You may remember Elaine Bennett, a marketing specialist-turned blogger, currently writing for Bizzmark Blog. She recently shared with us 4 Simple Marketing Strategies for Promoting your Book. Today, she’s dealing with another hot topic, that of the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence.
Sure, it may be a while before we have a Leo-like android capable of true consciousness, like the one described in A Heaven for Toasters, but should we be worried? I have already written a couple of posts on the subject (“Why Creative People Are Safe from Robots” and “Artificially Created Romance Novels: the Next Big Thing? Nah…”) but I loved Elaine’s realistic take on the subject.
How Can Creative Writers Use AI to Their Advantage?
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When it comes to writing, SEO content writers and copywriters usually tend to be those who benefit the most from writing tools and software. This is mostly due to the technical nature of their writing, where readability is estimated according to conventions such as sentence constructions and sentence length. Moreover, aside from the primary audience (humans), they also have a secondary audience in the form of Google bots and crawlers. This is why writing needs to be optimized for their algorithms.
With creative writing, however, things are different. Take, for instance, Ulysses by James Joyce, where the entire last chapter has no punctuation marks. The language itself is hectic and chaotic, which leads one to believe that there’s no way whatsoever that this kind of writing would pass an MS Word spelling check or an inspection by software such as Grammarly.
So, how much of a difference can AI make to creative writing? Let’s find out!
It’s still a product
Unless you’re writing simply to get a topic off your chest, you need to understand that the subject of your writing is still a product. Think about it, as a self-publishing author on the Amazon Kindle, it’s your job to promote your work, as well as do “product placement”. This means picking the right keywords (on Amazon, you have seven free keywords available), a catching title, and a solid metadata background.
Even though I used Ulysses as an example, it’s not a good idea to make such a creative attempt on your first go. In fact, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) – Amazon’s self-publishing platform – does a readability and spelling check of its own before allowing you to upload your work. Once you grow a loyal and large enough audience, you can feel free to do as you like. In fact, at that point, an email list you create will be more than enough to promote your work.
For the time being, you could definitely benefit from SEO tools boosted with the AI technology. This can help you find the best keywords, compare your title to others and do a brief history check of customer behavior.
Transcription services
The next item on the list is advantages in the field of transcription services, which shouldn’t be downplayed or underestimated. Imagine a scenario where you get an idea while being far from your laptop – and it’s too long to type on your phone. What would you do? Well, probably try to vocalize your ideas and record them, so that you can transcribe them later on.
Instead of using a detailed description or even an ingenious phrase you’ve just come up with, you’re far more likely to use vague descriptions and give a basic outline. After all, why waste time when you’ll have to retype everything once you get back home?
However, what if you had a reliable academic transcription platform that allowed you to get these words in writing, word for word, with little to no error whatsoever? Wouldn’t this speed up the process, help you get the most out of your creativity, and allow you to effortlessly apply some of your best ideas?
Such writing practices would allow you to create a more spontaneous writing method, allowing you to work on your ideas regardless of time or place. They would also eliminate the risk of losing a great idea, which is a huge issue on its own.
Speeding up your writing
Auto-suggestion options are nothing short of AI. Sure, in the past, this tool was only able to recognize a word based on spelling, yet, AI can now understand the subtleties of context, thus helping you speed up your writing process. In theory, you should have as much writing time as you like; however, being able to squeeze more writing into a short time-span can allow you to include more ideas into the text before running out of inspiration. Anyone who has ever dabbled in creative writing knows just how big an issue this is. This is also helpful when it comes to helping you recollect something you’ve previously mentioned.
AI also comes with a machine learning trend, which allows it to adapt to your style, your niche, and your target audience. Think about it; a lot of authors get accused of making a stylistic error or stepping out of their own unique writing habits. For instance, imagine using an archaic language for a historical novel, only to break this immersion with a modern term or a use of inappropriate slang word. What if you could be reminded of this, thus avoiding a potential error?
Conclusion
The above-listed three examples are perhaps the simplest and the most transparent ways in which you can use AI to your advantage as a creative writer. Aside from helping you with the technical aspects of writing and marketing of your work, some of the above-listed platforms and methods may give you a completely new angle on what writing is supposed to be like!
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Fascinating. I’ve thought about dictation for while I’m driving – but mostly so I don’t forget the ideas. Right now I have to pull over to the side of the road and pull out the notebook. I’ve found, though, that what I dictate is NEVER finished quality, so I’m a long long way from speech to text.
Same here. I use my phone’s recording app at times, but never seem to go back to my actual recordings 🙂
They sound like interesting tips indeed. As an aside, I have a friend in America who has written three novellas, using a software programme of ‘speech-to-text’. That threw up so many errors, it took me hours to proof-read his work, and note down all the required corrections. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Oh my! Thanks for sharing that, Pete. Dictate software like Dragon can be a life saver for people with mobility problems but they’re still a long way from being error-proof.