Writing Tips
Practical advice for authors.
10 articles in this category.
Beating Writer's Block by Lowering Your Standards
Most writer's block is perfectionism in disguise. Permission to write badly, timed sprints, the ugly first draft, and where an AI prompt breaks a logjam.
The Case Against Letting AI Write Your First Draft
Letting AI write your first draft skips the thinking that makes a book yours. Here's the craft argument against it, and where AI genuinely helps instead.
Writing With AI Is Making People Worse at Thinking. Here's the Fix.
Writing with AI quietly offloads your thinking, not just your typing. The cognitive cost is real. The fix is to make the model interrogate you, not replace you.
AI Detectors Don't Work, and Pretending They Do Hurts Writers
AI detectors are unreliable, flag real human writing as fake, and punish ESL and neurodivergent writers most. Why they fail, and what to do instead.
How to Use AI as a Writing Coach, Not a Ghostwriter
An AI writing coach diagnoses weak spots, assigns targeted exercises, and asks Socratic questions instead of writing your prose. Specific prompts and habits to make it work.
Is Using AI to Write a Novel Cheating? A Straight Answer.
Is using AI to write a book cheating? Honest answer: it depends what you mean by write. Here's the spectrum, the real line, and where reader trust breaks.
The Great De-skilling: What Writers Lose When AI Does the Hard Parts
AI and writing skills are on a collision course. When a model handles plotting, sentence-craft, and revision, those muscles atrophy. Here's what to protect.
How to Brainstorm a Novel With AI (Premise → Plot → Characters)
A practical, step-by-step process for brainstorming your next novel with AI — generating and pressure-testing your premise, plot, and characters without losing your own voice.
AI Won't Kill Writing. It Will Kill Lazy Writing.
The doom takes about AI and writing miss the real story. Cheap competent prose makes voice-driven, hard-won writing more valuable, not less. Here's why.
How to Write a Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide
A practical, no-nonsense guide to writing your first novel — from idea to finished draft. Learn the process professional authors actually use.