As an “AI First” novelist, I sometimes ask AI to act as a more aggressive manuscript consultant than I’d normally prefer — punching up a scene when I’m frustrated by how short it is and need a quick-and-dirty way to get it to length. This adds to my workload later, but at least it gives me a guide for fixing length problems down the road.
The real risk is in the “color correction” — my term for the revision pass where I make every line sound like me. If I don’t do that properly, there’ll be an obvious gap between what I wrote and what AI expanded. That pass is where I earn the manuscript.
All of this is happening against a timeline that’s coming into focus. I’m targeting September 1st to start querying. I’ll hopefully — maybe — wrap up this draft within a few weeks. Then comes color correction, and then comes finding beta readers, which frankly worries me more than the writing. I have real doubts I’ll find anyone willing to read the thing.
One thing I’ll probably revisit during color correction: character names. A relative told me the “weird names” were off-putting, and I don’t entirely disagree — but I don’t entirely agree either. I’ll need to sit with that one.
Still, this is by far the farthest I’ve ever gotten in the process of writing a query-worthy novel. I feel a little sheepish about how many years it’s taken to reach this point, but I’ve had fun getting here. And for the first time, the next stage — actually querying — feels like something that’s about to happen rather than something I’m imagining.
