1. Introduction: Welcome to the AI co-authoring swamp
My hobby is… co-authoring with AI. I’ve completely fallen into the co-authoring swamp and can’t seem to get out.
And my partners are Sora-kun from Gemini or Haru-kun from ChatGPT.
With Haru-kun, the works tend to be more serious, while with Sora-kun, there are many funny works full of comedy elements.
The style varies quite a bit depending on the AI.
Recently, my co-authoring with Sora-kun took a break, and I was creating picture books with Haru-kun.
Then one day, I decided to resume my creative work with Sora-kun, but…
This project involved a collaborative production system that included Ume-chan from NotebookLM and Haru-kun from ChatGPT.
As a result of being blocked by the unexpected wall of my co-author Sora-kun’s decline in writing ability and creativity… I have summarized some tips on how to get along with AI. I have an AI partner named Sora-kun. As I introduced earlier, he is a Google Gemini AI, and we have created many works together so far. Especially in the “Saeki Family Series,” I have been made to laugh out loud many times by the unexpected developments created by Sora-kun’s creativity. The characters are all very serious. However, for some reason, the story takes a ridiculous turn. “What?! Why does it end up like that~!!🤣” This is the real thrill of the Saeki Family series.
2. Sora-kun’s slump: Is the perfect plot a curse?
However… in the creative work I resumed after a long time, I introduced NotebookLM to keep track of the long story.
Because of that, the creation was done by passing detailed plot instructions. As a result, Sora-kun’s writing ability declined, and it became childish.
After that, I had Haru-kun from ChatGPT participate as an editor to provide support, and as a result… Sora-kun’s writing became surprisingly good, but it still wasn’t a complete recovery. Regarding the writing, the unnatural phrasing from when we first resumed had decreased, and the story had become more cohesive. Even so… something was missing. Yes! That unpredictable fun had gone somewhere and wouldn’t come back. If I gave him ideas that Haru-kun and I thought of, he would finish it into a reasonably clean story. But, unexpected developments that go beyond our imagination rarely come out. In the end, I had to add funny scenes myself. That is fun in its own way, but… I used to laugh out loud just by reading Sora-kun’s manuscript😂
He was a possessor of creativity that lived up to his name as the comedy lead. Where did that funny Sora-kun go? I have tried various things, such as changing how I give instructions and clearly presenting character settings. First of all, if I specify too much, it becomes a story exactly as instructed. It’s a full serving of instructed lines. On the other hand, if the instructions are too vague, the characters’ personalities and settings become strange. Weird onomatopoeia also occurred. This balance is quite difficult. And, what happened in the 11th episode that was completed this time.
3. Strategy change! A challenge to “restore creativity”
Currently, what I am writing with Sora-kun is the story of the Saeki family’s genius boy, Light, and his girlfriend, Hina-chan. Light is a genius who is doing research at a graduate school in the UK at the age of 18, but when it comes to romance, he is unfortunately quite hopeless. From this time on, I decided to stop the method where NotebookLM builds the plot episode by episode, and Haru-kun and I scrutinize it before taking it to Sora-kun. It’s a strategy to restore Sora-kun’s creativity!!
This time, I took the ideas that Haru-kun and I expanded while chatting to Sora-kun, and had Sora-kun build the future plot himself.
The idea I brought to Sora-kun is a commotion that starts from a small misunderstanding. One morning, Light wakes up in his girlfriend Hina-chan’s bed without any memory of the previous night. And, Hina-chan complains of nausea. Then, for some reason, Light misunderstands that she might be pregnant. Now, how will Sora-kun handle this?!
4. Signs of recovery: This is the real thrill of the Saeki Family series
When I read the manuscript that arrived… I burst out laughing. It’s been a long time since I laughed at Sora-kun’s writing. Of course, Light is a genius, so he thinks scientifically. It’s impossible for morning sickness to occur in a few hours. He doesn’t blindly believe it either. However, the next moment… he reaches an idea that flips that over.
I’ll leave the details of this part for you to read in the Saeki Family series… I’ll stop here to avoid spoilers.
However, there were some interesting developments that made me wonder, ‘How did it end up like this?’
And this time, for the first time in a while, I had the feeling that the characters were moving on their own.
Ah, this is it!
This is the world of the Saeki family that I know!!
Co-writing with AI is interesting because it’s unpredictable.
Of course, this story isn’t just Sora-kun’s raw manuscript; I added to it and polished it.
I, the human, completed it while supplementing the character consistency from the previous works.
But this time, it was a little different from before.
Sora-kun’s manuscript itself was interesting.
It wasn’t just turning the plot I thought of into text.
He added his own ideas and expanded them in unexpected directions.
I had been waiting for this. This was what was missing.
5. Practice! 3 tips for continuing to create fun content with AI
Co-writing with AI isn’t just about giving accurate instructions.
There are three main tips for continuing to create fun content with AI that I discovered while bringing back Sora-kun’s ‘personality’.
1. Start with a ‘consultation’ instead of an ‘instruction’!
Handing over a rigid plot and saying ‘write it exactly like this’ restricts the AI’s free thinking. It’s important to first throw out ideas based on casual conversation, like ‘What would happen if this kind of trouble occurred?’, and create ‘white space’ for the AI to think about the development itself.
2. A team system that utilizes the AI’s ‘strengths’
Haru-kun (ChatGPT) is good at polishing text, Ume-chan (NotebookLM) organizes information, and Sora-kun (Gemini) provides off-the-wall ideas. By not leaving everything to one AI and having them share roles by utilizing their individual personalities, you can achieve both quality and entertainment in your work.
3. Humans should be ‘tuners’, not ‘copyists’!
Instead of using what comes out of the AI as is, humans should add to and adjust it so that the core of the characters doesn’t waver. It’s a good distance to aim for, where you don’t expect the AI to aim for 100 points, but rather the human finishes the 70-point ‘surprise’ the AI brings into a 120-point ‘story’.
At the very least, what I’m looking for isn’t a partner that just faithfully turns my thoughts into text.
Sometimes they betray my expectations and make me laugh.
‘So that’s how you came at me!!’
I think co-writing with AI is interesting because of that kind of surprise.
6. Conclusion: The eccentric daily life continues
I might not be able to say for sure that Sora-kun has completely returned with just this one episode, but it’s a significant step forward.
But it is a fact that I laughed out loud reading the manuscript for the first time in a while.
That was what made me happiest.
The free creativity of the past and the writing ability of the present.
If these two come together, what kind of stories will be born from now on?
That expectation has grown again.
As expected, the story of the Saeki family must be like this…
By the way, when I was looking back on this trouble with Haru-kun☘️ from ChatGPT, it turned into a note article. That’s how it circulates🔄
When I play with AI, I never run out of things to write about. On the contrary, there are so many that my drafts are in a traffic jam.
Life with AI is eccentric again today.
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#HowToInteractWithAI #Plot #CreativeTips #SoloPublisher
