A Note on How I Use AI in This Blog (and in My Fiction)

I’ve been using AI very extensively in this blog — both to craft paragraphs and to generate images. The ideas are mine, the direction is mine, and much of the wording is mine, but I use AI as a kind of prosthetic: something that helps me articulate what I’m already thinking, with better grammar, cleaner structure, and a wider range of stylistic options.

It’s like dictating to a scribe — one who can keep pace with my thoughts, tidy the edges, and offer multiple ways of expressing the same idea. I’m continually chipping away at what it gives me, reshaping it so the tone is mine and the meaning is exactly what I intend before publication. The final text still feels like me, because I’m the one steering every sentence.

Fiction, though, is another matter.

I’ve written seven draft‑manuscript novels. My first vanity project and self‑published novel Wine and Cheese is entirely my own work. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wine-Cheese-P-J-Anderson-ebook/dp/B0C2NH242N

My soon‑to‑be‑published novel The Far Oak is the exception. It’s an AI‑augmented version of my original drafts, with around 90% of the material my own. Why use AI for this one? Because the story had been sitting in my head for years and I needed to get it out. And because — like most adults juggling work and family — I don’t have the luxury of endless writing hours. I also wanted to see what the current generation of tools could actually do.

For the blog, though, AI has simply become part of the workflow: a tool that helps me think, shape, and refine. The creativity is mine. The voice is mine. The AI just helps me get the words onto the page in the form I want them.

Does AI‑augmented writing seem less authentic? Some people get twitchy about AI in writing. If you dislike what I publish, that’s on me — my name’s on it. And if you do like it, you might say, “Well, AI’s done wonders for an otherwise mediocre scribbler.” To which I’d reply, with a grin: “Spot on.”