Full transcript
0:00I think I have actually come to a major
0:03decision on the best way to start a
0:07creative project using AI as your
0:09assistant. I used to have a bunch of
0:11scattered different ways of doing this
0:13and I recently created an automation
0:15that did this. But having used that
0:18automation with a bunch of people in my
0:21community and kind of getting their take
0:23on it and seeing what they want and all
0:26of that has kind of led me to realize
0:29that I had a few things wrong and a few
0:31things right. And now I am pretty
0:32certain I can definitively tell you what
0:35I believe to like genuinely to be the
0:38best way to get started with writing.
0:40And I'm talking any book and not just
0:42any book but any series even at the
0:44world level you can use this technique.
0:46And I would also recommend this for
0:48people who don't like to use AI in their
0:51process because this technique will not
0:54only, you know, not interfere with your
0:57creativity, it'll actually enhance your
0:59creativity and is much more likely to
1:02get you organized and get everything
1:03just totally squared away so that you
1:06can get started writing the book. Even
1:08if you don't plan on using AI at all
1:10after this step, I kind of still
1:11recommend it for pretty much every
1:13author. So, let's go into my process
1:16here and what I'm talking about and how
1:18I recommend getting started on any book
1:20project. So, to give you a little bit of
1:22context here, I have this thing that I
1:25call brain dump to dossier as an
1:27automation. I built this first in a
1:29automation tool called N8N and then we
1:32hardcoded it into my tool story hacker
1:34OS which is what you see here. And the
1:37way this worked is it would identify the
1:39genre from your brainstorm. It would
1:42then give you five diverse pitches. And
1:45the idea for this was I really wanted to
1:47get it to give you something like have a
1:50really good hook, right? But the problem
1:52with this is that it often kind of
1:55changed the story a little bit from what
1:56people actually wanted for themselves.
1:59And you know that's fine. Well, it's not
2:01fine. [laughter] People let me know it
2:03wasn't fine. Honestly, the reason I set
2:04it up this way initially is because this
2:06is a really good method to get AI to
2:09think harder. So, if you just ask it to
2:12like summarize your thoughts in a pitch,
2:15it'll do it, but it'll be the most
2:16generic, boring version of that pitch
2:19ever. And to get it to do multiples
2:21causes it to think a little bit. And
2:23then in the next step, it would evaluate
2:25which one it thought was the best and
2:27extract that winning pitch. And again,
2:30this is great if you don't have a whole
2:32lot of input of your own, but when you
2:34already have a specific idea and
2:36everything, this doesn't really work
2:38that well. So that was the most
2:40problematic part. And then from there it
2:41would go and build a dossier. So here it
2:43would say uh it would have a synopsis.
2:46It would give you uh your primary
2:49characters and all of this and it would
2:50you know go through this entire process.
2:52And this part it did a decent job. It
2:54would then do a emotional critique.
2:56It'll uh also critique the character
2:58names and then do a rewrite and then a
3:00logic critique and then another rewrite
3:02with the intent of like really getting
3:05out all of the potential logical
3:07fallacies or plot holes and making sure
3:10it has a really good emotional gut punch
3:12and all of this stuff. Good stuff. But
3:14the only issue with this is again it
3:17would often change things that people
3:18didn't want to change. Now, if you're
3:20creating a book from scratch where you
3:22really have no idea where you want it to
3:24go, this can be a good starting place
3:26because it'll get a lot of that done for
3:28you and then you can go in and modify
3:30it. But for those who already have an
3:32existing vision for their book, which is
3:33actually most of the people in my
3:35community at least and probably most of
3:37you listening to this, this whole system
3:39does not work. And so I created a a
3:42workaround in the tool and started
3:44playing around with other prompts and
3:45things and in that whole process
3:48discovered that there is a process that
3:51some call reverse prompting. I I would
3:53call it more of like a a mixed interview
3:56like a not even a one-way interview but
3:58like going both ways. You interviewing
4:00the AI and AI interviewing you that
4:02really does a good job of actually
4:04extracting your creativity. And uh in my
4:07membership, I tested this cuz uh when
4:10you join the membership, the one of the
4:12first things you do is you'll actually
4:13start writing a short story using this
4:16prompt right here. And this prompt was
4:18my first attempt to do this differently.
4:22And I have gotten such good feedback on
4:24this whole process where we write a
4:26short story from scratch and do it very
4:28quickly. Like this can be done in an
4:30hour or less. So this whole process
4:33really really worked well. And so now
4:35we're going to actually be going through
4:38this automation and changing it in the
4:39near future. And we're also going to be
4:42doing something similar for the series
4:45level and the world level. So series is
4:47obviously a collection of multiple
4:49books. And a world is a collection of
4:52multiple series at least within the
4:54hierarchy of how this tool is going to
4:56work. Uh this is the thing that we're
4:57currently actively building inside of
4:59Story Hacker OS. But I just figured I
5:01would just turn on the camera and kind
5:03of show you what we're going to be doing
5:05for this first step for both the series
5:07and the world building uh level or the
5:10world builder level. And yeah, just give
5:13you a good sense of what that looks
5:14like. So here, this is the actual prompt
5:18I was using. This is a sort of brief I
5:20was sending to my developer on how this
5:23would work. Uh but the actual prompt
5:25here, it's actually in two parts, but we
5:27can do it in one if we're using a
5:28chatbot. So, this is for the series
5:31builder. I'm just going to copy all
5:33this. And we'll go into Claude to run
5:37this. And then I'll go ahead and create
5:39a new project. We'll call this series
5:43builder.
5:45And I'm going to add that prompt in as
5:47the instructions. I am going to change
5:49one thing here. All right. So, this full
5:52prompt is in the instructions. I'll go
5:53ahead and save that. And now we can get
5:55started uh building this whole thing.
5:57However, let's actually go through this
5:59prompt and and what it gives us. Uh
6:01again, for um the tool that I'm
6:03building, it's going to be a two-part
6:05prompt, but you can absolutely combine
6:07them into one if you're using this just
6:09straight in a like a cloud project. So,
6:12it starts out, you are an expert story
6:13brainstormer. It's your job to
6:15collaborate with the user to brainstorm
6:16all the ingredients they need for a book
6:18series. And by the way, you can set this
6:20up to be about your book's world or
6:22about a specific book. Uh, I'm just
6:24showing you the one that we're going to
6:25be building into the book series. You
6:27may have context for the world that this
6:29series takes place in. Uh, that's stuff
6:32that we can add if we want. If so, part
6:34of your job is to learn and specify
6:35where the series fits in that world
6:37overall and what that world story bible
6:38looks like in the context of the
6:40specific slice of time that the series
6:41takes place in. Now, in the example I'll
6:43show you today, we're not going to have
6:44any additional world info. But if you
6:47did have more info about the world as at
6:50large and like the timeline and where on
6:52the events of the timeline this series
6:54takes place in, you know, you could
6:55specify that the genre for the series is
6:58insert genre. The overall spice level is
7:01this. Uh overall violence and gore
7:03level, overall swearing level, overall
7:05humor level. Note that these numbers do
7:06not mean it will be that level all the
7:08time, but just to give you a sense of
7:09the overall rating of the story, not the
7:11guidelines for every scene. All right.
7:12And then this is the most important
7:15paragraph. If you're going to screenshot
7:16any part of this prompt, this is the the
7:18part to do. Uh where it says, "I want
7:20you to do a mix of asking questions of
7:22the user to get their thoughts and to
7:24probe for ideas they've already had, as
7:26well as to offer your own suggestions
7:28when necessary, often providing multiple
7:31suggestions for the user to pick from.
7:32If this series is part of a larger
7:34world, you may have to periodically scan
7:36through your contacts, yada yada yada.
7:37We don't need to uh go over that. By the
7:40end of your conversation, you should
7:41know all the major details of the
7:43series, including the series constants.
7:45These are the things that are generally
7:46the same across the entire series. An
7:48overview of the timeline and major
7:50events. Key settings. This is mainly to
7:52identify important geography and
7:54locations that may be relevant across
7:55large portions of the series. Key
7:57characters or groups across the series.
7:59This is mainly to identify important
8:00characters and groups across the entire
8:02series or large portions of it. All
8:03genres will contain these above
8:05categories. Optional categories to
8:07explore if relevant include history and
8:09lore, mythology and folklore, races,
8:10floor and fauna, culture, politics and
8:12religion, languages, magic, technology,
8:14artifacts and significant objects, and
8:16key themes. And the reason those are
8:18optional is because they're not
8:19necessary for every genre. I figure that
8:22having like your overall larger
8:24constants as well as your timeline of
8:26events, your major settings, and your
8:28major characters, those are going to be
8:29pretty much consistent across every
8:31series, every genre. Uh, but these
8:32others might be specific to fantasy or
8:35science fiction or historical fiction or
8:37what have you. When you think you have
8:39all these elements, ask the user if they
8:41want to put together a full series
8:42dossier together. If they say no,
8:44continue to work with them to establish
8:45the remaining details until they're
8:47ready. If they say yes, encourage them
8:48to move on to the next step and uh,
8:50click the button that says create
8:51dossier. So, let's go back to Claude. I
8:54am going to modify one thing about this
8:56because we need to establish what the
8:59genre is. So, the genre for this series,
9:02uh, let's say, uh, let's let's do
9:05something I'm not super familiar with.
9:07Uh, Victorian mystery. Overall spice and
9:10heat level for the series will be, let's
9:13say, a three. Overall violence and gore
9:15for the series, let's ramp that up.
9:17We'll say that's a seven. Overall
9:19swearing level for the series, we'll put
9:21that at a two, cuz I just don't like
9:23swearing. And the overall humor level,
9:26like, let's say a two. It's not going to
9:28be that funny. So, all right. So, I'll
9:31save that. And, uh, All right. So, now
9:34we can start brainstorming. Um, and I'm
9:37just going to use a dictation software
9:38here. I'd like to brainstorm a series
9:41set in Victorian London that is a
9:43mystery. I don't really know much about
9:46what I want yet, but I know that I want
9:49it to involve a Jack the Ripper copycat.
9:54And you could also just put anything
9:56else. The reason that we have it do it
9:58this way is because often, especially
10:00when you're confronted with a blank page
10:01like I was just here, I couldn't even
10:03think of that many things that I wanted
10:05to put in here. And often that's the
10:07case. And even if you do have a lot of
10:09things that you can think of that you'd
10:11like to include here, honestly, most of
10:14you probably won't get it all down in
10:17one go because you'll forget things or
10:19there will be things that you've sort of
10:20overlooked because it seems obvious to
10:23you, but it might not be obvious to the
10:24LLM. um that sort of thing. So, I'm just
10:28going to run it from there. So, now it
10:30has gone through and has started asking
10:32me a couple of questions. All right. So,
10:34two things will shape almost everything
10:35else. So, let's settle them. First, when
10:38are we relative to the autumn of 1888?
10:40The distance between your series and the
10:42real White Chapel murders changes the
10:44whole texture. So, the wound could still
10:46be o open like we're in autumn of 1889.
10:49Uh it could be a decade cold. It could
10:51be concurrent or a long shadow like
10:541905. So we're st establishing where on
10:56the timeline this goes. So that makes
10:57sense. I could say let's make it a
11:00decade cold. And then it's asking like
11:02whose eyes are we in? A rough sense is
11:03enough for now. A police amateur
11:05outsider or some something stranger like
11:07a police surgeon. A mortterary
11:09attendant. A woman journalist. A white
11:10chapel local who knows the courts and
11:12alleys better than the constables do.
11:14Series longevity usually wants someone
11:16who has a reason to keep encountering
11:17murders. So this choice matters more
11:19than it looks. So, just looking through
11:21those options, I'm thinking I'd like it
11:23to be a female journalist who has ties
11:27to one of the murder victims of Jack the
11:30Ripper. And so, this is personal for
11:32them. All right. And I'll let it go
11:34there. And the whole purpose behind this
11:37is just to get your creative juices
11:39flowing. And I find that I am actually
11:41far more creative when I'm going back
11:43and forth with anybody. It doesn't have
11:46to be with an LLM. Uh it could be with a
11:48person as well. I get the exact same
11:50thing out of brainstorming back and
11:52forth with a person as I do with this
11:54process. Maybe a little bit better with
11:56an actual human. Uh but the nice thing
11:58about an LLM is it's got context that
12:00another human wouldn't necessarily have.
12:02So I'm able to take advantage of that.
12:04All right, first question is which dead
12:06woman and how is she tied? So that's a
12:08good thing. Like I don't know enough
12:09about the White Chapel murders to be
12:11able to say who it was. So it makes uh
12:14more interesting there. And then it also
12:16asks where does she stand
12:17professionally? In 1898, a woman of the
12:20London papers is real but hemmed in the
12:22lady journalist writes the women's
12:24column fashion charity bazaars and
12:27household hints. Uh so she may be caged.
12:30She might be freelance and hungry. She
12:32might be writing under a man's name. H I
12:34kind of like that writing under a man's
12:36name. Uh so she's like trying to stay
12:39hidden. that adds a layer of conflict I
12:41think where where and and again you can
12:44see this in real time now how I'm sort
12:46of finding
12:48additional inspiration by what it's
12:50giving me. So let's answer these
12:52questions real quick. I'll say let's say
12:54one of the canonical five and let's say
12:57a much older sister. For the second
12:59question, I like the idea that she's
13:01writing under a man's name and therefore
13:04trying to keep her intentions hitting
13:06hidden as she investigates so that
13:08people don't know that she's a
13:10journalist, but at the same time making
13:13sure she finds all of the details that
13:15she can in order to publish her stories.
13:18Okay, so now it's asking me about which
13:20of the canonical five um it wants me to
13:24go with. Um, so I could just continue on
13:27from this. And this would be a fairly
13:30lengthy process. So I'm not going to go
13:32through the entire thing here with you,
13:34but basically what would happen is I'd
13:36get to the end and finally it would be
13:37like, "Okay, do you want me to create a
13:39series dossier for you, and I'm going to
13:42try and just skip ahead to that section.
13:45It's going to have to create a lot of
13:46the details itself." Ideally, you would
13:48just continue to have the conversation
13:50until it feels it's got all the details.
13:52I'd like you to fill in all of the
13:54details yourself and go straight into
13:56writing the series dossier. All right.
13:59And now it has actually created this uh
14:01whole document here for me. Filling in
14:04all the details. Of course, if I
14:05continued to talk to it, it would have
14:08uh asked me for more details and we
14:11would have had had more to work on. Uh
14:13but here it is with the log line. Uh 10
14:16years after Jack the Ripper, a women a
14:18woman who has spent her career fight
14:20writing crime for Fleet Street under a
14:22man's invented name, hunts a copycat
14:24killer restaging the White Chapel
14:26murders on their exact anniversaries
14:27because one of the original five was the
14:30halfsister nobody ever put in the
14:31record. Um and so that's the log line.
14:34It gives us then a pitch. It gives us
14:37the core promise to the reader, the
14:40series constants, so the genre, the
14:42period, uh the setting, all of that. It
14:45also gives us the timeline and key
14:47events, right? Uh so this is like
14:50backstory and whatnot. Uh book one, book
14:53two, book three, book four, and book
14:54five. So uh I didn't specify how many
14:57books I wanted, but this is, you know,
14:59this is a decent enough outline there.
15:01And uh key settings and locations, key
15:04figures. So these would be important
15:06characters that show up throughout the
15:08entire thing and culture, politics,
15:11religion, technology and method,
15:13artifacts and significant objects,
15:15languages and voice and key themes. Um,
15:18so all of this is excellent information.
15:21And of course, like I said, if I had
15:23continued to go back and forth with the
15:25AI, it would have gone through each of
15:27these points with me until I had covered
15:30each one. So that takes obviously takes
15:32a lot longer, but it also means you're
15:34being you're putting more of yourself
15:36into the story. And now that we have
15:38this dossier, we can take this and put
15:40it into all sorts of other automations
15:43and whatnot, which is really really
15:45helpful. So hopefully this has been a
15:47useful exercise uh for you to kind of
15:50give you a sense of what to do. The key
15:52thing uh because I've done various
15:54variations of that prompt, the most
15:57important thing is to make sure it is a
15:59two-way conversation. So, it is asking
16:02questions of you to try and extract
16:05information that it thinks it needs, but
16:07also like you might not know everything.
16:10So, it will also give you suggestions or
16:12you can ask it questions on things that
16:15you might be stumped on and it'll give
16:16you suggestions and then you can choose
16:18from those suggestions or more often
16:20than not just seeing the suggestions
16:22that it gives you leads you in a
16:24different direction. You say actually I
16:26think now that I've seen that I think I
16:28actually want to go this way and you
16:30just continue doing that until you have
16:32this well fleshed out dossier. I think
16:35this is genuinely one of the most
16:37important steps of the process because
16:40it's the one that involves some of the
16:41most creativity of the entire bookw
16:44writing process. And yes, I mean that
16:46even if you are a traditional writer
16:49that is not using AI in the modern age,
16:52you are like this is probably the most
16:54creative part of the process even for
16:56you. Uh personally, I find very little
16:58creativity in the actual writing out of
17:00the book. Uh because to me that's that's
17:03just mechanical typing, right? Uh that's
17:06that's just uh it's a much more
17:09micromanaging
17:11uh kind of I don't I don't know how to
17:13describe it, but it's it's tedious.
17:15Tedious is the right word there. Uh
17:17clearly I'm not the best at coming up
17:19with the specific words that I'm looking
17:21for in the exact moment. It is a tedious
17:23process, but this is a highly creative
17:26process and I absolutely adore it. Now,
17:29if you enjoyed this, StoryHacker OS is
17:33absolutely u the best way to write
17:36fiction books with AI right now. Uh and
17:39the membership that it comes a part of
17:40is not just support around this new
17:43tool. The tool is actually just a cherry
17:46on top of the entire thing. It is the
17:48single best membership for learning how
17:51to use modern technology in your process
17:54and not just create books with AI, but
17:57actually shape yourself into a better
17:59storyteller and a better publisher and
18:01just a overall better creative person.
18:04So, if that is interesting to you, go
18:06check that out down below.