Pros and Cons of AI for Writers

ChatGPT can be another tool
for your writer's toolbox

By Linda Wilson bit.ly/3DtEXiV

As one of the last holdouts for seeing what AI is all about, I was surprised to learn how helpful it can be. I had to accept what seems inevitable: that AI is here to stay. Still, like everything, AI has its pros and cons. 

The birth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as we know it today took place as far back as the 1930s. If you’re interested in its evolution, a quick summary can be found by googling “Where did AI come from?” From my own search on Google, I found that AI consists of “technologies today range from chatbots and virtual assistants to advanced robotics and autonomous systems.”

The AI discussed in this article is called Generative AI, different from traditional AI, which is used for analyzing data. Generative AI offers “original text, images, videos, audio, or even code.” Since my focus is as an author, I’ve found that Generative AI, if used wisely, can be a terrific help in creating fiction and nonfiction works. I haven’t explored its other uses personally but have seen that teachers are incorporating its use in the classroom, and I’m sure there are a multitude of other uses.

I thought I’d begin this article with a nutshell-look at the cons, since those are what kept me away from even acquainting myself with this relatively new innovation for so long.

User beware: A Nutshell-Look at AI’s Cons

• ChatGPT offers a free plan, though it is limited; for advanced users there is a cost: $20/month or $30/month for a team plan.
• Users can’t expect AI to do the work for them; rather, it is good for enhancing what they've done.
• Content has the potential of generating false information.
• Danger of a lack of real-time knowledge.
• Privacy risks when handling sensitive information, and certainly not for legal or health advice.
• Content could be repetitive and unorganized.
• My initial response when testing the waters: GUILT. After using AI to edit one of my picture book stories, I walked away thinking—this isn’t my own work anymore. It now belongs to me and a non-human entity from out there in space. However, after some more thought, I decided that the editing help I received was probably similar to what editors from traditional publishing houses offer their authors. Lots of editing and maybe even title changes. Then I didn’t feel so bad.
• And the obvious kicker: Lacks genuine emotional intelligence and human experience.

A Terrific Tool for your Toolbox

Now for the fun part. I am glad that I gave ChatGPT a try. A writer friend of mine was looking for a title for her memoir. Her daughter told her, leave it to me. Her daughter wrote a summary of my friend’s book to ChatGPT, and it came up with four titles. My friend liked one of them so much she decided to use it for her book.

Here is what ChatGPT has done for me:

• In my own quest for titles for the two books I’m working on right now, I summarized the stories and asked for possible titles. Out of the options offered, I chose one that I hadn’t thought of for one of the books, which I will use. The options for the other book didn’t quite hit a chord. However, the titles swam around in my head until an AHA moment hit me. I thought of a completely different title, which I’m using. I have to give the suggested options some credit because they gave me food for thought for the actual title I came up with.
• Why stop there, I asked myself? My memoir friend began inputting sections of her next book onto ChatGPT and has been using the edits she received. 
• And moi? I did the same. And here is where I found help that my beta readers and critique group didn’t suggest. Mind you, I wouldn’t trade swapping stories with my readers for anything. Their help is invaluable. But ChatGPT made me feel like I’ve found my own built-in personal editor, one with quality I can only imagine is matched by editors at publishing houses.

Help I received consisted of:

• First, pointing out what was good about my story—what makes my story “work,” what I had accomplished and praising me for it; compliments that we writers know are rare and very welcome.
• Offering comparative titles to explore and how my book stacks up to similar books.
• Advice, such as leaving room for the illustrator’s imagination to soar, making it fun for them to work with my story.
• What my book was missing.
• The biggest mistake that keeps many manuscripts from selling to publishers and agents.
• A sample query letter and advice on what to expect from publishers and agents.
• Grammar corrections.
• Making my sentences more concise.
• Using more exciting words and turns of phrase than I had thought up.
• Considering page turns and how to make them exciting.
• Pointing out how to make the story climax a big splash.
• Adding such embellishments as onomatopoeia.

The bonus for me to keep using ChatGPT? I believe it will make me more productive. I consider it simply another tool in my toolbox, right along with Grammarly, Chicago Manual of Style, and the many resources I use while writing my stories and articles. 

Though I had such good luck with ChatGPT, I did still found many edits I wanted to add after I used it. Please keep in mind, ChatGPT is a tool. The ultimate creation of your story is yours and yours alone.

Photo by Linda Wilson

The second book in the Abi Wunder series
is now available on Amazon, found at
amzn.to/3Pj6Puu. Please visit Linda at
bit.ly/3DtEXiV.

Linda's latest release is Secret in the Mist, the second        book in the Abi Wunder trilogy, illustrated by Danika    Corrall, published December 2025. Two other new        releases are Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall        Boots, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana            Botero, and Cuna en la Naturaleza, the Spanish            version of Cradle in the Wild, translated by Adriana        Botero. Both books have won awards.