AI Book Writing eGuide
Whether you’re a first-time writer or a seasoned storyteller looking to speed up your process, this guide will walk you through every essential step of writing a book—from your first idea to your final draft—with the power of AI tools at your side.
Inside, you’ll find:
📚 A clear step-by-step breakdown of the entire book-writing process
🛠️ Recommended AI tools for each stage (from brainstorming to editing)
✨ Prompt templates crafted to get the results you want from your AI assistant
💡 Practical advice and examples to keep your creativity flowing
Each section of this guide focuses on a single, manageable step. You’ll move through the process in order, starting with brainstorming ideas and ending with details about publishing your eBook! At each step, you’ll be shown specific tools to use and given AI prompts that are ready to copy, tweak, and use—so you’re never stuck staring at a blank page.
Step 1 - Brainstorming!
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Every great book starts with a core idea—the heart of your story. It could be a single image, a feeling, a “what if” scenario, or a theme you care about deeply. This step is about exploring and shaping that spark into something strong enough to build a full book around.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Core Concept: What’s the main situation or hook that your story revolves around?
Theme: What deeper idea does your story explore? (e.g. freedom, identity, redemption)
Genre: What category does your story fall into? (sci-fi, romance, fantasy, etc.)
You don’t need all the answers right away. The goal here is to start shaping your vision and get a sense of the emotional and narrative direction.
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI tools are great brainstorming partners. They can generate dozens of unique ideas based on your interests, combine genres in creative ways, or flip clichés into something fresh. You can interact with the AI like a writing partner, asking for variations, deeper meaning, or alternative takes.
💬 Starter Prompts to Use:
“Give me 3 story ideas about overcoming fear in a dystopian world.”
“Suggest five fantasy story concepts with emotional stakes involving family.”
“What would be a compelling theme for a sci-fi novel about isolation?”
“Give me plot ideas that mix romance and survival in a war-torn setting.”
“Brainstorm 5 high-stakes story concepts where the main character is not the hero.”
🔍 Pro Tip:
Once you find an idea that excites you, dig deeper by asking follow-ups:
“Why would the reader care about this?”
“How can I add emotional tension to this concept?”
“What kind of character would be most affected by this idea?”
AI can help you turn a basic idea into a story seed ready for character and plot development in the next step.
Note: Once you get an idea, store it in a tool like google docs or Sudowrite so you can keep your work organized and quickly reference it when needed
Step 2 - Refining Your Setting
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Now that you’ve got your core idea, it’s time to anchor it in a world that supports your story’s tone, theme, and conflict. Your setting is more than just scenery—it affects how your characters act, what they believe, and what challenges they face.
Whether you’re writing about a real place, a made-up world, or a mix of both, this step helps you establish the rules of reality your story will follow. That includes time period, environment, culture, technology, and even magical or dystopian systems.
🎯 What to Focus On:
When and where does the story take place?
What is possible or impossible in this world?
What makes this place different from the real world (if anything)?
How does this world reflect or challenge your theme?
What’s the social structure? What’s normal, feared, or outlawed?
🤖 How AI Can Help:
Use AI to:
Generate original world-building ideas
Create locations, city maps, or governing systems
Flesh out climate, economy, or cultural customs
Explore how setting shapes conflict, power, or tension
💬 World-Building Prompts to Try:
“Describe a futuristic city where emotions are regulated by law.”
“Create a medieval kingdom where dreams predict real-world disasters.”
“Design a post-apocalyptic world where water is currency and society runs on ancient AI systems.”
“What rituals or laws might exist in a culture that lives entirely underwater?”
“Give me a setting where technology is feared and writing is outlawed.”
🔍 Pro Tip:
The best settings feel alive. Try to connect the environment to the emotional journey of your characters. A cold, sterile world might reflect emotional repression. A chaotic, ever-shifting world might reflect instability or fear.
Your setting doesn’t need to be fully fleshed out before you move on—but it should feel solid enough that your characters can live in it and your plot can be shaped by it.
Once you’ve locked in the world your story lives in, you’re ready for Step 3: Developing Your Characters
Step 3 - Developing Your Characters
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Now that you have a solid story idea and a world to place it in, it’s time to create the people who live it. Characters are the emotional engine of your story. They give readers someone to root for, worry about, or fear. A great character isn’t perfect—they’re complex, conflicted, and changing.
This step is about designing characters who feel real and are directly tied to the story’s core conflict and theme. Every character, especially your main one, should have a goal, a fear, and a flaw—these create the tension that drives the story forward.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Protagonist: Who are they, what do they want, and what’s standing in their way?
Antagonist or Obstacle: What force (person, system, or inner fear) is working against them?
Motivations: Why does this character care? What do they value?
Backstory: What life experiences shaped them?
Character Arc: How will they change by the end of the story?
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI can:
Help you create full character profiles in minutes
Suggest flaws, goals, or personality traits
Generate character dialogue or scenes to test how they behave
Offer quick ideas for emotional arcs or family dynamics
💬 Starter Prompts to Use:
“Create a main character who wants to be free but fears hurting others to get it.”
“Give me a backstory for a hero who used to be a villain.”
“Describe a mentor who challenges the main character’s beliefs but genuinely wants to help them grow.”
“What flaw would sabotage a character who prides themselves on always being in control?”
“Write a character arc for someone who starts off selfish but learns to sacrifice for others.”
🔍 Pro Tip:
Your story’s emotional impact depends on character conflict. The more internal tension your protagonist faces, the more compelling your story becomes. Don’t be afraid to make them uncomfortable. That’s how they grow—and how your readers stay engaged.
Once you’ve created believable characters with goals and fears, you’re ready for Step 4: Outlining Your Story’s Structure.
Step 4 - Outlining Your Story
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Now that you’ve got your core idea, setting, and characters, it’s time to map out how your story unfolds. Outlining helps you stay focused, avoid plot holes, and maintain momentum when you start drafting. You don’t need to plan every detail, but having a solid framework will make the writing process much smoother.
This step is about laying down your beginning, middle, and end, identifying key events, and thinking ahead to story elements like twists, foreshadowing, and the emotional payoff of your ending.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Story Structure: What happens at the start, middle, and end? Which writing struct will I use? (3-Act Structure, Save the cat, etc)
Perspective (POV): Who’s telling the story? First person? Third person limited? Multiple POVs?
Character Arcs: How do your characters grow across the plot?
Plot Points: What events force your character to act, change, or confront their fear?
Twists & Foreshadowing: What clues can you plant early that will pay off later?
Ending: What feeling or message do you want to leave the reader with?
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI can help you:
Build full outlines based on your concept
Break your story into beats or chapters
Suggest twists, turning points, and alternate outcomes
Help you choose the best point of view for emotional impact
💬 Starter Prompts to Try:
“Outline a 3-act structure for a fantasy story about a healer who must choose between love and saving the world.”
“What would be a powerful plot twist in a story about a clone who doesn’t know they’re a clone?”
“Suggest 5 first-person story hooks for a character hiding a dangerous secret.”
“Help me plan a satisfying emotional ending for a character who starts off selfish and learns to care about others.”
🔍 Pro Tip:
Choose your point of view early—it changes how the reader connects with your characters.
First Person: Deep, personal, emotional
Third Person Limited: Flexible, focused
Multiple POVs: Layered, complex, good for drama or parallel arcs
Plant foreshadowing seeds now—even small details in your outline can help remind you of ideas when you begin writing your drafts.
Step 5 - Draft
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With your story outlined, world built, and characters ready to act, it’s time to start writing the actual book. This stage is about turning ideas into words—one scene at a time.
Don’t worry about perfection here. The goal is momentum. Drafting is where your story breathes, evolves, and surprises even you. You can always revise later. Right now, you’re just getting the story down on the page.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Scene Purpose: What changes in this scene? What moves the story forward?
Character Motivation: What does your character want here? What’s stopping them?
Emotional Beats: How should this scene feel—tense, quiet, chaotic, tender?
Dialogue & Action: How do characters speak, act, or react under pressure?
Pacing: Alternate intense scenes with slower, reflective ones to keep readers engaged
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI tools can:
Help write first drafts of scenes based on your outline
Suggest dialogue, setting descriptions, or character reactions
Rewrite clunky sentences or expand short scenes
Offer tonal or pacing adjustments when things feel flat
💬 Starter Prompts to Try:
“Write a scene where a character reveals a secret during an argument in the rain.”
“Draft a moment where the protagonist must choose between loyalty and freedom.”
“Describe a quiet scene that shows growing tension between two characters.”
“Help me rewrite this scene to feel more emotionally charged.”
“Continue this scene where the main character finds out the world is ending tomorrow.”
🔍 Pro Tip:
Treat each scene like its own mini-story. It should have a clear goal, obstacle, and change by the end. If nothing shifts, consider trimming or combining scenes. Your readers will stay more engaged when every scene earns its place.
Don’t stop to over-edit. Let AI help you keep going forward. First drafts are where ideas flow—polish comes next.
Step 6 - Editing
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You’ve drafted your story—now it’s time to shape it into something clear, impactful, and emotionally strong. Editing is where you fine-tune pacing, improve word choice, strengthen character arcs, and clean up anything that doesn’t serve your story.
This step isn’t just about fixing typos. It’s about enhancing clarity, tightening scenes, and making sure every page moves your reader forward.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Clarity & Flow: Do scenes transition smoothly? Is the action clear?
Tone & Voice: Is the writing style consistent with your theme and genre?
Character Consistency: Are motivations, voice, and behavior believable?
Scene Purpose: Does every scene push the story forward or reveal something new?
Overused Phrases & Filler Words: Watch for repetition or vague language
Line-Level Polishing: Improve rhythm, sentence variation, and emotional punch
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI is a great second set of eyes. It can:
Highlight clunky phrasing or awkward dialogue
Suggest stronger word choices or clearer sentences
Rewrite paragraphs while keeping your tone
Help restructure or trim scenes for better pacing
💬 Starter Prompts to Try:
“Rewrite this paragraph to sound more suspenseful.”
“Help me simplify this sentence without losing impact.”
“Does this dialogue feel natural between a nervous teenager and their mentor?”
“Identify filler words or phrases I should cut from this chapter.”
“How can I improve the emotional payoff in this scene?”
🔍 Pro Tip:
Edit in layers. Start with big-picture changes (pacing, plot holes, arc clarity), then move to line edits (wording, grammar, tone). Don’t try to perfect everything at once—it’s more productive to edit in focused passes.
Use AI to challenge your choices, not replace them. Let it offer rewrites, but ask why its suggestion might work better. That way, you keep full creative control while still getting a helpful push.
Step 7 - Formatting
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You’ve written, revised, and polished your manuscript—now it’s time to make it look like a real book. Formatting is the process of structuring your text so it’s clean, readable, and professional—whether it’s for print, eBook, or web.
Proper formatting helps keep readers immersed. It gives your story structure, breaks it into digestible chunks, and ensures your hard work feels finished.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Chapter Structure: Start each chapter on a new page. Use consistent headers and spacing.
Paragraph Styling: Use appropriate indents or spacing between paragraphs (but not both).
Font & Line Spacing: Stick with easy-to-read fonts (like Georgia or Times New Roman). Use 1.5 or double spacing for most manuscripts.
Section Breaks: Use visual markers (like “***”) or page breaks between scene changes.
Front & Back Matter: Add a title page, copyright page, dedication, and author bio if needed.
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI tools can:
Format content into sections or chapters
Check for consistency in headings, spacing, and layout
Help convert your manuscript into formatted templates for eBooks or print
Generate front/back matter like author bios or blurbs
💬 Starter Prompts to Try:
“Format this text into chapter format with a chapter title and spacing between scenes.”
“Create a clean page layout for an eBook with centered chapter titles and justified paragraphs.”
“Write a short author bio for the back of a self-published novel.”
“What should I include in the front matter of a fantasy book?”
🔍 Pro Tip:
If you’re planning to publish digitally, format for ePub or MOBI (eBooks). If you’re printing, format for PDF or a publishing-ready Word doc. Always preview your book on multiple devices or readers before publishing.
Tools like Reedsy Book Editor or Atticus make formatting for eBooks and print easy—even if you’ve never done it before.
- Step 8 -
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You’ve brainstormed, written, revised, and formatted your book—now it’s time to put it out into the world. Publishing is the final step that turns your project into something real that others can read, enjoy, and learn from.
Whether you’re aiming to self-publish, offer your book as a free download, or pursue traditional publishing, this step is about making informed choices that match your goals.
🎯 What to Focus On:
Publishing Format: eBook, print, or both?
Distribution Platform: Where will people find it? (Amazon, Gumroad, personal website, etc.)
Cover Design: Does your cover attract the right audience and reflect your genre?
Blurb & Metadata: What’s your book about, and who’s it for? Write a short, engaging summary.
Pricing or Access: Will your book be free, paid, or “pay what you want”?
ISBN & Copyright: Consider registering your book if you want formal ownership and ISBN assignment (especially for print)
🤖 How AI Can Help:
AI can support your publishing process by helping you:
Write a strong blurb and book description
Draft outreach emails or social media launch posts
Generate taglines and headlines for marketing
Format final copy for publishing platforms
💬 Starter Prompts to Try:
“Write a back cover blurb for a YA fantasy novel about a girl who controls shadows.”
“Suggest metadata and keywords for an eBook about emotional healing through journaling.”
“Draft a launch announcement for social media to promote my new self-published book.”
“Compare self-publishing on Amazon vs. Gumroad for a short story collection.”
🔍 Pro Tip:
If you’re publishing on Amazon KDP, make sure your files are formatted correctly (EPUB for eBooks, PDF with bleed for print). For a more controlled experience, platforms like Gumroad or Payhip let you sell directly to readers and keep more profits.
Not ready to sell yet? You can still publish your book for free on your website or blog, or use it as a lead magnet to build an email list or community.
- Conclusion -
You’ve just walked through every step of the book-writing journey—from the first spark of an idea to sharing your finished story with the world. With the help of AI tools, creativity, and your unique voice, you now have everything you need to bring your book to life. Whether this is your first project or one of many, remember that writing is a process of growth—and you don’t have to do it alone. Use this guide as your roadmap, revisit the prompts when you’re stuck, and trust your instincts. Your story matters, and now you have the tools to tell it.
- Prompts -
A convenient list of the relevant prompts used throughout the eGuide
Brainstorming Prompts
Prompts:
“Give me 3 story ideas about overcoming fear in a dystopian world.”
“Suggest five fantasy story concepts with emotional stakes involving family.”
“What would be a compelling theme for a sci-fi novel about isolation?”
“Give me plot ideas that mix romance and survival in a war-torn setting.”
“Brainstorm 5 high-stakes story concepts where the main character is not the hero.”
World and Setting Prompts
Prompts:
“Describe a futuristic city where emotions are regulated by law.”
“Create a medieval kingdom where dreams predict real-world disasters.”
“Design a post-apocalyptic world where water is currency and society runs on ancient AI systems.”
“What rituals or laws might exist in a culture that lives entirely underwater?”
“Give me a setting where technology is feared and writing is outlawed.”
Character Prompts
Prompts:
“Create a main character who wants to be free but fears hurting others to get it.”
“Give me a backstory for a hero who used to be a villain.”
“Describe a mentor who challenges the main character’s beliefs but genuinely wants to help them grow.”
“What flaw would sabotage a character who prides themselves on always being in control?”
“Write a character arc for someone who starts off selfish but learns to sacrifice for others.”
Story Outline Prompts
Prompts:
“Outline a 3-act structure for a fantasy story about a healer who must choose between love and saving the world.”
“What would be a powerful plot twist in a story about a clone who doesn’t know they’re a clone?”
“Suggest 5 first-person story hooks for a character hiding a dangerous secret.”
“Help me plan a satisfying emotional ending for a character who starts off selfish and learns to care about others.”
Draft Prompts
Prompts:
“Write a scene where a character reveals a secret during an argument in the rain.”
“Draft a moment where the protagonist must choose between loyalty and freedom.”
“Describe a quiet scene that shows growing tension between two characters.”
“Help me rewrite this scene to feel more emotionally charged.”
“Continue this scene where the main character finds out the world is ending tomorrow.”
Editing Prompts
Prompts:
“Rewrite this paragraph to sound more suspenseful.”
“Help me simplify this sentence without losing impact.”
“Does this dialogue feel natural between a nervous teenager and their mentor?”
“Identify filler words or phrases I should cut from this chapter.”
“How can I improve the emotional payoff in this scene?”
Formatting Prompts
Prompts:
“Format this text into chapter format with a chapter title and spacing between scenes.”
“Create a clean page layout for an eBook with centered chapter titles and justified paragraphs.”
“Write a short author bio for the back of a self-published novel.”
“What should I include in the front matter of a fantasy book?”
Publishing Prompts
Prompts:
“Write a back cover blurb for a YA fantasy novel about a girl who controls shadows.”
“Suggest metadata and keywords for an eBook about emotional healing through journaling.”
“Draft a launch announcement for social media to promote my new self-published book.”
“Compare self-publishing on Amazon vs. Gumroad for a short story collection.”
Responses