
12:38mentioned some of the big AI fiction
12:40names out there like Novelcrafter,
12:42Raptor Write, or Sudowrite. Now, let me
12:45be clear about this. These are good
12:47tools. If you're already deep into one
12:49of them and it's working for you, keep
12:51going. They absolutely can help you
12:53write books much more effectively than
12:56trying to do everything manually. So,
12:58why aren't they in my current stack?
13:00Well, because at this point, I get
13:02better results out of my own
13:04automations. When you're an early AI
13:06writer an all-in-one wrapper tool is
13:08amazing. You get structure, you get
13:10smart defaults. You don't have to be an
13:14automation nerd.
13:15But over time, I found myself wanting
13:17more control over the prompts, more
13:19flexibility with models, more
13:21integration with the rest of my systems.
13:23And that's what nudged me into building
13:25with n8n instead. There was just far
13:27more power there.
13:28But, this is important because my choice
13:30to use my own stack is about my
13:33preferences and my workflows. It is not
13:37a statement that these tools are bad. If
13:39you love Novelcrafter or Raptorite or
13:41Sudowrite and you're getting books done,
13:44amazing. The worst thing you could do is
13:46blow up a working system just because I
13:49use something different. Use the stack
13:51that keeps you writing, not the stack
13:53that feels fanciest. Now, if you watched
13:55this and thought, "Okay, this sounds
13:56awesome, but I don't really want to
13:58build all those N8N automations from
13:59scratch." That's exactly what my
14:01Storyteller Gold membership is for.
14:03Inside Storyteller Gold, I'm taking the
14:05automations and workflows that I
14:06actually use to write, analyze, and
14:09market my books, and I'm turning them
14:10into a tool that's way easier for you to
14:12use. It's not ready yet, but will be in
14:15open beta within the group very soon.
14:18Plus, the whole membership is built to
14:19help you hit 20-plus books fast with AI
14:22without losing your voice or burning
14:23out.
14:24So, if you want to plug into my stack
14:26instead of reinventing it, check the
14:29link in the description below, join
14:31Storyteller Gold, and let's build your
14:33AI-powered catalog uh with a stack
14:36similar to what I've gone over today.
14:38And I'll see you in the next video.