You know when a character creeps into your stories and refuses to leave? That was Ruby Madison. She first showed up in December Moon—as a ghost, no less—and instantly became one of my absolute favourites to write. She’s quirky, feisty, full of spark and sass… the kind of character who takes over a scene and makes it her own. And for years—literally years—I’ve had this idea bubbling away to tell her story. Not her ghost story. Her origin story. The one where we find out who she was before she was, well… dead. (Yes, I know how that sounds!)
So, after years of keeping her waiting in the wings, I finally decided it was time to give Ruby her very own novella. But I didn’t write it the usual way. I did something I’ve never done before—I was writing with ChatGPT. Yep. I teamed up with ChatGPT (the Plus version, of course—I like the VIP treatment) and set out to co-write a novella with artificial intelligence. Not only was it a bit bonkers, but it was also kind of brilliant.
This whole thing started as an experiment. I’ve been using ChatGPT for over a year now for all sorts of bits and pieces—blog ideas, brainstorming, editing help, you name it. And over time, it’s developed a kind of “Suzy-style” voice. That’s one of the surprising things about writing with ChatGPT—it starts to mimic your tone in weirdly accurate ways. It knows how I like to write, how I speak, and—oddly—it has started to banter with me like a slightly geeky writing buddy. So, I thought… why not? Let’s see what this thing can really do.
I sat down, opened a new chat, and told it we were going to write Ruby Madison. I gave it background, explained Ruby’s role in The Raven Saga, how she’s not one of the main characters but still incredibly important to me, and how I wanted to explore the life she had before the afterlife.
Writing with ChatGPT meant constantly guiding it back to the emotional tone I wanted—but the ideas it sparked really kept me on my toes.
And you know what? It was fun! Strange. Slightly surreal. But genuinely fun. ChatGPT threw out ideas, I tweaked them. I pushed back, it adjusted. It was like having a co-writer who doesn’t get grumpy when you rewrite their entire paragraph.
But here’s the thing—it never quite got my style. I tried, believe me. I gave it examples of my writing, explained tone, rhythm, voice… but it always felt just a little off. Still, we pressed on and finished the novella in a few weeks. Then came the polishing stage, and off it went to my proofreading wizard Jill (aka my retired schoolteacher guardian angel who’s proofread every book I’ve ever written).
Her feedback? Brutally honest in the best way. She said it felt like it was trying too hard, like it was written to pass a creative writing exam rather than to sweep readers away. Too many Americanisms, too much description, not enough Suzy. But… she also said the story itself—the ideas, the structure, the twists and turns—was great.
That’s something I’ve realised about writing with ChatGPT—when it works, it really works. But it still needs your fingerprints all over it.
And honestly, I agree with her. Ruby Madison is a good story. Maybe not my best, but it’s solid. It’s different because it wasn’t just me behind the words. It was me and this digital brain bouncing ideas back and forth. It’s a little like being in a band and realising your solo stuff has a very different sound.
So no, I’m not going to rewrite it. Ruby’s story is out there now—told by two quirky creators: me and ChatGPT. And you know what? That feels kind of perfect for her.
Would I do it again? Would I write another novel with my new writing buddy? Hmm… I don’t think so. I’ve got other books brewing—one of which is non-fiction and I’m halfway through writing it at the moment and I feel the excitement for this project brewing inside of me (but more on that later!). That said, I’ll definitely keep using ChatGPT for brainstorming, editing help, and bouncing ideas around. It’s like having a sounding board that never sleeps.
But before I let it loose into the world, I wanted to get a bit of external (and impartial!) digital feedback. So once the book was finished, I decided to take things a step further. I signed up for a free month of Google Gemini Advanced and fed it my entire Raven Saga series to get it up to speed. Then I uploaded Ruby Madison to get its take—and honestly, it was a brilliant move. It offered up a few solid suggestions, but more importantly, it caught a small but important continuity error that I’d totally missed. Something that didn’t quite fit with the rest of the series. It was easy enough to tweak, but it was a good reminder that even when working with AI, it helps to bring in a second (digital) opinion!
Yes, I co-wrote Ruby Madison with a bit of fancy AI help—paid for the upgrade and everything. And yes, it’s still priced at 99 cents, because clearly, I’m living the high-rolling author life (if only!). So, if you fancy a quirky little read and want to support my wildly lucrative career in bargain-bin publishing—or help fund my next Vinted haul (or maybe just a few more witchy candles)—grab a copy and get lost in the magic. I would be insanely grateful! Ruby Madison is only available on Amazon at the moment, and is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited so it’s free for those of you signed up!
Now, I know AI is a controversial topic in the creative world. There are people out there who are seriously anti-AI. They believe AI shouldn’t be trained on human-created content—books, art, whatever. But honestly? I think that’s kind of mad. We learn by reading other people’s books. Artists learn by copying and studying others. It’s literally how we’ve trained our brains for thousands of years. So why should it be any different for AI?
To me, AI is just another tool. A weird, fascinating, sometimes frustrating tool—but one that’s worth exploring. And Ruby Madison? She’s the proof that sometimes the strangest collaborations lead to the most unexpected results. Writing with ChatGPT might not be for everyone, but it opened up a whole new creative process I didn’t know I needed.
So if you’re curious about writing with AI—go for it. Try it. Play with it. And don’t be afraid to break the rules.
Ruby wouldn’t have it any other way.
