Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or living in a homeless shelter, no doubt you’ve heard about massive artificial intelligence (AI) breakthroughs. AI apps like ChatGPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) are phenomenal technology and investing in them is the new dot.com and crypto wave. Good, bad, or ugly, the AI bots are here to stay. So, I decided to experiment with Chat and imagined I had the opportunity to have a one-on-one with the greatest fiction guru ever. The result is my new release titled OpenAI/ChatGPT — A Fiction Writer Talks Shop with a Bot.

First, let me say I don’t believe for a sec that AI is taking over human creativity and imagination like some doomsayers are spouting. I’ve had a two-month-long dive with the Chat technology, and I’m amazed at its potential as a research and writing tool, but it’s not a replacement for a thinking person with their ass in a chair, fingers on keys, and writing more books. (Which, by the way, is the best writing advice I’ve ever got.)

However, the Chat bot is clever. Very clever. I prompted it to write me an Amazon product description (blurb) for my new Chat book. This is what my little AI friend came up with:

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OpenAI ChatGPT—A Fiction Writer Talks Shop with a Bot is the ultimate guide to unlocking the potential of the artificial intelligence (AI) app ChatGPT to help fiction writers create amazing works of art.

This info-packed resource by International Bestselling Author Garry Rodgers provides an in-depth look into how this powerful AI tool can be used to enhance creativity, speed up the writing process, and write stories that will captivate and inspire readers. With step-by-step guidance and real-world examples, this book will show you how to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT to become a more successful fiction writer.

OpenAI ChatGPT—A Fiction Writer Talks Shop with a Bot begins with a general introduction of what this cutting-edge artificial intelligence is and what it can do for fiction writers. This book deep-dives into what a writer’s mindset must be and how to view fiction writing as a business professional. It does a drill into general storytelling and topics like wordcraft with dialogue, grammar and punctuation tips, editing tools, helpful links, and finding that elusive thing called voice. And it reaches a conclusion that going forward in 2023—and beyond—you, as a fiction writer, will be left behind without knowing what OpenAI and the bot ChatGPT can do to up your game and build your career.

Whether you’re a beginning writer or an experienced scribe, this information will help you get the most out of OpenAI and ChatGPT to write stories that will stand out from the crowd.

By the way, this product description was written by ChatGPT. Yes, a bot.

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There’s a learning curve to using ChatGPT effectively. It responds to your inputs, which are called prompts, and gives you answers called conclusions. It’s a case of garbage in / garbage out (GIGO) and the better your prompt the better the conclusion. Chat thrives on clear and precise instructions. The more detail you give Chat about what you want it to do, the more informative is its feedback. You really have to play around with Chat, begin a conversation thread, and drill down as you go along.

ChatGPT is far more than a search engine. Unlike Google which sends you first to paid ads on its search engine response pages (SERPs) and lets you fend for yourself to sort through existing articles, Chat gets right to the meat of the issue you’re after. As long as you’re clear with Chat and guide it along to some degree, what it comes up with can be downright amazing. And frikkin’ fast, too.

The bot has a sense of humor, too. In my book A Fiction Writer Talks Shop with a Bot, I found out that it likes wine—just like I do. We had a side conversation about fine wine, and I wrote a too-much-wine-influenced prompt and it recognized I was slurring my words. Fun stuff, this bot can be.

Getting back to fiction writing, I plan to use ChatGPT as an aid. Just like I use the AI features in the MS Word program I’m writing this post on and Grammarly which I’ll run it through for editing and a final polish. But, I don’t plan on letting Chat run my life or take over content creation like I’m busy at in my newest project titled City Of Danger.

However, I still plan to have some fun with it. Hey Chat—What are the odds of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team winning a Stanley Cup championship?

The odds of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning a Stanley Cup championship vary depending on the year. Generally speaking, the Maple Leafs have not been successful in recent years and the odds of them winning a Stanley Cup championship are extremely low. According to the betting website SportsBetting.ag, the odds of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning a Stanley Cup championship are 1 in 3000, which is considered a very long shot. So don’t bet on them.

By the way, OpenAI/ChatGPT—A Fiction Writer Talks Shop with a Bot is now available on Amazon. Cover design by Elle J. Rossi at Evernight Designs.