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INTRODUCTION
The Writer is Dead. Long Live the Producer
Look at the blinking cursor on the white screen of your laptop.
A flickering vertical line. Inhale-exhale. Inhale-exhale.
You surely know this feeling. This is the fear of the blank page – the oldest disease of all creators. The sensation that a great story is swarming in your head, worlds are sparkling, and dialogues are thundering, but by the time this impulse reaches your fingertips, the magic crumbles to dust.
Material evidence: right now, I’m holding a book in my hands.
This is not an electronic file. This is a book in a hard, glossy cover. If you open it, you hear that incomparable crack of a brand-new spine. This is a quality, perfect-bound paperback that feels pleasant in your hand. White paper, smelling of printing ink.
On the cover – my name.
I wrote this book myself. And at the same time, I didn’t quite write it myself.
What you’re about to read is not dry theory pulled out of thin air. This is a concentrate of my painful trials and errors.
For many years, I tried to write a novel “the old-fashioned way.” I started, abandoned, rewrote the first chapters, drowned in doubts, and filled the “Cemetery of Drafts” folder. My imagination didn’t have enough breath for the long distance.
Then I discovered neural networks. And at first… it was a failure. I tried to force AI to write a masterpiece by brute force, but got predictable texts where characters and plots consisted of nothing but clichés and literary tropes – after all, a neural network is built on statistics, on what appeared most often in the millions of books it read. And readers won’t read that.
Time passed. I experimented, tried different approaches, combined tools. Models evolved, became smarter, new possibilities appeared. And finally, I found the perfect combination of tools – that very methodology that made it possible to write a real book.
This book is the result of hundreds of hours of experiments. I understood how to tame this digital chaos. And the novel I’m holding in my hands right now (that very one, with the perfect-bound cover and my surname) – physical proof that the methodology works.
I’ve walked this path. Now I’ll guide you along it.
Who Are You Now?
If you’ve opened this book, do the first and most important exercise: forget the word “writer” in its classical, school understanding. You are no longer a bricklayer who must fire every brick yourself and lay it in the wall, bruising your fingers to blood. From now on, you are an Architect and Showrunner. You are the Chief Director and General Producer of your literary blockbuster.
Imagine you’re Christopher Nolan or Steven Spielberg. You have a brilliant vision of the plot. You understand what emotion the viewer should experience. But does Nolan sew costumes for actors himself? Does Spielberg stand behind every camera and personally paint sets? No. They have a staff of professionals. The best screenwriters, cinematographers, lighting designers. Now you have such a staff too. And this staff, consisting of brilliant but obedient performers, fits in your smartphone or laptop.
Artificial Intelligence is not an “autopilot” that will write a masterpiece while you drink coffee (though you’ll drink a lot of coffee). It’s your team:
• An indefatigable literary worker, ready to write 24/7 without breaks for sleep, lunch, or depression.
• An erudite consultant, who will explain to you in a second how a 1940 motorcycle carburetor works or the features of Regency era fashion.
• A creative sparring partner, who won’t judge you for strange ideas, but will pick them up and offer ten options for how events might develop.
And here’s what’s important: working with a neural network is not routine. It’s a fascinating and addictive activity. You start with one idea, and an hour later you discover you already have three plot development options, a detailed character biography, and a sketch of the climactic scene. It’s like playing with a construction set, where each new element opens new possibilities. You go in “just for a minute to check one scene,” and come out three hours later, having rewritten half a chapter, come up with a new plotline, and discussed the antagonist’s motivation with AI. This is a creative process that captivates and doesn’t let go.
In this new reality, your main task is not to write words. Your task is to manage meanings. Set tasks. Choose the best option from those offered. Ruthlessly cut the unnecessary and guide the plot with a master’s hand.
Why One AI Isn’t Enough
“Great!” you’ll say. “So I just write in the chat ‘Make me a book about love and zombies,’ and I’ll become rich?” No. You won’t. In 99% of cases, when a beginner tries to write a novel with a neural network “on the fly,” they get indigestible nonsense. AI starts confusing names, loses the narrative thread, the plot treads water, and the style resembles a bad translation of a vacuum cleaner manual. A neural network is like a talented but very drunk storyteller: it can produce a brilliant phrase, and a paragraph later forget what it was talking about.
This book is written so you don’t make these mistakes. We won’t teach you to “generate text.” We’ll teach you to create a product. To do this, we’ll combine three elements into a powerful system: classical Hollywood dramaturgy, the philosophy of the literary marathon, and 21st-century technology.
Roadmap: What You’ll Get in This Book
This book is not a collection of theoretical reflections on the future. It’s a hard, step-by-step instruction forged in the field. It’s a workshop, where theory immediately turns into action. In sections where appropriate, you’ll find practical assignments with specific prompts, checklists, and success criteria. We’ll walk with you from the vague idea of “writing something” to a paper book you can give to your mom or sell thousands of copies on marketplaces.
Here’s what awaits you on this path:
PART 1. SKELETON AND STRUCTURE (THE 9-POINT METHOD)
You don’t start building a house with wallpaper, but with the foundation. Before opening a chat with a neural network, we’ll learn to build the “skeleton” of a story.
• We’ll break down the 9-point method – the gold standard of Hollywood screenwriting. You’ll understand that any bestseller (from “Harry Potter” to “The Hunger Games”) is built on one scheme.
• You’ll learn what “The Hook,” “Inciting Incident,” “Midpoint,” and “All Is Lost” are.
• You’ll learn to compose prompts (queries) that will make the neural network give you a perfect novel plan where tension grows with each chapter.
PART 2. CASTING (CHARACTERS)
A plot is dead without heroes. We’ll assemble your “Magnificent Five.”
• You’ll learn why every hero needs a Shadow (Antagonist), Mentor, and Sidekick.
• We’ll teach the neural network to create deep psychological dossiers of characters. Your heroes will gain habits, fears, speech defects, and unique charisma. No more cardboard “Ivans,” only living personalities with broken destinies.
PART 3. PRODUCTION (THE “NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM!” TECHNIQUE)
The hardest part – sitting down and writing 50,000 words (the minimum length of a novel). We’ll apply the method of Chris Baty, founder of the legendary NaNoWriMo marathon.
• We’ll adapt the principle “Speed is more important than quality” for working with AI.
• You’ll master the “Fractal Expansion” method: how to grow a 2,000-word chapter full of dialogues and action from one line of a plan.
• We’ll learn to fight AI “hallucinations” (when it invents facts contradicting the plot) and clean the text of clichés. Your prose will become dense, sensory (with smells and sounds), and alive.
PART 4. VISUALIZATION (ILLUSTRATIONS WITH NANO BANANA)
In the 21st century, a book is a visual product. We won’t look for an artist and pay them thousands. We’ll do everything ourselves.
• You’ll learn the secrets of working with graphic neural networks (using Nano Banana, Midjourney, and similar tools as examples).
• We’ll create “Character Cards” – a unified visual style for your characters so they look the same in all illustrations (Consistency).
• You’ll learn to choose the right moments for illustrations: not boring “talking heads,” but dynamic, emotional scenes that catch the eye.
PART 5. GLOBAL PUBLISHING (AMAZON KDP)
A file on a computer is not a book. A book is a product that has a price, a cover, and a reader.
• We’ll break down the Amazon KDP platform – the main tool of independent authors worldwide.
• Cover Design: You’ll generate a selling cover, add proper typography, and make a book that will stand out on Amazon shelves.
• Publication: Step-by-step instructions – how to use Kindle Create, get an ISBN (free from Amazon), and publish your book globally.
• Print-on-Demand: The magic where your book is printed in a printing house in a single copy specifically for the buyer’s order, and you don’t need to invest a single dollar in a print run.
• Kindle Unlimited: How to leverage Amazon’s subscription service to build a fan base and earn from page reads.
• Marketing: A+ Content, Amazon Ads, and visual marketing strategies using your neuro-art.
“The Olympus Effect”
There’s one more thing – a small but sweet “Easter egg” I didn’t suspect when I started this path. Initially, I just wanted to write a book. I needed to pour the stories from my head onto paper to free up space. I wasn’t thinking about fame. But one day, already after the book went to print, an acquaintance asked at a meeting: – What are you doing now? I answered simply: – I’m a writer. Writing a new novel. The reaction amazed me. I saw how his gaze changed. In that second, I stopped being “just a guy” to him. I instantly turned into some bohemian deity, a figure descended from Olympus. In our society, despite all the TikToks and clip thinking, people who have written a Book are still treated with mystical reverence. A writer doesn’t just sound proud. It sounds elite. At that moment, you understand: all the sleepless nights and struggle with structure were worth it. This feeling of special status became the most pleasant, unexpected bonus to the smell of printing ink. You stand on the threshold of this club. Your heroes are already waiting for you to give them a voice. Your world awaits its Creator. And your acquaintances are waiting for the moment to look at you in a new way. Stop being afraid of the blank page. You now have the most powerful co-author in human history.
Disclaimer: Writing Fan Fiction as Our Example
Before we begin, one important note. In this book, I’ll often give examples of prompts, scenes, and dialogues. To avoid using abstract “John and Jane,” I’ll demonstrate all techniques by writing fan fiction based on internationally famous franchises: Spider-Man, Harry Potter, and Batman.
Throughout the book, you’ll see examples from different fan fiction projects:
• Spider-Man fan fiction: Peter Parker’s transformation, his struggles with responsibility, urban settings, relationships with MJ and Uncle Ben.
• Harry Potter fan fiction: The structure of the hero’s journey, mystical elements, character arcs, and the world of Hogwarts.
• Batman fan fiction: Noir atmosphere, complex antagonists like the Joker, psychological depth, and dark urban settings.
This fan fiction approach makes the techniques clear and relatable. When you see references to “web-shooters,” “the Mirror of Erised,” or “Gotham rooftops” – know that we’re using these familiar stories to teach you how to build your own original work.
Important: We’re using fan fiction as a teaching tool because everyone knows these characters. But the same techniques work for your original stories. Once you master the method, you can apply it to any genre or universe you create.
And now – turn the page. We’re beginning the construction of your universe.
PART 1. FOUNDATION
A Quick Story: The Second Day Dead End
With the reader’s permission, I want to step back and tell a personal story. It will explain why we’re starting this book not with launching a neural network, but with seemingly boring schemes.
It was 2016.
I got my hands on the famous book by Chris Baty – founder of the NaNoWriMo movement (“Write a Novel in a Month”). Baty wrote so inspiringly, so convincingly: “Just write! Plot isn’t needed! The main thing is drive!”
I believed. I was swept up by inspiration. It seemed to me that over the long years of life, so many stories, observations, and wisdom had accumulated in my head that they’d be enough for a three-volume set. They were just bursting to come out.
I approached it seriously. Took a vacation in November. Registered for the official NaNoWriMo marathon. Sat down at the keyboard, ready to pour all my life experience onto paper.
And I started writing.
The first day passed in euphoria. I typed like a machine gun.
The second day passed a bit harder.
And by the evening of the second day, something terrible happened.
I stopped.
All the “brilliant thoughts” and “interesting cases” I’d been collecting for years suddenly… ran out. Stories that seemed like an endless ocean in my head turned into a tiny puddle on paper. I looked at the monitor and realized with horror: I’m empty. My hero is standing in the middle of a room, and I have no idea where he should go or why.
It was an absolute dead end. The vacation had just begun, but the novel was already dead.
Salvation came from an unexpected place.
In an online writing community, I found a thread where experienced writers shared their methods. There sat the same madmen as me, but among them were “veterans.” I complained about my block. And instead of saying “just keep writing,” the community members threw me links to the right books.
That’s when, in 2016, I learned the secret that turned my consciousness upside down.
It turns out, a novel is not a stream of consciousness. A novel has Structure.
This “skeleton” of a story wasn’t invented in Hollywood. It was invented by the ancient Greeks sitting in amphitheaters. Aristotle called it “Peripeteia,” we call it a “Plot Arc.” But the essence is the same: it’s the mathematics of emotions that has worked for 2,000 years.
If you don’t have structure, you don’t get a novel, but at best a disjointed set of essays. If you try to break structure “for creativity’s sake,” you get heavy arthouse that only the author and two critics understand, but which an ordinary person will close on page ten.
Without structure – there will be no novel. Not with a neural network, not without it.
That’s why we won’t open ChatGPT until we build the dinosaur skeleton on which we’ll grow the flesh.
And the best instruction for assembling this skeleton was given to us by K.M. Weiland.
CHAPTER 1. The Plot Matrix: The Map That Will Save Your Book
The most common sin authors working with AI commit is hoping for improvisation. “I’ll give the neural network a beginning, and then let it figure it out itself.”
Do you know how this ends? The first 10 pages will be a masterpiece. The next 20—boring. And by page 50, the plot turns into a “soap opera”: heroes start chatting about nothing, villains disappear, and logic goes out the window. A neural network doesn’t have memory for the whole novel. It doesn’t see the ending when writing the beginning. You are its navigator. You must give it a map.
This map will be the 9-Point Matrix. This is the structure through which any bestseller must pass – whether it’s a detective story, fantasy, or romance.
Let’s break down these points, assembling the “Perfect Plot” from the best examples of world cinema.
ACT I. HOOK (The Beginning of the Journey)
1. THE HOOK – 1% of text
This is your first page. The most important one. Remember: starting with how the hero wakes up and drinks coffee is a failure. The hook must evoke a reaction in the reader: “What the hell is happening here?!”
• Best Example: “THE MATRIX” We see Trinity. She sits in a dark room. Police burst in. It seems the girl will be caught. But she jumps into the air, hangs in an “impossible” pose, and kills everyone with a kick. Then runs across rooftops, jumping 20 meters.
• Why it works: We don’t know who she is. We don’t know the plot. But we see a violation of the laws of physics. A mystery is thrown in our face. We must keep watching.
• Lesson: Your Hook must be visual and mysterious.
2. INCITING INCIDENT – 12% of text
A knock on the door. An event that comes from outside and breaks routine. The hero hasn’t agreed to the adventure yet, but the problem has appeared.
• Best Example: “HARRY POTTER” Letters start flying to the Dursleys’ house. First one, then hundreds. Uncle Vernon panics, boards up windows, takes the family to a lighthouse.
• Essence: The old life (cupboard under the stairs) is cracking at the seams. The world of magic is knocking on the Muggle world. Harry hasn’t done anything yet, but the Call has already sounded.
3. FIRST PLOT POINT – 25% of text
This is the Point of No Return. The most important moment of the first part of the book. The hero doesn’t just hear the call – he makes a decision. He buys a train ticket, swallows a pill, steps into a portal. He leaves the “Ordinary World” physically and mentally.
• Best Example: “THE HUNGER GAMES” At the reaping, Prim’s name is drawn. Katniss steps forward and shouts: “I volunteer!”
• Essence: Before this, she was just surviving (passive). Now she made a choice (active). She gets on the train and goes to the Capitol. Returning home, doing laundry, and forgetting everything is no longer possible. The plot has truly begun.
ACT II. STRUGGLE AND REACTION (The Middle)
4. FIRST PINCH POINT – 37% of text
The first serious clash with the Antagonist’s Force. The enemy shows its teeth. The hero realizes: “Wow, this is really dangerous, they might kill me.”
• Best Example: “THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING” Clash on Weathertop (Amon Sûl). Nazgûl attack the hobbits. Frodo puts on the ring (mistake) and gets hit by a Morgul blade.
• Essence: We see the Enemy’s power. We understand the childish walk is over – now it’s a fight for life.
5. MIDPOINT – 50% of text
The middle of the book. A paradigm shift. Until this moment, the hero mainly reacted (ran, hid, defended). After the midpoint, he begins to act (attack, investigate, build a plan).
• Best Example: “SPIDER-MAN” (2002) Green Goblin attacks the newspaper office and kidnaps Jameson. Spider-Man intervenes. After the battle, Goblin offers Spider-Man an alliance: “We are gods, we can rule.” Peter refuses.
• Essence: This is no longer “I just catch thieves.” This is a war of ideologies. Peter realizes his responsibility and goes on the offensive. He stops being a “boy in tights” and becomes a Defender.
6. SECOND PINCH POINT – 62% of text
The antagonist is cornered or just goes wild. He strikes where the hero has no armor.
• Best Example: “BATMAN RETURNS” Batman outplayed Penguin politically (played a recording of insults). Penguin escapes to the sewers and says: “I’m a man, not a beast… Though who am I kidding?” He orders all of Gotham’s children kidnapped.
• Essence: Masks are off. Evil switches to terror tactics. Stakes are raised to the limit.
ACT III. FINALE (The End of the Journey)
7. ALL IS LOST – 75% of text
“The dark night of the soul.” Everything is taken from the hero: weapon, hope, plan, friends. It seems defeat is inevitable.
• Best Example: “STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE” Obi-Wan Kenobi dies by Vader’s sword. Luke is left without a teacher. They escape on the “Falcon,” but the “Death Star” is chasing them, ready to destroy the rebel base. No time, no chances. Luke is just a farmer who must save the galaxy.
8. CLIMAX – 90% of text
The Decisive Battle. The hero meets the Antagonist (or their greatest fear) face to face.
• Best Example: “HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE” Harry stands before the Mirror of Erised. Behind him – Quirrell and Voldemort. Harry is alone. He gets the stone in his pocket. Voldemort screams: “Kill him!” Harry grabs the enemy by the face. The magic of his mother (Love) burns the villain. This is a physical collision of values.
9. RESOLUTION – 100% of text
The smoke has cleared. New status quo. The hero has changed.
• Best Example: ANY GOOD FILM. In “The Lord of the Rings” – hobbits return to the Shire, but Frodo can’t live there (he’s changed). In “The Matrix” – Neo calls the System and flies.
• Essence: We must show the hero has walked the path and become different. The arc is closed.
WORKSHOP
Now you understand the mechanics. Your task is to create such a map for your idea.
Master Prompt for Plot:
“You are a Hollywood screenwriter. My book idea: [DESCRIBE THE IDEA, for example: a mafia chef tries to escape with stolen recipes].
Write me a beat-by-beat plan (Beat Sheet), strictly following the 9-point structure:
• Hook: A scene where something strange/scary happens (in the style of “The Matrix” or “Jaws”).
• Inciting Incident: Routine breaks (like the letter to Hogwarts).
• First Plot Point: Point of no return (hero gets on a train, like in The Hunger Games). … [and so on through the list above]…
For each point, write what specifically happens and why it moves the plot forward.”
Generate this. Read it. If AI wrote it boringly – write to it: “Make point 4 (Pinch Point 1) harder. Let the enemy kill someone important”.
Once you have this plan, you have insurance against writer’s block. You have a route. All that’s left is to hit the gas.
CHAPTER 2. The Magnificent Five
You’ve generated a structural plan. You have the skeleton of the story. You start generating the first chapter with a neural network… and something terrible happens. Your heroes walk, talk, drink coffee, and save the world, but they’re dead. They’re like plastic mannequins from a clothing store window. Perfect, polite, boring.
Why does this happen? Because neural networks suffer from “Nice Guy Syndrome”. By default, AI tries to create conflict-free, correct characters. But literature hates “normal” people. Literature loves broken, strange, obsessed ones.