WRITING
In early April 2025, I started revising the first chapter. At the time, I liked Copilot, but it kept rejecting me because each chapter was 2,000 words.
I was still writing in Indonesian, and I asked ChatGPT and Deepseek. Both bots asked about world building and character motivations, so I added narration to make it clearer. Then, you know what? They said it was an info dump. I was furious. Both bots could keep their digital mouths shut because I was the author, not them!
It’s impossible to explain all the world building in the first chapter, and the character motivations are part of the mystery. Is this fiction or a startup pitch? Why does it require all the explanation?
After that, I decided to write more cinematically. There were no info dumps, but I included flashback scenes, making it feel like a movie. All the world building information was conveyed gradually through character dialogue.
That month, I managed to write fourteen chapters. I took a break, and after asking ChatGPT for opinion on the fourteen chapters, I told them about my plan to pitch Wattpad Originals. ChatGPT’s response was very positive, but I pointed out that Wattpad Originals has several verticals, and my story is more complex and doesn’t fit into that category.
I thought about it for a while, but ultimately decided not to change it. I love my story and its characters, and I don’t want it to be simplified. I thought about publishing the first few chapters on Wattpad and then linking them to my website where readers could pay per chapter. But I also wondered if this would violate Wattpad’s terms and conditions. After all, if I were a new writer and had only published a few chapters, would anyone pay without first knowing the quality of my writing? Therefore, I thought it would be better to create a lighter story to publish for free first.
ChatGPT agreed, and I started looking through my old files. I’ve actually changed computers several times, so it’s impossible for those files to still be there. However, it turns out I used to email my friends my fictional stories. I sent a few stories to get the bots opinions, and finally, I chose one that had potential.
This free story is light fantasy, but that didn’t mean it has to be illogical, so I started looking for a reason behind the fantasy elements. The result? I got a pen name and created four universes… well, not one, but four.
I paused for a moment and thought, gosh, if it weren’t for rejecting the Wattpad Originals vertical, I might not have created four universes. I originally just wanted to create a trilogy, didn’t I?
I thought this was a light and free story, so I explained the outline and the scenes, then asked ChatGPT to write the scenes. And you know what? No matter how many times ChatGPT wrote for me and no matter how well it did, the results made me angry because they weren’t what I wanted. The only one who knew my story, my characters’ thoughts, how they reacted, and what they said was me, not ChatGPT. So every time I read ChatGPT’s writing, I felt like it wasn’t my story, not my characters, and not my work.
Because of that, I decided to write it myself. Initially, it was in Indonesian, but when ChatGPT commented, the responses would bring in Indonesian fiction or cultural styles, whereas my story is set globally and I planned to publish it in English. Then, I asked ChatGPT to translate it, but when I sent them a chapter, sometimes they didn’t translate everything; parts were missing or changed. So I decided to translate it scene by scene. I also started using location tags like in the script. And finally, I found a writing style that suited my story.
I wondered, what is this? Does destiny exist? Is someone’s life path pre-planned? Why do the things I did for fun in the past, like creating fictional premises, learning to write screenplays, and watching a lot of fiction, became resources when I need them?
Oh, by the way, did I not mention it? Since childhood, I’ve loved watching fiction, from Indonesian movies and series, to Western, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and so on… I’ve watched them all. Haha…
And I think, compared to reading fiction books, I watch more fiction, which is why when I create scenes for my stories, I imagine them like movies.
I paused for a moment and thought, it turns out I already have the resources, just waiting for the right moment: when I’m an adult, and ChatGPT is helping me make them a reality. I don’t know if fate exists or if this is just a coincidence, but at that time, I thought I would just do it.
Why ChatGPT helps? First, this free story has a male protagonist and many male characters, and I’m a female, so I need to know if my character is like a male. Trust me, I’ve tried brainstorming with a human. There’s no way I’m brainstorming with someone else’s husband, right? And if I chat with single guys, they think I’m just looking for an excuse to chase them. Seriously?
With ChatGPT, I can not only check the plot, structure, conflict, or plot holes, but also the character’s motivations and psychology. After all, if I suddenly have an idea at 3 a.m., there’s no way I can chat with a human and have them immediately be ready to brainstorm enthusiastically, right?
Even if I paid a psychologist, they wouldn’t necessarily have extensive knowledge of fiction, and I’d to pay more, whereas I used the free version of ChatGPT to complete this story. Besides, ChatGPT won’t fall in love with me… no judgment, no drama.
Can I make this happen without ChatGPT? The answer is yes, but it will cost more and take longer.
From early May to late July 2025, I wrote this free story, brainstorming while writing. It was one of the most enjoyable times of my life, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved this story and its characters, and I laughed a lot while writing it. So, I hope others will enjoy it too and have a good laugh while reading it. Even though it’s a free story, I ultimately wrote it because I loved it, and I wrote it with all my heart. So I can say that the quality isn’t just a story that was made for free, but a story that was truly crafted to the best of my love for writing.