Full transcript
0:00What if you could write an entire book
0:02in days, not months, without it reading
0:05like it was generated by a robot? Now,
0:07my name is Jason. I wrote 14 books the
0:09traditional way, and I worked at
0:10Kindlepreneur for 3 years, and after
0:12watching every AI writing method fail
0:16actual authors, I built a system that
0:18actually works. And that includes no
0:20shortcuts, and this is not a way to spam
0:23people. This is just a four-step process
0:26that harnesses your creativity and keeps
0:29your voice intact. So, let me show you
0:30exactly how that works. But before we
0:32get started, we need to talk about the
0:34tools that we need for this process.
0:36Now, there are a lot of tools out there,
0:38and most of them are just carbon copies
0:41of each other. There are a few that are
0:43designed specifically for writers who
0:45want to do creative writing, things like
0:47Sudowrite, Write to Write, Novel
0:49Crafter, and I'm even building my own
0:51Story Hacker tool that's developing now,
0:53but should be available by the time this
0:55video goes live. And all of these tools
0:57can absolutely simplify this process
1:00that I'm going to show you, but I've
1:01also found with the power that AI has
1:05these days, a simple chatbot can be
1:08enough to actually do what I'm going to
1:10demonstrate for you. You don't
1:12necessarily need fancy bells and
1:14whistles, although those can help. All
1:16you need is the right workflow, which is
1:19what we're going to get into right now.
1:20So, there are four steps, and the first
1:23step is gathering ideas. And this is
1:26honestly my favorite step. I love the
1:28brainstorming process. I love putting
1:30the pieces together, because ultimately
1:32writing a book is a lot like putting
1:34together a puzzle. You have characters,
1:37you have locations and settings, you
1:39have plot details, you might have genres
1:43and tropes that you want to incorporate.
1:45This is actually one of the most
1:47important things to do when you're
1:48gathering ideas is first determine your
1:51genre and your tropes. The reason for
1:53this is because if you want your book to
1:55have any chance of appealing to an
1:57audience, you have to know what that
1:59audience wants. And typically in today's
2:03market, that is determined by the genre
2:05and the tropes that the books have.
2:07Often genres are just actual tropes that
2:10have become so popular that they've just
2:12been solidified into a genre. I like to
2:15use the whole idea of a container, and
2:17you've probably heard this analogy
2:18before where if you try to dump a bunch
2:20of sand into a container and then put
2:22some big rocks into it, the rocks aren't
2:24going to fit. But if you put the big
2:26rocks in first and then dump the sand
2:29into it, then you can fit everything
2:31into your jar. That's a lot how genre
2:33and tropes work. You want to get the
2:34genre and tropes established first, and
2:36then the sand, which is your own
2:38creativity, your own ideas, your own
2:40originality, can also fit in there with
2:43the genre and the tropes that you've put
2:44in there so that you end up with a story
2:47that is both appealing to readers, but
2:50also fresh and unique in your own way.
2:52So, that first step is figuring out what
2:54your genre is because that will fill in
2:56a lot of the holes that you already need
2:58for the gathering ideas process, and it
3:02leaves you with less stuff to do and
3:05makes it easier so you're not just
3:06dealing with a blank page. Now, I just
3:09want to make a quick shout-out because
3:10I've been doing a lot of work on genre
3:12and inside of my Story Hacker
3:14membership, link below, you can actually
3:16find a bunch of genre guides that I've
3:18created, all of which are designed to
3:19help with this book writing process. And
3:22today, the one I'm going to be showing
3:23off for you is the how to write cozy
3:25fantasy, which is what we're going to be
3:27talking about. I put a lot of these guys
3:29together, you can buy them on Amazon,
3:31but they are also free to members of the
3:33Story Hacker community. So far, I've got
3:3530 of them listed here, but I'm making
3:37more every day. The goal is to have over
3:39100 of these genre guides. So, today
3:42we're doing cozy fantasy. The way we're
3:44going to do this is inside of Claude
3:47Projects. To do this, you don't
3:49necessarily have to have a Claude
3:51subscription because Claude Projects is
3:53included on the free tier of Claude.
3:56However, if you are using the free tier,
3:58it is unlikely that you're going to get
4:00very far before Claude throttles you,
4:03which is what it's known to do. Even on
4:04the paid plans, Claude is likely to
4:07throttle you, meaning that they will cut
4:09you off and make you wait until you can
4:11use it again. But technically speaking,
4:14you can do everything I'm going to show
4:15you inside of Claude, even on the free
4:18plan. The first thing we're going to do
4:20is you want to create a project. So you
4:22can create project. Now I would call it
4:23something like Novel Brainstormer. And
4:26then you create the project. And then
4:27you want to put a prompt into this. Now
4:30I've actually already done this, so I'm
4:31going to go ahead and delete this that
4:33we made. But mine looks like this.
4:35You've got over here a set of
4:38instructions. You say edit instructions,
4:40and you will have this prompt. This
4:43right here is the prompt that you'll see
4:45in there, and I'll just go ahead and
4:47pause this. So you can pause the video
4:50and take a screenshot of this if you
4:51want. And I'll read this one out to you,
4:53but I'm not going to read all of these
4:55prompts for obvious reasons. But
4:56basically it says, "You are an expert
4:58story brainstormer. It's your job to
5:00collaborate with the user to brainstorm
5:02all the ingredients that they need for a
5:04novel. I want you to do a mix of asking
5:06questions of the user to get their
5:07thoughts and to probe for ideas they've
5:09already had, as well as to offer your
5:10own suggestions when necessary, often
5:12providing multiple suggestions for the
5:14user to pick from. By the end of your
5:15conversation, you should know all of the
5:17major details of the story, including
5:18the genre, the style, tone, the scale of
5:21the story, who the protagonist is, a
5:22list of all the characters in the novel,
5:24a list of any world building elements
5:26needed, and notes on what the opening
5:28image, inciting incident, midpoint,
5:30climax, and closing image of the story
5:31are. When you think you have all of
5:33these elements, ask the user if they
5:34want you you to put together a full
5:36dossier of their short story together.
5:38If they say no, continue to work with
5:40them to establish the remaining details
5:42until they're ready. If they say yes,
5:44create a full summary of the novel based
5:46on the conversation you've had. Include
5:48at the top of the dossier a logline that
5:50encapsulates the story overall followed
5:52by a slightly larger synopsis with more
5:54details. Then make sure you have a brief
5:56list of all the characters,
5:57world-building elements, and the key
5:59plot points listed above. These should
6:00be in bulleted lists with no more than
6:02one sentence for each element. So
6:04basically, the goal here is that we're
6:05going to be doing all of our
6:06brainstorming and at the end of this
6:09brainstorming session, it's going to
6:10summarize everything into a story
6:12dossier. So, that is the prompt that is
6:15pasted in here. So, we'll go ahead and
6:18save that. And now all you have to do is
6:21start a chat and begin talking to it
6:23about what you want. So, I'm just going
6:25to start by saying, "I would like to
6:27write a cozy fantasy novel." And that's
6:30enough to start with. And it says, "What
6:32a lovely project. Before we can dive
6:34into writing chapters, we'll need to
6:35build out the foundation. Let me ask you
6:36a few questions to to get started." Take
6:38your time. There are no wrong answers
6:39here. And then because Claude is getting
6:41more advanced these days, it actually
6:42gives me a bunch of questions. So, it
6:44says, "What is the heart of your story?
6:45Pick the vibe that feels closest. Cozy
6:47shop, a quiet mage or witch living in a
6:50small ordinary life, a found family in a
6:52fantastical cottage or village, or
6:54something else." We'll say a cozy shop.
6:56"What do you already have ready to
6:57share? Nothing yet. Help me build it
6:59all." And we've done that. And so now
7:01it's continuing on. So now it's asking
7:02me, "What kind of shop or inn is it?"
7:04And we could say, "Okay, bookshop inn at
7:07a crossroads between magical realms, an
7:09apothecary, tea shop." Let's say a
7:11bookshop. "Who's your main character? Is
7:13the owner a newer arrival, an employee
7:16who slowly uncovers the shop's secret?"
7:17Let's say the owner. "What's the
7:19emotional core of the story? How about
7:21rediscovering a lost passion or
7:22identity?" And this process is just
7:25going to go on for a while. Now, this is
7:27probably the longest step of this
7:29process, believe it or not, this is the
7:30longest step because you want to take
7:32your time to make sure that the AI has
7:34all of your ideas down. Here's an
7:36interesting one. So, who is your main
7:37character broadly? A woman in her 30s or
7:3940s, a man in his 30s or 40s, a young
7:41woman in her 20s, the young man in his
7:4320s. You could also pencil in something
7:45here if your protagonist doesn't match
7:48any of those. We'll say a young elf in
7:51her 20s. Okay, so I could give it that
7:53one. What passion or identity did they
7:55lose? They used to be a writer but
7:56stopped. They were a mage or scholar who
7:58gave up their craft. They were an
7:59adventurer who walked away from that
8:01life. They were an artist. Let's say
8:03they were a mage. What tone do you want
8:05for the book overall? Whimsical and
8:07light. Yes. Uh because this is a cozy
8:10fantasy. And so basically as you go
8:12through and ask it all of these
8:14questions, it will eventually feel like
8:16it has everything that it needs and
8:18it'll create a full dossier, which is
8:21what it's doing right now. Now, you can
8:23stop this and say, "Hey, no, I want to
8:25add more details." if you have more to
8:27offer, or you can just let it do its
8:29thing and it'll create the full story
8:32Bible for you. Now, keep in mind, this
8:33is not the fully fleshed-out story
8:35Bible. We're going to do that in the
8:36next step, but this is kind of where we
8:38start, where we want a one sheet that
8:40has a list of everything that we need,
8:43all of the different assets that we need
8:44for the story. All right, and it is done
8:47with its story Bible. So, we have our
8:49main character, Eloen or Elo, and it's
8:52got this cool thing where I can tab
8:54through different things. It's outlined
8:56what the key points are. At this point,
8:59I would make sure that we copy all of
9:02this to the clipboard and save it
9:03somewhere. Okay, so I you can just take
9:05out a notepad or a Google Doc and copy
9:08this to the clipboard. Looks like you
9:10can also download it as a file, an HTML
9:12file, but I'm going to just copy that to
9:14the clipboard and save it. All right, so
9:16I've now copied all of this into my
9:19document just under story dossier. We're
9:21going to need that for the next step.
9:22The next step is to create our story
9:25Bible. Now, the story dossier already
9:27has most of the elements that we need
9:29for the story Bible, but this next part
9:32is going to be split into three parts
9:33where we flesh out the characters, the
9:35world building, and the outline because
9:37we need all three of those elements
9:39fully fleshed out before we can actually
9:41start writing the book. So, to help with
9:43that, I've created three more projects.
9:45We've got novel characters, novel world
9:47building, and novel outliner. Let's
9:49start with characters first. This whole
9:50process is relatively simple. All we
9:53have to do is copy our story dossier and
9:55paste it in here, and it will
9:57automatically go. But, in case you want
9:58the prompt for it, of course, here it
10:00is. And once again, you can pause the
10:02video and take a screenshot of this if
10:05you want. But the basically all this
10:06does is it asks it to take the story
10:10dossier that I'm about to give it and
10:12create a fleshed out character sheet for
10:14all of the mentioned characters. And
10:16it'll include physical description,
10:17their role, their personality profiles,
10:20et cetera. And so, that's what we're
10:21going to do. So, I've already pasted in
10:23the story dossier here. Here's my
10:26dossier, and let it go. And here it goes
10:30generating our characters. So, you can
10:31see we've got a significantly
10:34more fleshed out version of our
10:36character here, Eloin. Her physical
10:38description is tall and angular with a
10:40kind of posture that suggests she was
10:42once told to stand straight and forgot
10:44halfway through. Pale silver hair kept
10:46in a braid that starts neat and ends in
10:48entropy. Forest green eyes that are
10:49sharper than she lets on. Ink stains on
10:51her fingers that survive soap water and
10:53apparent stubbornness. Dressed in dark
10:54practical layers. Nothing precious,
10:56nothing she'd hesitate to ruin. And then
10:58it gives us her Myers-Briggs profile, as
11:00well as her Enneagram and Clifton
11:02strengths, which is something I like to
11:03add in there to help the AI understand
11:06the character better. What's her core
11:07motivation? What's her background?
11:10What's a quirk or hobby that she's got?
11:12Because that can make these characters a
11:14little more three-dimensional. As as
11:16well as very important, her dialogue
11:18style. Dry and economical. She says the
11:20exact amount of words necessary and
11:22frequently uses the ones that create a
11:23little distance. Deflects with
11:25practicality rather than deflects with
11:27humor. It's going through and doing this
11:29for all of of different characters.
11:31We'll let it finish. And once it's done,
11:33we can go ahead and copy this and go
11:35back to our document and paste it in
11:37here. So, we'll say character sheet, and
11:40then just paste that in. The reason I'm
11:43saving these is cuz we're going to need
11:44them for later, particularly for the
11:46outlining and the chapter generation
11:49phase. But, before we get to that, we're
11:52just going to take the story dossier and
11:54repeat this process for world building.
11:57Let's go to our next project, which is
11:59novel world building. So, once again,
12:00all I have to do is paste in my story
12:03dossier and go. If you want to know the
12:05prompt that's here in the instructions,
12:06here it is. And once again, you can
12:09pause and copy this if you want. When
12:11you are given a story dossier or brain
12:13dump information, I want you to create a
12:14fleshed-out list of all important
12:15setting and world building elements
12:17needed specifically for this book. Make
12:18sure each world building element is
12:20labeled as one of the following
12:21categories. Then we have a list of
12:23categories: high level, settings and
12:24locations, objects and artifacts, magic
12:26systems and technology if any, because
12:28obviously some genres don't need that,
12:30groups and races, gods and deities,
12:31geography and nature, population
12:33politics, culture, history, lore,
12:34religion, beliefs, and languages. And
12:36then here's the rest of the prompt. Feel
12:38free to screenshot that as well. But
12:40basically, it's just asking for the same
12:42stuff that we did for characters, except
12:43this time for world building. So, we
12:45just copy in the prompt here and then
12:48let it go. All right, so it is finished
12:50doing our world building, so I can go
12:52ahead and copy that and once again,
12:54place it into our document here, world
12:58building sheet. This next step is going
13:01to involve a few more steps before we
13:03finish out step two of developing the
13:06story Bible. And that is the novel
13:07outliner. So, the prompt goes something
13:10like this. It's actually shorter, but it
13:12says, "Using the story dossier,
13:14character sheet, world building sheet,
13:15and plot template, generate a fully
13:17fleshed-out outline for this short
13:19story. Make sure to use the outline
13:21template to inform you on the kind of
13:22things that should happen in the
13:23chapters you are outlining. The summary
13:25for each chapter should have specific
13:27details rather than vague allusions to
13:28what should happen. Make it as though
13:30you were going to hand it off to a
13:31ghostwriter to write the first draft.
13:32Make sure you follow the template
13:34extremely carefully. Only include the
13:35asked for details or outline details. Do
13:37not add any preamble commentary or
13:39anything other than what I've asked for
13:40above. So we'll go ahead and save that.
13:42So you noticed at the top it said using
13:44the story dossier, the character sheet,
13:47the world building sheet, and the plot
13:50template. So we want to make sure we got
13:52all of those things first. Now in the
13:54project's settings you can add files
13:57here. And this is where we're going to
13:58add all of our files. So first let's
14:01grab our story dossier, right? Let's
14:04grab all of that and we'll add this
14:06here. Add text context, say story
14:09dossier, and paste that in there and say
14:12add content. So now we've got our story
14:13dossier and it'll tell you that you've
14:15used 1% of your project capacity. Don't
14:18worry, we're going to not going to come
14:19near to filling this up. And then the
14:21next thing we want to do is grab our
14:22character sheet, copy that, and we're
14:25we'll come into here and say add text
14:27context again, call this character
14:29sheet, and paste in all of our
14:31information there. And last but not
14:33least, we'll get the world building
14:35sheet, copy all of that, go back into
14:38our project and add that as our world
14:43building sheet. Paste that in there. Now
14:46I do do want to pause here and say
14:48before you get to this thing, you need
14:50to make sure to read through all of this
14:52information to make sure it is all
14:55yours, that you want it to go the way
14:57it's telling you. So at each step of the
14:59process, like when you're doing the
15:01dossier, when you're creating the
15:02characters, and the world building
15:03sheet, you do want to read through it
15:05carefully to make sure it matches your
15:06vision and that it's not going off in
15:08some random direction that isn't what
15:11you want. I'm not doing that just for
15:13the sake of time for this video, but all
15:15it really is is just reading through it
15:17and making sure it's what you like. And
15:18if not, you can go back to to AI and ask
15:21it to change some things, or you can
15:22change them yourself manually editing it
15:25in your document. But now we've got all
15:26three of these. There was one other
15:28thing mentioned in these instructions,
15:30right? We had story dossier, character
15:32sheet, world building sheet, and plot
15:34template. So the plot template is a
15:36something that I strongly recommend. You
15:39don't necessarily have to do it for this
15:41step, but I strongly recommend having a
15:43plot template as part of your process
15:46because that will give the AI something
15:49much more concrete to build off of. And
15:51bonus points if the plot template is
15:53tailored to the genre that you're
15:56writing in. Now I've created a bunch of
15:57plot templates in my time. I created one
16:00that's sort of general called the plot
16:01module. I have a whole book on it that
16:03is a 40-chapter template that will work
16:06for pretty much almost all genres,
16:08particularly non-romance genres. But it
16:12so happens that in those genre guides
16:14I've been developing, I create a plot
16:15template for each one of the genres. So
16:17that includes cozy fantasy, which is
16:19what this is. Here is the plot template
16:21for my cozy fantasy, and uh there are 26
16:25chapters in this plot template. It looks
16:27something like this. Protagonist is
16:28introduced in their current state of
16:30dissatisfaction, burnout, or
16:31disconnection from their true desires,
16:33often in a mundane or oppressive
16:34environment that highlights what is
16:36missing from their life. An unexpected
16:38catalyst arrives like a letter, an
16:39inheritance, an opportunity, or magical
16:41encounter that offers a path towards
16:43something different. The protagonist
16:44experiences their first brush with the
16:46extraordinary they will enter, whether
16:48through a literal journey to a new
16:49location or the sudden appearance of
16:51magic in their ordinary life. Despite
16:53initial hesitation or disbelief,
16:55something within the protagonist
16:56responds to this call, revealing a
16:58long-buried dream or desire. The chapter
17:01establishes the warm, comforting tone of
17:03the genre through sensory details and
17:04atmospheric description while also
17:06demonstrating the protagonist's
17:07fundamental need for transformation and
17:09belonging. And then it has a couple of
17:10notes here like, what's the primary
17:11purpose of the scene? Is it
17:13multi-function? Is it doing multiple
17:15things like character development and
17:16plot progression. What are some of the
17:18structural beats? And I also give it a
17:20rating. So, things like scene intensity,
17:22these are out of 10, five. Spice level
17:25is one, meaning there's no spice
17:27whatsoever. Violence level two, swearing
17:29level three, and so on. And I do this
17:31for each of the 26 chapters. So, all
17:34we're going to do is copy this template,
17:36go back to our novel outline your
17:38project, and say add files again, add
17:41text context, and call this plot
17:43template. Paste all of that in, say add
17:46context, and now we're we've got all of
17:49the context that we want. And as you can
17:51see, we're still at only 1% of the
17:53project's capacity, so we're good there.
17:55All we have to do now is just tell it to
17:57go. Say, write my outline, please.
18:00Always say please in case the robot
18:02overlords decides to take over. All
18:04right, so it has already started doing
18:06the outline here. It's It took a lot of
18:09time thinking about this before it got
18:10started, and as you can see, it's going
18:12through. It just started chapter four.
18:14We go up and read the first chapter
18:18description here. "Ella arrives in Fern
18:20Hollow on a gray morning carrying one
18:21bag, a Mason re notebook tucked inside a
18:23larger book about load-bearing walls,
18:25and the solicitor's letter she has read
18:27so many times its creases are soft. She
18:29has taken the inheritance not because
18:30she wanted it, but because she had
18:32nowhere else to be. The walk from the
18:33coaching inn to Wren Lane establishes
18:35Fern Hollow as a place that doesn't
18:36perform its magic. A baker's oven
18:38self-regulating and open window, the
18:40town square fountain faintly audible
18:41even at distance, enchanted window boxes
18:44blooming in the wrong season. Ella notes
18:46all of this with the detached precision
18:48of someone trained to observe magic who
18:50has stopped caring about it.
18:51Marginalia's green door and brass book
18:53knocker are exactly as the solicitor's
18:55letter described. Ella lets herself in
18:57with a key. The moment she crosses the
18:59threshold, the books begin reorganizing,
19:01a low rustle first, then a cascade,
19:03volumes lifting from shelves and
19:04settling elsewhere, sorted by grief and
19:06longing and the particular ache of being
19:08somewhere new. She stands still in the
19:10middle of it. Footnotes appears on the
19:12highest shelf and regards her without
19:13moving. Amber eyes already in possession
19:15of a verdict. Elle finds Sable's journal
19:18exactly where the accompanying letter
19:19said it would be, behind the front desk,
19:21tucked behind the wall in the back of
19:23the drawer. She picks it up, looks at
19:24it, and puts it down. She puts the
19:25kettle on instead. The chapter closes on
19:27her standing in the back room while the
19:29books arrange themselves in the shop
19:30beyond, drinking tea she made in someone
19:32else's kitchen, not yet ready to read
19:34the handwriting of a woman she met
19:35exactly twice. And the structural beat
19:37is this is the hook, the shop responding
19:39to her arrival, the inciting incident,
19:41and the first glimpse of a special
19:42world. So, as you can see, this
19:43definitely fits into the template that I
19:47read earlier, as well as pulls in all of
19:50our character information and the world
19:51building information and all of that.
19:53So, I'm just going to go ahead and let
19:54this finish, and then we'll move on to
19:56the next step. All right, so it is
19:57finished doing the whole outline, as you
19:59can see here. We've got the whole thing
20:00right here. We can go ahead and just
20:01copy this and add it to our document.
20:03You can also do separate documents for
20:05each of these. I'm just putting them in
20:07here in one just for the sake of the
20:08video, uh but we can save a full outline
20:11and paste that in there. So, now we have
20:14our full outline. All right, so the next
20:16step is writing the beats. Well, the
20:19next step is actually to go through the
20:20outline and make sure it it meets your
20:22approval. And if not, once again, go
20:24back to the AI and let it know what
20:26you'd like to change or change it
20:28yourself manually. But, from there, once
20:31you've got an outline that you're happy
20:32with, now it's time to move on to step
20:34three, which is the prose generation
20:36stage where we actually start to flesh
20:38out the chapters themselves. So, to do
20:40that, I've got another project here
20:42called Novel Chapter Writer. We're going
20:44to open that up. This is the prompt that
20:46you'll find in the instructions. Once
20:47again, I'll just pause here so you can
20:49screenshot it. Scroll down so you can
20:52screenshot the rest of it here. But,
20:53these are just instructions on how to
20:55write the chapter. I have a few things
20:56in here that you are welcome to change
20:58if you want, like the chapter should be
21:002,500 words long. That's up to you to
21:02change if you want. I usually want my
21:03chapters to be about 2,000 words long,
21:05so I put 2,500 to stretch it just a
21:08little bit because it very often
21:09undershoots for these things. Or I will
21:12edit out a lot of stuff later so that it
21:14eventually shrinks down to about where I
21:16want it to be. But regardless, that's
21:18the prompt there, and once again, we
21:19want to add in our files. The only one
21:21that we don't need to add this time is
21:23the dossier because by now we've got the
21:25character sheet, the world building
21:26sheet, and the outline fully fleshed
21:27out. No longer really need the dossier.
21:30So, we're just going to add in, just as
21:32we did before, the character sheet, the
21:35world building sheet, and finally, we're
21:38going to add the outline that we
21:40developed in the last chapter. At this
21:41point, we do not need the outline
21:43template or any of that. So, we'll just
21:45copy that, put it in here, outline, and
21:49add content. So, now we've got all three
21:51of these in here. Based on the
21:53instructions I've given it here, the
21:54only thing I need to do is say write
21:57chapter one, and then it can go. I could
21:59also say write chapter two or write
22:02chapter 12, and it would just know that
22:05because it can go to the outline and see
22:06what's on chapter 12. You do not have to
22:09have written the past chapters before if
22:11you don't want to. We're just going to
22:13say write chapter one for now and let it
22:15do its thing. All right, so it is now
22:17finished, so we can take this and once
22:19again, put it in a document. Now, again,
22:22I'm just putting this in the same
22:23document and calling it, you know,
22:24chapter one, but of course, you can put
22:27this in a separate document if you want,
22:29a separate one for the manuscript. So,
22:30you could just continue on and make your
22:32way to all of the other chapters and
22:34make sure they're all in here and then
22:36start step four. However, I actually
22:38recommend going to step four first,
22:41especially on your first couple of
22:42chapters, before you go on and generate
22:44the next couple of chapters. The reason
22:46being is that what if it made some big
22:49mistakes here in this chapter, and if
22:52you were to take this chapter as is and
22:55let it use that context when you say
22:57write chapter two, those mistakes might
22:59carry over into chapter two. So, I like
23:02to go a chapter at a time and kind of
23:04fix it up and make it like I like I like
23:07it and then go on to chapter two. Now,
23:10by the way, I mentioned earlier that
23:12I've been developing my own tool, which
23:13should be live by the time you see this.
23:15That tool makes it so that you can do
23:18these steps with just a click of a
23:19button instead of constant back and
23:21forth like you're seeing me do, giving
23:22you more time to focus on the creative
23:24parts. Plus, you get everything else
23:26that my membership has built up for the
23:28last few years, including all of the
23:29genre guides that I've talked about,
23:31step-by-step courses to walk you through
23:33not just the writing but the publishing
23:35as well. And even though I'm adding this
23:37tool onto all of that, I'm not actually
23:39increasing the price that it was before.
23:41So, check that out if you're interested.
23:43All right, so step four. Step four is
23:45validation and editing. Now, to a
23:47certain extent, you should be doing this
23:49as you go with the characters and the
23:51world-building sheet in the outline, but
23:52it's especially important here at the
23:55prose generation stage. For one, this is
23:57the best way to get your voice across is
24:00to make sure that it is matching your
24:02vision. But, also, the more you edit
24:05things and make it your own, the more of
24:08a case you have on copyright. Now,
24:11because in the United States, anything
24:13that is AI-generated verbatim is not
24:17copyrightable, it's public domain.
24:18However, if you make significant edits
24:21to it and changes, you can still file
24:23for copyright and file for the
24:25human-written bits and for the selection
24:27and arrangement of AI text. So, the more
24:30you can do to make it your own, the
24:32better your case is to get copyright.
24:34So, I'm going to show you a little bit
24:36of what that looks like for me as I'm
24:37going through these texts and validating
24:40them and editing them. You can also use
24:42tools like AutoCrit or ProWritingAid to
24:45help in your editing process as well,
24:46especially some of their line editing
24:48tools, and those will give you
24:49suggestions which you can then manually
24:52input, which keeps you as the
24:54decision-maker and therefore the person
24:56responsible for the copyright of your
24:58edits. And then when we go back to
24:59generate chapter two, we've already made
25:01a bunch of edits and it can see the
25:03edits that you make and kind of have an
25:04idea of what your style is. Plus it'll
25:07be able to read that chapter, know where
25:08you left off, and continue on with
25:10chapter two. And I'll show you that
25:12process once we've gone through this.
25:13So, let's just read through the first
25:15couple of paragraphs here and I can show
25:17you some of the changes that I would
25:19make as I'm going through this and what
25:21I am looking for. All right, the
25:22coaching inn had smelled of wet wool and
25:25fried fat, and the coach itself had
25:26smelled worse, and Fern Hollow smelled
25:28like neither of these. First of all,
25:30this feels a bit of a run-on sentence to
25:32me. I don't necessarily like having this
25:36kind of AI likes to start with these
25:38sort of sensory details first, kind of
25:40setting the scene, but it's often
25:41unnecessary. And if I look at the next
25:43step, Elara stopped in the inn's front
25:45step and breathed in rain-damp
25:47cobblestone, something green underneath
25:49it, not a smell she had a name for, more
25:50of a quality, the the way air changes
25:53near the forest. We're talking about the
25:54smell again here, so I actually really
25:57don't think this is necessary. I would
25:59probably add breathe in the smell. And
26:02then I would just take this first
26:04sentence and remove it entirely. Elara
26:06stopped on the inn's front steps and
26:08breathed in the smell. That sentence is
26:10fine now. Rain-damp cobblestone, AI,
26:13especially more recent AI models, like
26:15to have these like short punctuated
26:17sentences, which is sometimes good, it
26:19kind of breaks things up, but I don't
26:21think we need that, so we could just say
26:22rain-damp cobblestone
26:27green underneath it. And then I'll put a
26:28period there. And actually, this should
26:30probably be one sentence. So, I'd put a
26:33colon and then rain-damp cobblestone,
26:35because otherwise that would have been
26:36an incomplete sentence, which isn't
26:38necessarily a bad thing all the time,
26:40but there you have it. And so now we
26:41have our first sentence, Elara stopped
26:43on the inn's front step and breathed in
26:44the smell. Rain-damp cobblestone and
26:46something green underneath it. Now, this
26:48doesn't feel like the most exciting
26:49sentence, I might consider changing it,
26:51but seeing as this is a cozy fantasy, we
26:54want to get across that it's a cozy
26:56fantasy immediately as as soon as
26:58possible. And I think this sentence does
27:00that because we have like rain-damp
27:02cobblestone, we have the inn, and
27:04something green underneath it, right?
27:06Now, this next sentence, "Not a smell
27:08she had a name for, more a quality the
27:09way air changed near a forest." This is
27:13an AI-ism right here where it says, "Not
27:15this, but this." Not a smell she had a
27:17name for, but more quality. I usually
27:19like to change these if I can. So, I'd
27:21say I'd probably just rewrite this
27:23entire sentence
27:24to something like, "She loved the way
27:27the air changed near a forest." So,
27:31we've got that changes near a forest
27:33element, but, you know, that's all we
27:34need. Then I'd probably start a new
27:36paragraph because, why not? "The Sylvan
27:38Woods began somewhere past the town's
27:40eastern edge. And whatever slow magic
27:42accumulated in the old-growth trees, it
27:44reached this far." She filed this away
27:47without deciding what to do with it. The
27:48first sentence is good, I think. But,
27:50the "She filed this away without
27:52deciding what to do with it." I feel
27:53like the second half of that sentence is
27:55unnecessary, so I'll just delete that.
27:57She just filed this away. We don't need
27:59to say that she didn't know what to do
28:00with it. She had one bag, she had the
28:02solicitor's letter. Its creases worn to
28:04the softness of old cloth from a month
28:05of handling. So, there's repetitiveness
28:08here. She had one bag, she had the
28:09solicitor's letter. So, I would say she
28:11had one bag, colon, the solicitor's
28:13letter. "Its creases worn to softness of
28:16old cloth from a month of handling."
28:18Yeah, that's fine. It's a little wordy,
28:20but I think I would leave that. Also,
28:21you don't have to do a colon here.
28:22Colons can sometimes, I don't know, be a
28:24little jarring, particularly in certain
28:26genres. So, you could just use a comma
28:28there if you wanted to. She had one bag,
28:30the solicitor's letter. In fact, I think
28:31that's actually better myself, so I'm
28:33going to leave it that way. You see what
28:35I'm doing here? Like, I'm clearly making
28:37it my own. Now, this is still a lot of
28:39work. I would have gone through this a
28:41lot faster if I weren't explaining it
28:42out loud like I am. Over time, you will
28:45get better at this process. But, I do
28:48strongly recommend you go through it
28:49because you can significantly improve
28:51the quality of the AI output by doing
28:53this and make it a lot more your own.
28:55It'll also help with AI detection, which
28:59is not really an issue, but some people
29:01are concerned about it, as well as your
29:03right to copyright. So, I would just go
29:05through and do all of that for chapter
29:08one. Then, once you've finished with the
29:09full chapter, you could go ahead and
29:11copy it and then go into our novel
29:15chapter writer project and over here
29:17under files, select add text contact and
29:20I would label this previous chapter and
29:23then paste that in. Add content. Now,
29:25the reason I call this previous chapter
29:27and not chapter one is cuz I usually
29:29only like to include the previous
29:31chapter in the context for a couple of
29:33reasons. First of all, it once you've
29:35got like 20 chapters in there, it
29:36becomes unwieldy and Claude it's like
29:39watering down your prompt. Claude
29:40doesn't do as well with it and Claude
29:42will also throttle you earlier because
29:45you're using up all of its resources by
29:47including 20 plus chapters in there.
29:49Secondly, you don't actually need to
29:52have 20 plus chapters in there because
29:54it already has your outline. It knows
29:56the general scope of your full book. I
29:58only like to have the previous chapter
30:00in there so it has an example of your
30:01edited text and so it knows exactly
30:04where you left off in the previous
30:06chapter. So, I would just add content
30:08here and then once I've generated
30:11chapter two and then edited chapter two,
30:13then I would come and replace that
30:15previous chapter. I'd come in here and
30:17replace it with chapter two as I go on
30:19to generate chapter three. So, now all I
30:21have to do is say write chapter two and
30:25it will go on and continue with chapter
30:27two now with the context of what the
30:29previous chapter has. So, hopefully that
30:32makes sense. And now all you have to do
30:34is just repeat this process for all of
30:36the chapters of your book and you've got
30:38a book. And this process, say might seem
30:40a little complicated at first when
30:42you're just starting, especially the
30:44validation and editing process that I
30:46just showed you. But, honestly, the
30:48amount of time it takes to validate and
30:50edit a chapter is significantly less
30:53time and less headache than writing the
30:55chapter yourself. I myself have been
30:57able to validate and edit a book in as
30:59little as 4 days for an entire book. It
31:02was not that big of a deal. I was just I
31:04just had to pace myself for about 10
31:06chapters a day, and I just took a couple
31:08of hours, and I was good. But, the
31:10biggest benefit of doing it this way for
31:11me is just the lack of burnout that I
31:15get from doing this because it can be
31:17incredibly exhausting to do all of this
31:19work. And not only I do I find it
31:22creatively draining, I'm not the only
31:24one that is this way, but there are
31:25people that find the writing process
31:27uplifting. If that's you, that's fine.
31:29But, for me and many other people, it's
31:31the creativity part, the the part where
31:33you're brainstorming, that is the the
31:35most enjoyable part. So, I find if I do
31:38it this way, it is so much easier for me
31:40to get through it, and I don't get
31:42burned out as I do it because that
31:44happened to me a couple of years ago
31:46where it took me years to be able to
31:47write again after that. I hope this
31:49process has been useful for you. Once
31:51again, go check out the Story Hacker
31:53group if you want access to my new tool
31:55that makes this process so much quicker
31:56and easier, as well as all the genre
31:58guides that I've talked about, and I
32:00will see you in the next video.