How I Work

Creation of books is never ever wrong, sometimes we need help, sometimes it takes ages. First we had scribes copying endlessly to fill demand. Then printers would create plates for printing so thousands of copies could be sold. Now we can duplicate and print all in one place. It's called advancement, it's a tool and we as induviduals control it.

A.I. is also a tool. It is fed by humans, if you don't feed it, it will corrupt itself, wither and die. See this post by Hello, Writer on Substack its quick an eye opener.

That said, read on and see where I use it and where I don't.

Assisted Artisan Author?

What is an Assisted Artisan Author? Anyone who uses any form of technology to create. This includes, and by no means limited to, spell-checkers, grammar programmes, etc.

Let's get something straight. I'm a shit speller. Always have been! My English teacher told my mum that my spelling was "all my own work", and my first novels went out with some of the worst spelling and grammar. I'm looking at you, seamed instead of seemed.

Getting my hands on the first versions of a PC word processor with spellcheck was the most amazing thing in the world. Have you ever tried looking up a page of words in the dictionary when you think that even something as simple as city is spelt wrong? I mean, look at it long enough, and you'll get it.

When I wrote and published The Rising Awakening, there were so many errors I could cry, and that was with grammar checkers and ProWritingAid. And if you don't believe me, just look at some of those early reviews - or try reading an early copy. I even had one beta reader tell me that my understanding of the English language was excellent. I misunderstood - I now realise that she thought English was my second language - oops!

So yes, I have embraced working with several AI tools alongside human creators to provide interesting and beautiful books. I'm a GenXer, so I've used a lot of technology, and now we are on the cusp of living in a Star Trek world. I use ChatGPT occasionally to answer questions, brainstorm ideas and fire my creative process, but my characters, story premise, plot and finished manuscript text are all mine. Stratia.ai helps me write book descriptions, blog, and marketing posts. ChatGPT, helps with blurbs, book marketing ideas and ad copy. I also use ProWritingAid for first, second, and third edits and remove my ideos and over used words like 'just' and 'that' before passing the MS to my (human) editors, Anna Sharples and Sian Phillips. I've generated art on Midjourney (using a commercial license) for only one book. Canva and BookBrush are used to design layouts and cover designs myself, and I've purchased various (human designed) cover-art and font designs. Interior formatting for both print and ebook editions is created using Atticus, though I've had a human layout/format one book - it was not a pleasant experience. I use Canva, BookBrush, Midjourney, Stratia, Book Voice, and ChatGPT to make book marketing images. I hope someday to do book trailers - but will stick with TikTok for now. I intend to use ElevenLabs and clone my own voice to create audiobooks as a human is far too expensive, and this is my money I'm spending with very little return. So lets face it who the fuck cares - nobody's going to read this anyway, and it was all my own work. Spelling and grammar be damned.

If you what to know more about these processes then check out author Joanna Penn or check out https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2026/09/09/what-machines-cant-replace-why-ai-makes-us-more-human-with-anna-mcphee/