How to write a novel with ChatGPT

Why long books go wrong in a chat

ChatGPT only sees so much of a conversation at once. Around chapter 10 or 15 it starts to forget: a character’s eye colour changes, a place is described twice, a plot thread is dropped. Over a long book the voice also drifts back to its own default.

Most writers fix this by hand. They keep a story bible, paste it into every new chat, and copy each chapter out into a document.

Doing it in ChatGPT on its own

• Plan first. Agree the plot and a short plan for each chapter before any drafting.
• Keep a story bible: characters, places, facts the reader knows, and a timeline.
• Write one chapter per request, and paste the relevant notes in each time.
• After each chapter, write a short summary and add any new facts to the bible.
• Give it rules for your voice, and list the phrases you never want to see.
• Use a Project for the book, so the notes sit in one place, and start a new chat when one gets long.

Or let Scriptava hold the book for ChatGPT

Scriptava keeps the plan, the story bible and every chapter. ChatGPT connects to it with one link, reads what it needs before each chapter and saves the chapter straight back. There’s nothing to paste.

Connect ChatGPT to Scriptava

1. In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Apps and connectors.
2. Under Advanced settings, turn on developer mode.
3. Create a new connector, name it Scriptava and paste the link above.
4. Sign in to Scriptava when asked, and choose Allow.
5. In a new chat, add Scriptava from the + menu and say: “Let’s start a new book.”

OpenAI moves these settings between versions, and not every ChatGPT plan can add custom connectors. If you cannot find them, OpenAI’s help pages have the current steps.

Then write chapter by chapter

1. Tell it the idea. It helps you shape the plan and saves it.
2. Ask: “Plan chapter 1.” Approve the plan, or send it back with notes.
3. Ask: “Write chapter 1.” It reads the story bible, drafts the chapter and saves it.
4. Ten reviews check it for continuity slips, AI-sounding phrases and more, and fix what they find.
5. Read it in Scriptava, edit it, and move on to the next.

What it costs

You pay for ChatGPT as you do now. Scriptava is free for 21 days, then from £5 a month. There are no AI credits to buy. See pricing.