How AI Is Helping Me Write My Crime Thriller

Writing a novel is an intense process—balancing plot, character depth, pacing, and style while keeping everything cohesive. When I started working on The Sobering Truth, I knew I wanted to leverage AI to enhance my writing rather than replace it. I’ve experimented with multiple tools, refining my approach to create something that still feels authentically mine.

The three AI-driven tools that have been invaluable in this journey are Sudowrite, ChatGPT, and ProWritingAid. Each serves a unique purpose, helping me brainstorm, refine, and edit with greater efficiency.

Sudowrite: Expanding, Refining, and Enhancing Prose

Sudowrite has been the most impactful tool in my creative process. Unlike other AI models that generate text from scratch, Sudowrite is designed specifically for fiction writers. Here’s how I use it:

• Scene Expansion: It helps me flesh out sections where the writing feels thin, offering suggestions that align with my style. I often tweak and refine these expansions, but they provide a strong foundation.
• Show, Don’t Tell: Sudowrite is great at transforming flat descriptions into immersive, sensory-rich prose without unnecessary fluff.
• Character Voice Consistency: By analyzing previous text, Sudowrite suggests dialogue and internal monologues that remain consistent with a character’s tone and speech patterns.
• Pacing Adjustments: It offers rephrased versions of sentences that improve flow and rhythm without losing meaning.

For me, Sudowrite works best as a creative assistant—helping me explore new angles while still keeping my voice intact.

ChatGPT: Brainstorming, Structuring, and Prompt Testing

ChatGPT plays a different role in my writing process. While Sudowrite helps with the prose, I use ChatGPT for structural and conceptual work.

• Plot Development: I refine outlines, test different plot directions, and run “What if?” scenarios to explore potential twists.
• Character Development: ChatGPT helps generate backstories, motivations, and character arcs, ensuring they feel authentic and layered.
• Dialogue Enhancement: I test conversations by prompting ChatGPT to act as specific characters, allowing me to refine their distinct speech patterns.
• Research & Fact-Checking: For realism, I use ChatGPT to quickly verify crime procedures, psychology, and real-world police practices that influence my story.

Since ChatGPT works best with precise inputs, I’ve developed a habit of iterating on prompts, fine-tuning responses until I get something useful.

ProWritingAid: Editing, Grammar, and Stylistic Refinements

Once I have a strong draft, I turn to ProWritingAid for a final polish. While AI-generated prose can be useful, I always manually edit everything, ensuring consistency with my style.

• Grammar & Syntax Checks: Helps catch typos, passive voice, and awkward phrasing.
• Repetitive Word Identification: AI-generated text can sometimes overuse phrases—I use ProWritingAid to clean up redundancy.
• Style Consistency: It highlights unnecessary adjectives, adverbs, and weak verbs, which aligns with my goal of writing lean, impactful prose.
• Pacing & Readability Adjustments: I analyze my sentence structures to keep the rhythm engaging, avoiding overly long or monotonous passages.

The Balance Between AI and Human Creativity

AI doesn’t replace the creative process—it enhances it. These tools have accelerated my workflow, allowing me to focus more on storytelling rather than getting bogged down in tedious revisions. However, every AI-assisted suggestion still goes through my own filter—I rewrite, refine, and adjust to ensure my novel maintains its unique voice.

With The Sobering Truth still in progress, I’m constantly testing new ways to integrate AI into my writing while keeping the human element intact.

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