WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING A BOOK… USING AI? 1

ChatGPT started operating in November 2022.

A little over a year later (in the last quarter of 2024) it is already normal to create books with artificial intelligence.

The discussion is no longer whether it should or should not be done, or whether human writers will be replaced by computers. The questions are how writers use different artificial intelligences to be more productive, to improve their habits, to develop their style, to promote themselves, etc.

If the animal that we are were shy, we would not be where we are.

Reflecting on how I wrote the Qatar book, I see that I started quickly. I looked for information, I accumulated it, I felt pressured by its volume, I reviewed it, organized it in some way, I organized it again… The fatal date was the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Having a deadline is something of the utmost importance for a writing project. Thanks to that date, thanks to that deadline, the accumulation of information did not dominate the real activity of working to write and deliver the book. And… I barely met it. I did not finish and publish the book before the World Cup started but one day after the opening. Being condescending, you can say that I delivered it “when the World Cup started.” I don’t know if that would have convinced an editor.

When, thanks to the deadline, I was forced to define the book and sit down to write, I encountered the obstacles I mentioned in the other posts: understanding what I wanted to know with all that information and what I wanted to say. Once I had it clear (because it was a concern I had for many years) the next thing was to listen to advice.

“Think about the reader.” The question has two meanings: why would someone buy your book? How does your book help someone?

The answer may or may not be the same. And each of these questions is a powerful tool for the author.

They are not the only ones.

The controversy over what writing is for or what writing is for, the problem of the writer in society is not reduced to these two questions but both are tools that clarify the mind and in that way strengthen the writer in his work. These questions make him more efficient.

Does AI clarify the author’s mind? Does AI make him more efficient?

We have to do the experiment.