It started as a bit of curiosity: Can AI write good fiction? Can I create a process that produces better fiction? Will Anthropic even let me write porn? How do different models do?
It was another outlet to explore using AI outside of my 9-5 programming. I've experimented with building custom agents to write stories, custom memory storage methods, custom workflows, etc. I've also used AI to write content management systems and experiment with that.
Like with software, even if "slop", there's a particular joy to having an idea come to life very very quickly. I can start with a premise, a character, a few scene ideas, and get a workable draft.
For some of my ideas (outside of erotica), there are no books that I can find that cover what I'm interested in. So in another sense it's like using AI to do research for my own enjoyment, but I'm also tightening it up and publishing it.
> What sense of ownership/pride do you feel when you consider one of your works as "done"?
It's diminished compared to things I've done completely by myself. But it's non-zero and it's positive. I've actually shipped products rather than sitting on them, and there's joy and pride in that.
But I do still put a lot of work into it, both on the software side managing it, but also manually hand-editing it. I rewrite things until it doesn't feel like AI to me, even if I also use AI to make some of those edits.
> What would you do differently, if you were back at the starting block and had a budget of $800 to spend on writing nonfiction?
The lessons are very similar to other lessons on here around software projects.
Like with game development, don't spend your time on the engine. I'd spend less time building scaffolding and structure software.
I'd also be more patient and wait for weekly resets instead of bumping up to the higher tier.
I'd also stick to fewer projects more closely until completion -- I have a queue of about 80 some books to go through before I can publish them.
And then I'd say spend more time on the marketing side of things.