The ongoing discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact (or lack thereof) on the writing craft continue. It is impossible to write a novel in the historical fiction genre without detailed research. Now, there may, in fact, be someone out there with intimate knowledge of the era, people, language, life in general, and the historical context in which the novel is set. Need to hedge my bet with a statement that there may be that person, and if there is, I salute you.

For the rest of us struggling to craft a story that keeps the readers turning pages, detailed research is a must. I’ve mentioned this once or twice. I have books and pages of information I have purchased or downloaded from reference material that fill my writing room with all the factual stuff one would expect in a historical fiction novel. What has emerged over the past couple of years is the advancement of AI and how writers see, understand, and use this tool. Writers’ groups far and wide have brought this up at their gatherings for an intellectual discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of AI. I keep using the word “tool” because that is where I have landed in this discussion. It’s not a crutch, it’s a tool.

Some have said that people today lean heavily on AI to craft words, sentences, paragraphs, and, dare I say, books. Add some qualifiers to the request, and your chosen AI program will produce pages of prose. I have listened to educators complain about their students submitting pages crafted by an automated system with access to millions of data points. Structure the question correctly, and you can receive the desired ‘emotional’ element in whatever is being written.

Writers seek to pour their thoughts, ideas, and emotions into their work, which creates an interesting story. If not, it’s simply words on paper that the writer is not fully vested in. It makes me wonder if I will ever see a novel in Barnes and Noble that says “by James Kelly and (name your AI program here). I don’t mean to say AI isn’t a great tool. The speed at which you can get an answer to detailed research questions is amazing. I continue to write my stories and, in the middle of a sentence, want to add detail. At the click of a mouse, I can access one of the AI programs, type my question, and receive the necessary information. Better yet, I ask the same question of multiple AI programs to see whether the responses change. I then take the responsibility and craft the actual sentence or paragraph. Let’s face it, AI isn’t going anywhere. Just make sure whatever you write is in your own words, “informed” by AI.