Category: Weird Science

AI as Writer’s Assistant: the Automation Edition  

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(Please note: this post was written and scheduled before the big blowup about the changes to Perplexity’s terms of service, and the automation work described here entirely predates the implementation of those TOS changes on 1/23/2026. I can no longer suggest Perplexity as a support tool for this kind of work, but am mentioning my use of it for transparency’s sake.)

After making  Claude.ai my virtual secretary, genre cheerleader, and typo spotter, the next logical step was automating the repetitive bits. The main reason to go to automations in the first place for certain forms of work is that the AI chatbots cannot hold a 50K manuscript (the length I mostly write to) in its memory. I conducted a few early experiments on Make.com. One of these automations analyzed public domain mysteries from the Golden Age to get a feel for the plot structure. Another was designed to give Amazon genre and SEO advice for my own books. Others helped me pinpoint quotes from the Hunter Healer King trilogy to share on social media, and scenes from the books which might lend themselves to book videos.  

By January 2026, I was burning through Make.com’s free account limits far too fast. Through the Nerdy Novelist on Youtube, I heard about n8n, an open-source automation tool which can be self-hosted on the user’s computer. The only cost for running the automations would be the API credits  spent on the ai models of my choice at OpenRouter.ai. 

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AI as Writer’s Assistant: the Chatbot Edition 

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A lot of the discourse surrounding AI in the writing sphere seems to focus on people whose ambition is to become a sort of digital James Patterson (or Edward Stratemeyer or Auguste Maquet, depending on their education level) with the LLMs as their ghost-writers. I’ve found the videos put out by this faction of AI-friendly writers somewhat helpful. But I am a writer who usually starts with a couple of lead characters and an endpoint and a starting point nailed down, maybe a few milestones in between dimly visible in the mist. The exhaustive outlining, character sheets, and editing recommended by this AI-friendly faction mostly looks, well, exhausting, even when the AI generates most of it, and the human just checks and polishes. In some cases, the outlines for this approach look more like a “zero draft” and involve a lot of human input, which is why I don’t think  it’s fair to level “you didn’t write that” complaints at this faction. 

My own process for the current WIPs goes something like this: dictate in mp3 format, have a local instance of whisper transcribe the result, take it to my free-tier Claude account to have the ai cleanup the result, add punctuation, and so forth. It helps to have prompting instructions that specifically ask the chatbot to maintain the writer’s voice. You can see the ones I use here. 

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Perplexity Just Nuked Alot of Goodwill

Posted on Posted in ai, Weird Science, World Building, Writing3 Comments

They apparently very discreetly pushed a Terms of Service update back on 1/23/2026 stating that you couldn’t use its output for commercial purposes on the Free or Pro plans, and any stuff you uploaded to it “are belong to us.” the Nerdy Novelist has a good summary here. (If you don’t have time for a 12-minute video, the meat of the discussion starts around 1:30-1:40, and goes for maybe 3-4 minutes beyond that. A lot of the second half is him reflecting on his previously good experiences with this tool.)

This is a bummer for me because if Claude is my secretary and alpha reader, and sometimes my pet fanfic writer, Perplexity is (soon to be was) my research assistant and tech support. At least I don’t use AI for first draft fiction work, so there is that.

Greetings, insta-people and other visitors! I recent-ishly published the third book in a trilogy, so feel free to check that out as well.

Fanficcing With Claude.ai: Bollywood Edition 

Posted on Posted in ai, LLMs, Mystery, Weird Science3 Comments

Digging around on my cloud accounts, I found a couple of fanfics that had survived the Great Purge mentioned in a previous post. Both of them were a bit longer and more carefully executed than the quick-hit  fanfic I discussed in that post, and both were for a heist movie from India which I saw about twelve or thirteen years ago, and was briefly obsessed with.  

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Spring Book Sale

Posted on Posted in Cheap Books, Cool Books, Cool Websites, Fantasy, Hunter Healer King, Marketing, Mel Dunay, Space Opera, Steampunk, Weird Science8 Comments

It’s time for the latest Book Sale hosted by Hans G. Schantz, where indie authors from across genres join together to offer great stories at great prices. 

I’m glad to be participating once again. This event has always been a great opportunity for readers and writers to connect through their shared love of good books, without all the noise. 

My contribution this quarter is Undead Flight, the second book in my Hunter Hunter Trilogy. It’s a gaslamp fantasy where our horse-loving heroine faces vampires and zombies ON AN AIRSHIP, while sorting out her feelings for a certain sharp-dressed monster hunter.  It continues on from the first book in the trilogy in terms of the setting and the leads’ dynamic, but stands on its own as a story. 

You can find it, and many others, at the sale here. 

As always, I’m thankful for everyone who stops by, whether to browse, buy, or spread the word. Every bit of attention helps keep indie pub going. 

Happy reading! 

Video Thursday: What’s in the Box? Edition

Posted on Posted in ai, Fantasy, history, Hunter Healer King, LLMs, Mel Dunay, Midjourney, Steampunk, videos, Weird Science, World Building, WritingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

https://youtube.com/shorts/R4meKyRdvYU

Maxim offers Chloe a box, and asks her to keep the artifact inside safe. She holds up the necklace inside and wonders “what has he gotten me into now?” Their relationship isn’t built on grand gestures. It’s built on trust forged while fighting monsters side by side. A romantic moment from Undead Flight, Book 2 of the Hunter Healer King trilogy. Which, by the way, is on sale now as part of Hans G. Schantz’s Spring Book Sale!

Pride and Planetoids: First Draft Complete

Posted on Posted in ai, Jane Austen, Space Opera, Star Wars, Weird Science, World Building, Writing2 Comments

This is the official title of the space regency, first draft just completed at 58,000 words. I had the basic idea for this a long time ago. I skimmed down a list of lost Jane Austen tv adaptations. I spotted a name I knew very well, from a couple of non-Austen contexts, in the cast for the 1952 Pride and Prejudice. And I thought to myself: “What if Mr. Darcy went around exploding planets?” But I only started brainstorming the idea somewhere in the past three years or so. I started writing it sometime in late 2024, around the time I wrapped up Undead Flight. It continued as a background project in 2025, while I was writing Dragon’s Teeth. It picked up speed when I finished that book.

Pride and Planetoids has been a guinea pig for many of my experiments in using AI, including playing with the trial periods of Sudowrite and Novelcrafter. It will soon be a guinea pig for some automations I built to help with revisions. The actual prose and storyline are human creations, as with my other works.

Video Thursday: Vampires on an Airship Edition

Posted on Posted in ai, Fantasy, history, Hunter Healer King, LLMs, Midjourney, Steampunk, videos, Weird Science, World Building, WritingTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

https://youtube.com/shorts/LiePsSvFpqo

Maxim and Chloe face a blood-drinking leech, a horrifying monster created by the most dangerous type of dark sorcerer. Inspired by a scene from Undead Flight, Book 2 of the Hunter Healer King trilogy.